Standing Fast

There are real grassroots movements struggling for democratic change in the Middle East, and Egypt is one of the hot spots. Middle East Reports has an excellent article on Egyptian textile workers and their joint struggle against both the Mubarak autocracy and the forces of economic globalization. The article concludes:

"some workers, and it is not yet clear how many, have begun to connect their thin wallets with broader political and economic circumstances -- the entrenchment of autocracy, widespread government incompetence and corruption, the regime’s subservience to the United States and its inability to offer meaningful support for the Palestinian people or meaningful opposition to the war in Iraq, high unemployment and the painfully obvious gap between rich and poor. Many Egyptians have begun to speak openly about the need for real change. Public-sector workers are well-positioned to play a role if they can organize themselves on a national basis."

Movements like this are unlikely to get much support from the current administration, but labor struggle sparked by the increasing integration of the Middle East into "free trade zones" and the collapse of the old import-substitution and state-centric economic strategies of the old Middle East elites might just be the best hope for democratic revolution in the region.

The Washington Post also has a two-part series on the democratic movement in Egypt; here and here.