PCP expresses its solidarity with the workers and the people of Egypt in struggle for their social and labour rights, social justice, democracy and freedom. It strongly condemns the repression which, under the orders of Hosni Mubarak’s government, has targeted and continues to target the workers and the people in struggle and pays homage to the more than 100 Egyptian citizens killed by state violence.
As is the case of Tunisia and several other countries in the Arab World and the African continent, the situation in Egypt is indissociable from the deepening crisis of capitalism and the violent anti-social offensive that characterises it, namely the massive growth of unemployment affecting in a very special way the youth in the so-called “developing countries”, together with the huge growth in the price of food.
The recent events in Egypt, and the vast popular mobilisation that characterises them, cannot also be separated from the courage, persistence and determination of the organisations representing the workers and of other popular and progressive forces – among them the Communist Party of Egypt – who for many years, especially in the last five years, and under very difficult conditions, carry out important processes of struggle – namely important actions of workers’ strikes – and make great efforts to rebuild the workers’ movement, weakened by successive cycles of repression and political persecution.
While expressing its solidarity with the workers and people of Egypt who struggle against the oppression by a regime which for decades has been one of the fundamental tools of imperialist domination in the Middle East and North Africa, PCP also draws attention to the real dangers of instrumentalization of the popular movement and to the manoeuvres and provocations which, through various ways (namely foreign interference and manipulation), can divert the attention from what is essential – the issue of the political and economic power, of democracy and subservience to imperialism – trying to “tame” the popular movement and proceed to cosmetic “changes” within the very same system of power in order to continue to serve the interests of big business and imperialism.
PCP condemns the hypocritical position of the North American Administration and of the European Union regarding the popular revolt in Egypt and in particular regarding the brutal repression it faces. A position which, like the one adopted in the case of Tunisia, shows the instrumental nature of the dictatorships in the region supported by the big imperialist powers and by the Socialist International and clarifying as to the real intentions of imperialism: to maintain the structure and chain of economic and political power in the region which can best serve their economic and geopolitical interests, even if it becomes necessary to remove from the stage the present actors and promote other “leaders” and political forces to ensure an “orderly transition” so that, in the words of the North American Secretary of State, “no one fills the vacuum”.
PCP deplores the content of the communiqué by the [Portuguese] Ministry of Foreign Affairs which merely “regrets the acts of violence”, and demands from the Portuguese government a clear position – all the more necessary given that presently Portugal has a seat in the Security Council of the United Nations – of respect and to respect the Egyptian people in struggle for their social and political rights. A position which, in accordance with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, unequivocally expresses the condemnation by the Portuguese government of the state violence against the working and popular masses and openly sides with a political solution within the framework of full respect for the sovereign will of the people of Egypt, free from any foreign interferences, manoeuvres or pressures.
