One of the things you can say about counter-revolutions
is that they are often bloodier than revolutions. A spike in the effusion of human
blood is almost always a sign that the counter-revolution is putting forth its
strength. And that’s just because the strength of the reaction normally
consists in control over armed elements
of the former, pre-revolutionary state.
When this sort of
thing starts happening, any revolutionary elements the counter-revolution
happens to be aligned with for the time being start to look like a front, a
puppet, a dupe, a tool, or an accomplice. What they as individuals actually are
depends on their own subjective relations with the forces of reaction, and on
the kinds and degree of objective control the latter exercises over them. All
this can play out in many ways, but for now, in Egypt, the police, the military,
and the courts are the players, not the interim executive, nor the disbanded
legislature.
Did I say they
were dupes? The reaction didn’t dupe El Baradei for long. And now that they’ve
entered on the path for freeing Mubarak altogether, nobody can be fooled any
longer. Only the tools and accomplices are left.
Look for the
counter-revolution to assume a face. It’s a little early yet, but if it does,
it will already be too late for the revolution, because that will be the face
of the next strongman.
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