We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, October 6, 2013

A voice of dissent joins the nationalist chorus

Click here to access article by Ursula Lindsey from Mada Masr.

I'm posting this article because it is a good illustration of the effect on a significant number of Egyptians of the Empire's strategy of chaos that has influenced recent events in Egypt. This article reports on the author's interview with Sonallah Ibrahim, an Egyptian intellectual and writer, whom she has admired in the past, but is now shocked to learn that he supports the current Al-Sisi regime.
Given Ibrahim's tendency to question official narratives, and what struck me as his kind-heartedness, I was surprised this summer when I read an interview in an Egyptian newspaper in which he seemed to wholeheartedly support the crackdown on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi — hundreds of whom were killed by army and police over the summer — and to unquestioningly accept the military leadership's presentation of itself as at the service of the people.
Ibrahim is an example of many of those Egyptians who currently support the Al-Sisi regime because they understandably want order restored--a welcome change from the violence ridden society of the past year. (Also, I see hints of the allure of identifying with powerful people in some of Ibrahim's statements.)

I think that Empire directors have understood this kind of psychological reaction. Thus, they have promoted the chaos while coaching the Al-Sisi regime on how to frame their actions in terms of controlling terrorism. That is, while promoting state terrorism against the Morsi government and its Muslim Brotherhood followers, Al-Sisi under Empire coaching has actually created the conditions of terrorism that he is now using to repress all popular opposition. I explained this strategy in my July 28th post:
There have been numerous reports surfacing which allege sitings of snipers being used against Muslim Brotherhood protestors (see this, this, and this).  

Over the past several years I've been noticing reports of unknown snipers being spotted in many other troubled areas of the world. I recall Mahdi Nazemroaya, a Canadian journalist, who reported about snipers while trapped in a hotel in Libya in August 2011.  (See first video regarding a video phone interview with Nazemroaya in article that I posted on August 22nd at segments 0:55 - 1:18 and 4:55 - 6:55m.) See also this and this.

It seems that this is a standard destabilization tactic used against targeted countries by agents of the Empire. In Egypt I think it is likely being used to terrorize the Muslim Brotherhood into submission or to incite a civil war, and to cause the rest of the population to turn to the Army to secure peace regardless of the policies of the latter. This Empire terrorist strategy is known as the Salvador Option.