UKRAINE: Ukraine's betrayed revolution

Ukraine's betrayed revolution

The leader of Ukraine's opposition says the gains of the 2004 'orange revolution' are under threat.

Yuliya Tymoshenko

From snowy Kyiv, the Ukranian capital, I have watched the successful revolutions in Cairo and Tunis with joy and admiration.

Egyptians and Tunisians are right to be proud of their desire to peacefully overthrow despotic governments. But, as someone who led a peaceful revolution, I hope that pride is tempered by pragmatism, because a change of regime is only the first step in establishing a democracy backed by the rule of law.

Indeed, as my country, Ukraine, is now demonstrating, after revolutionary euphoria fades and normality returns, democratic revolutions can be betrayed and reversed.

The first of Ukraine’s lessons for Egyptian and Tunisian democrats is that elections do not a democracy make. After all, what if the enemies of freedom use elections to entrench their anti-democratic agendas? What if elements of the old regime, or the cadres of militant minorities, only pretend to embrace democratic norms in order to hijack the new democracy?

Democracy 'under threat'

In Ukraine today, these are not abstract questions. Six years after our Orange Revolution, not only is my country’s democracy under threat, but the rule of law is being systematically perverted and our national independence bartered away.

Indeed, the hybrid presidential/parliamentary system that Ukraine established as part of the settlement which brought a peaceful end to our revolution is being hollowed out in order to concentrate all political power in the hands of a supposedly democratically elected president.

Of course, Ukraine’s plight does not mean that the people of Egypt and Tunisia should spurn the call for free elections. Determining the will of the people does require expression through the ballot box. But elections alone cannot solve the fundamental political problems confronting Egypt and Tunisia. In particular, they cannot create a liberal order and open society.

To be effective, elections must be preceded by an extensive debate, in which political arguments are made, attacked, defended, and, ultimately, embodied in ideologically coherent party organisations. Democratic consent can truly be given only when voters know what they are consenting to.

Whoever refuses to make a public case for what he or she intends to do when in power, or lies about it – as Ukraine's current president, Viktor Yanukovich, did during his campaign against me last year – is no supporter of the democracy that citizens risked their lives to establish.

Manipulation

Moreover, democracy must be rooted in the rule of law. There must be accepted rules that are binding on everyone in politics, so that whoever does not accept or obey them is disqualified. Yanukovich's naked attempt to hijack the election that precipitated the Orange Revolution should have caused him to be banned from running in future elections. Yet he was not.

Now, as president, Yanukovich's crude instinct is to treat the law and constitution as Karl Marx thought of them: as a mixture of sentimentality, superstition, and the unconscious rationalisation of private interests.

Stealing elections, suppressing the vote, and behaving in contempt of the rule of law are negations of democracy. Those who engage in them must be seen as democracy's enemies and treated as such.

A second lesson follows from this. The fact that a government has been democratically elected does not mean that the cause of freedom has prevailed.

The rest of the world must not turn a blind eye to authoritarian backsliding. Yet today, not only are many of Ukrainess neighbors silent about Yanukovich’s strangulation of Ukraine’s democracy, but some openly celebrate the supposed "stability" that his regime has imposed.

For decades, Egyptians and Tunisians paid a high a price in freedom for the stability of others. They must never be asked, or forced, to pay it again.

Civil society

One way to help prevent a democratic revolution from being betrayed from within is by building a genuine civil society. We in Ukraine learned this truth from harsh experience in the communist era. Although communism could, every now and then, coexist with private property, and sometimes with private enterprise, it could never coexist with civil society. The most fateful attack to accompany the installation of any dictatorship is an attack on civil society.

In Ukraine, freedom of speech was, on communism’s fall, restored overnight. But reviving civil society – the many mutually complementary ways in which citizens participate in public life – is a complicated task, as the peoples of Egypt and Tunisia will soon find out.

The reason is self-evident: civil society is an intricate, fragile, even mysterious entity that evolves over decades, if not centuries. Its pillars – private, voluntary associations, decentralization of the state, and delegation of political power to independent bodies – must be nurtured patiently and from below.

Where civil society remains underdeveloped, every problem filters up to the “Big Man” squatting at the top. So the more power is concentrated at the center, the more it becomes possible for anti-democratic forces to gain – or regain – control over a country.

As people around the world encourage the prospect of democracy coming to Egypt and Tunisia, let us not be beguiled by its formal trappings. Let us celebrate the arrival in North Africa of the spirit of liberty and of solidarity, which brought Ukraine its liberty once and will do so again. And let us pledge that our solidarity does not end at the borders of our nations. Freedom – true freedom – is indivisible.

