Egypt unrest: Interview with an Egyptian anarchist

The international secretary of the U.S.-based Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC) managed to contact a member of an anarchist group, Black Flag, in Egypt. Below is an interview with him, following the resumption of email contact with Egypt on Wednesday 2 February.

1) Please tell me your name and what movement you are from.

I'm Nidal Tahrir, from Black Flag, a small group of anarcho-communists in Egypt.

2) The world is watching Egypt, and even moving in solidarity. However, due to the internet being cut, information was difficult to find. Can you tell me about what has happened in Egypt in the past week? What did it look like from your perspective?

The situation in Egypt is so crucial right now. It began with an invitation to the day of rage against Mubarak regime on January 25th. No one expected an invitation to a day of rage from a loose group, a Facebook page, not really organized, called "we are all Khalid Said".

Khalid Said was an Egyptian youth who was killed by Mubarak police in Alexandria last summer. It was that Tuesday which started everything, it was the spark for the whole fire. On Tuesday big demonstrations were in streets in every Egyptian town, on Wednesday began the massacre. It began with trying to finish the sit-in in Tahrir square on Tuesday late night, and continued in the following days, especially in Suez town. Suez has special value in every Egyptian heart. It was the centre for resistance against Zionists in 1956 and 1967. In the same district that fought Sharon's troops back in Egyptian-Israeli wars, Mubarak police carried out a massacre, at least four people killed, 100 injured, gas bombs, rubber bullets, fire guns, a strange yellow substance thrown above people (maybe mustard gas). Friday was called the Jumu'ah of Rage. Jumu'ah is Arabic for Friday, it's the national weekend in Egypt, in many Islamic countries also, it's the sacred day in Islam, because there are the big prayers on this day, called Jumu'ah prayer. It was planned for demonstrators to go on a march after this prayer, at noon. The police tried to prevent the marchers, with all of their power and violence. There were many clashes in Cairo (downtown, in Mattareyah (east of Cairo)), and all over Egypt, especially in Suez, Alexandria, Mahalla (in the delta, one of the centres of the working class). From noon to sunset people marched in Cairo downtown, to a sit-in in Tahrir till the removal of the Mubarak regime, chanting one slogan, "The people demand the removal of the regime".

At sunset, 5pm CLT, Mubarak declared a curfew and brought the army into Egyptian towns. This curfew was followed by a planned escape by police, letting out the criminals and thugs which called Baltagayyah, and police planned a great escape of criminals in many Egyptian prisons to scare people in Egypt. With no police, many army troops couldn't control the street. It scared people, and it was followed by a news jam on Egyptian TV channels, radio and newspapers, about Luddites in many towns, about thieves firing at people. People organized "people committees" to secure every street. It was welcomed by the regime to make people more scared about instability in the country, but it was also a point we could start from to build workers' councils.

3) As of Wednesday, there have been clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak people. Is that the correct way to describe it? Who are the "Mubarak supporters"? How are these clashes affecting the attitudes of average working class Egyptians?

It's absolutely wrong to call it clashes between anti- and pro-Mubarak. The pro-Mubarak demonstration consisted of many Baltagayyah and secret police to attack the protesters in Tahrir. It only began after Mubarak's speech yesterday, after Obama's speech too. Personally I think Mubarak feels like a slaughtered ox that tries to throw its blood over its slaughterers; he feels like Nero, who wants to burn Egypt before his removal, trying to make people believe he's a synonym for stability, safety and security. In this way he has really made some progress. The holy national alliance now has been formed against Tahrirites (Tahrir protesters) and Commune de Tahrir.

Many people are saying, especially middle class people, that the demonstrations must end because Egypt has been burned, famine has begun, and it's not true at all. It's only an exaggeration. Every revolution has its difficulties, and Mubarak is using fear and terror to stay longer. Personally I'm saying even if the protesters were responsible for this situation, even if this is so, Mubarak must leave, he must go out, because of his inability to deal with the situation right now.

4) What do you see happening in the next week? How much is the position taken by the US government affecting the situation there?

Nobody can figure out what will happen tomorrow or next week. Mubarak is a stubborn idiot, and the Egyptian media is making the biggest media campaign in its history to detain the protests on Friday, February 4th. There are calls for another million march to Tahrir, called "Jumu'ah of salvation", the position taken by the US government is affecting us more than the demonstration. Mubarak is such a traitor who could kill the whole people, but he can't say no to his masters.

5) What has the participation of class struggle anarchists been? Who are their allies? (obviously keep security in mind)

Anarchism in Egypt is not a big trend. You can find some anarchists, but it's not a big trend yet. Anarchists in Egypt joined both protests and popular committees to defend the streets from thugs. Anarchists in Egypt put some hope in this councils. The allies of anarchists in Egypt are the Marxists of course, we are not now in the moment of ideological debate. The whole of the left is calling for unity and argue about anything else later. Anarchists in Egypt are a part of the Egyptian left.

6) What forms of solidarity can be built between revolutionaries in Egypt and revolutionaries in the "West"? What can be done immediately and what should we do in the long term?

The most difficult obstacle Egyptian revolutionaries are confronted with is the cut-off of communication. Western revolutionaries must put pressure on their governments to prevent the Egyptian regime from doing this. That's for now, but no one can say what will happen in the long term. If the revolution wins, then western revolutionaries must build solidarity with their Egyptian comrades against expected aggression from USA, and Israel. If the revolution is defeated then there will be a massacre for all Egyptian revolutionaries.

7) What will the main tasks be once Mubarak leaves? Has there been much planning about this on the street level? What have anti-capitalist revolutionaries proposed?

The main task now, speaking about street demands, is new constitution and a provisional government, and then new elections. There's much planning about these issues from many political trends here, especially the Muslim brotherhood. Anti-capitalist revolutionaries are not very big in Cairo - the communists, the democratic left and Trotskyites are calling for the same demands about a constitution and new elections. But for us, as anarchists, we are anti-capital and anti-state too - we will try to strengthen the committees that have been formed to protect and secure the streets, and try to turn them into real councils.

8) What do you want to say to revolutionaries abroad?
Dear Comrades, all over the world, we need solidarity, a big solidarity campaign and the Egyptian revolution will win.

from www.haringey.org.uk