‘Those who reject the counterrevolution and the Brotherhood, support the military’

The following is the text of a communique issued by the Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt

Perhaps the reactions to the recent terrorist operations, especially those that targeted the army posts in Sinai, illustrate the enormity of the crisis within the ranks of the Egyptian opposition. The reaction of the regime has been clear and straightforward: wholesale emergency laws intended to reinforce the iron fist of the security agencies and unleash a new wave of repression; murder; detention and torture targeting whoever dares even to comment in a manner that is inconsistent with the narrative of the intelligence services as to how certain events have unfolded; and considering whoever opposes the regime while it is engaged in the “war on terrorism” to be a traitor and a terrorist themselves. “Whoever is not with us is with the enemy” is a line straight from George W Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq all the way to Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in his open war against the Egyptian people and their revolution.

All of this makes sense. Every despotic regime uses terrorism as a pretext in order to impose more repression and create a state of hysterical national fear within the ranks of the largest segment of the population so as to guarantee that the people stand in line behind the dictator. However, for the hysteria to penetrate into the ranks of the opponents of the regime, the liberals and the leftists and those who stand opposed, at least in theory, to Al-Sisi’s coup and counterrevolution, this is what causes astonishment and disgust.

There are those who have stood, right from the first moment, on the side of the regime and all the crimes that it has been perpetrating under the pretext of terrorism and its fear of the Muslim Brotherhood. Such people have thrown themselves into the lap of the military and the counterrevolution right from the start and quite openly, even if some of them do occasionally criticise some transgressions by the security agencies when perpetrated against those who are not part of the Brotherhood.

There are also those who stand in the middle. They reject the counterrevolution as much as they reject the Brotherhood. In other words, they consider that we are facing two factions of counterrevolution, a military Mubarak-style faction that is rejected and an Islamic movement faction that is also rejected. They endeavour to keep an equal distance from both warring factions thinking that they can simply ignore all of their battles. They work for the creation of a third alternative that opposes equally the repression and policies of the military regime and everything that is undertaken by the Islamic opposition. Of course, in this case all components of the Islamic current and all Islamic movements are lumped together and confused with each other irrespective of the form that their opposition takes and whether it is violent or peaceful. The bloody terrorism in Sinai and a peaceful demonstration in Nahya, insists this point of view, are simply variations of an Islamic obscurantist counterrevolution that is no less dangerous and no less vicious than the existing military dictatorship.

This apparent third option, of course, is opposition only at the formal level, but when it comes to practicalities and at its essence, it is supportive of the military regime.

The recent terrorist operations have caused erosion even within the ranks of this third way. You will find many on this path in full harmony with the state against the danger and brutality of our real enemy, Daesh/ISIS. Suddenly, you see them lose their impartiality, even in its most formal way, when addressing state terrorism and the terrorism of the Islamic groups. They talk “courageously” about the necessity of the national assembly declaring that we are indeed in a state of war. In other words, they just repeat like parrots what the regime and its media mouthpieces are saying. They weep when soldiers are killed in Sinai at the treacherous hands of “religious fascism” but stay silent when peaceful demonstrators are killed after Eid prayers.

Once again, we would like reiterate that we, the Revolutionary Socialists, reject the terrorist operations because they further empower our main enemy — military dictatorship — which is the leader of the counterrevolution, and gives it justification and propaganda tools to justify doubling its crimes against the masses and against every symbol of the revolution. We reject terrorism even if directed against the symbols of the authorities because it empowers further those same authorities and delivers a catastrophic message to the masses that there is no need for your protests and your rallies. It is for these reasons that we stand unequivocally and decisively opposed to all forms of terrorist activity.

At the same time, we neither forget nor neglect for a minute that the bigger and more dangerous terrorism is the terrorism of the military dictatorship. In fact, this dictatorship is the real cause of all forms of terrorism in the country. The way to get rid of Daesh/ISIS and those who are like it is not by standing in line with Al-Sisi’s regime, which is nought but a rebooted Mubarak-style state. We do not approve of claiming impartiality, which is at times naïve but at most other times involves collusion between the state and the terrorist groups. The only revolutionary way forward is be to revive the means and weapons of popular struggle such as rallies, demonstrations and industrial strikes in standing up to a corrupt military dictatorship which has brought us nothing but more poverty, oppression, violence and terrorism.