Yuliya Tymoshenko was Prime Minister of Ukraine and is now leader of the opposition. This article was first 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hamas condemns Libyan regime for committing massacres against protesters

[ 22/02/2011 - 10:26 AM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement on Monday strongly denounced the Libyan regime for committing massacres against protesters using warplanes and heavy artillery.

Hamas called on the Arab and Muslim peoples, and the world's free people to condemn the heinous crimes committed by Muammar Al-Gaddafi's regime.

Eyewitnesses reported yesterday that Al-Gaddafi's air force carried out raids on protesters in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

For its part, the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands deplored the mass murder of civilian protesters in Libya.

The Movement expressed fears that the news blackout in Libya and the declared threats issued by the regime against the people there portends that more gruesome crimes would be committed against the Libyans.

Al-Gaddafi started on Sunday to pursue the policy of scorched earth against his own people and ordered his air force and artillery units to bomb them without mercy.

All landline and wireless communications were also cut as a prelude to possible crimes that might be committed against civilians and protesters, according to news reports.

A Libyan source said some aircrafts and mercenaries were hired to carry out deadly attacks on protesters, adding that the military brigade of Mohamed Al-Gareef assumed responsibility for protecting the regime of Al-Ghaddafi.

In the same context, many Libyan ambassadors and officials outside the country resigned from their posts in protest at the policy of violence pursued by the regime.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Defiant Gaddafi vows to fight on

In televised speech, Libyan leader blames youths inspired by region's revolutions for unrest and vows to die a "martyr".

Last Modified: 22 Feb 2011 16:53 GMT
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Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has vowed to fight on and die a "martyr", calling on his supporters to take back the streets from protesters demanding his ouster, shouting and pounding his fist in a furious speech on state TV.

Gaddafi, clad in brown robes and turban, spoke on Tuesday from a podium set up in the entrance of a bombed-out building that appeared to be his Tripoli residence hit by US air raids in the 1980s and left unrepaired as a monument of defiance.

"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said.

"I have not yet ordered the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to be fired ... when I do, everything will burn."

He called on supporters to take to the streets to attack protesters. "You men and women who love Gaddafi ...get out of your homes and fill the streets," he said. "Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs ... Starting tomorrow the cordons will be lifted, go out and fight them."

"From tonight to tomorrow, all the young men should form local committees for popular security," he said, telling them to wear a green armband to identify themselves. "The Libyan people and the popular revolution will control Libya."

The speech, which appeared to have been taped earlier, was aired on a screen to hundreds of supporters massed in Tripoli's central Green Square.

Shouting in the rambling speech, Gaddafi declared himself "a warrior" and proclaimed: "Libya wants glory, Libya wants to be at the pinnacle, at the pinnacle of the world".

At times the camera panned out to show a towering gold-coloured monument in front of the building, showing a fist crushing a fighter jet with an American flag on it - a view that also gave the strange image of Gaddafi speaking alone from behind a podium in the building's dilapidated lobby, with no audience in front of him.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Egypt's Spirit Lands in Wisconsin

by Stephen Lendman

It landed, but it's too soon to know where it's going or how committed workers are to stay the course and spread it to other US states.

On February 16, however, former Senator Russ Feingold launched Progressives United.org (PU), an initiative he hopes will inspire "a new progressive movement" to hold elected officials accountable by challenging corporate influence in politics.

It also opposes the Supreme Court's January 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, sanctioning unlimited corporate spending in elections (the one dollar = one vote ruling by America's supremely pro-business court). Feingold called it:

"one of the most lawless decisions in the history of our country. The idea of allowing corporations to have unlimited influence on our democracy is very dangerous, obviously. That's exactly what it does. Things were like this 100 years ago....with the huge corporate and business power of the oil companies and others. But this time, it's like the Gilded Age on steroids."

According to Feingold, PU won't take soft money or unlimited contributions, saying:

"We're going to be reporting every dime that we get, whether required by law or not....It will be 100 percent accountable, and that is an important principle that I believe in that we'll follow to the T....as a way of contrasting it to what's going on with the corporate money" that buys politicians like toothpaste.

It remains to be seen whether Feingold will prove true to his word, if his agenda also challenges other major issues, including imperial lawlessness and growing homeland repression. Crucially also is whether it spreads, inspiring similar efforts across America.

American Courts, like Politicians, Support Power, not People

Previous articles discussed the High Court's anti-populist agenda under Chief Justice John Roberts, one of several accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/07/supreme-court-inc-supremely-pro.html

The tradition, however, way pre-dated him, notably articulated by John Jay, America's first chief justice, saying the country should be run by those who own it. Also in Marbury v. Madison (1803), establishing the principle of judicial supremacy, making the Court the final arbiter of what is or is not the law, a disturbing precedent subsequent courts abused repeatedly.

Besides trashing civil liberty protections, its Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad decision (1886) was perhaps its worst by granting corporations personhood under the 14th Amendment, with all accruing rights and privileges but none of the obligations. More than any other ruling, including Citizens United, it gave them unchecked powers to become the dominant institution of our time, able to control Congress, the Executive, and state and federal courts as well as act lawlessly against public welfare interests.

On Wisconsin

Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel (JS) covered the uprising from inception in response to Republican Governor Scott Walker, in office since January 3, waging war against public workers and their unions, aiming to legislate restrictions of their collective bargaining rights to wage negotiations only.

He also wants state employees to double their health insurance and pension contributions, effectively enacting a 7% haircut if passed. In addition, he demands future pay raises not exceed annual Consumer Price Index increases, an index rigged to mask inflation's real toll, including for rent, medical care, food, energy, and other everyday household essentials.

On February 16, JS headlines included:

-- "Crowds growing at the Capitol," citing their numbers, intensity and anger, shouting "kill the bill," and waving placards reading "only the little people pay taxes." They filled the rotunda as Joint Finance Committee members prepared to vote to strip workers of hard won rights they're struggling hard to preserve.

-- "Madison West students walk out," hundreds emptying classrooms to protest school curriculum changes to save money and sabotage their educations.

-- "State's battle lines: Are state union workers beyond belief?" saying politicians follow a long tradition, serving power, not popular interests;

-- "Union chief asks MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools) to close schools Thursday," many teachers joining protesters.

-- "State workers rally at UWM (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)" against proposed cuts in wages, benefits and union rights.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) supports Democrats in congressional elections. Its web site - http://boldprogressives.org/home - urged members to:

"Call your state senator: Vote NO on Walker's radical proposal" and against his threat to use National Guard troops against state residents.

In an email to 13,000 Wisconsin members, it said:

"The idea that a governor can use the military to impose his personal, political will on the people he governs is a primitive relic of the past - one that resulted in a century of bloodshed in this country."

Howard Zinn wrote poignantly about the 1913-14 Ludlow, Colorado coal strike and subsequent massacre, killing 75 or more strikers, strike breakers, and bystanders for defying what he called "feudal kingdoms run by (coal barons that) made the laws," imposed curfews, and ran their operations more like despots than businessmen.

In 1968, force was last used against US workers during Memphis' sanitation strike, days before Martin Luther King's assassination, there to support them.

The last time in Wisconsin was in 1886, days after Chicago's Haymarket massacre killing police and striking workers, when state militia forces fired on striking Milwaukee steel workers, killing seven.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin (CAW) also condemned Walker's threat, its February 14 press release calling it "shockingly extreme, without modern precedent, and an attempt to coerce public workers," violating their First Amendment rights.

CAW's executive director, Robert Kraig, said:

"It is hard to ascribe any motive other than the coercion of public employees to deter them from exercising their Constitutional right to speak out and protest against unjust government actions. It is a classic union busting tactic to use the threat of dire consequences, and even violence, to deter legitimate protest and speech."

To enlist support, CAW launched a new web site, accessed through the following link:

http://www.notmywisconsin.com/

On February 16, New York Times writers Monica Davey and Steven Greenhouse, reporting from Madison, headlined, "Angry Demonstrations in Wisconsin as Cuts Loom," saying:

Defying Walker's threats, "protesters, scores deep, crushed into a corridor leading to (his) office here on Wednesday, their screams echoing through the Capitol: 'Come out, come out, wherever you are!' "

Behind closed doors, Walker issued a press release saying:

If he declares a state of emergency, his "bill authorizes appointing authorities to terminate any employees that are absent for three days without approval of the employer or any employees that participate in an organized action to stop or slow work."

In a separate statement, he added: "We didn't get elected to worry about the politics. For us, it's simple. We're broke," but his solution follows Washington's, making workers pay for Wall Street crimes and corporate enrichment, leaving them free to keep pillaging.

Stanford University's Professor William Gould, a former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) chairman, said:

"I'm sure we're going to hear more from other states where Republican governors are trying to heap the entire burden of the financial crisis on public employees and (their) unions. I think it's quite possible that if they're successful in doing this, a lot of other Republican governors will emulate" them.

In fact, Gould omitted saying Democrats are as ruthless as Republicans, including Obama and governors in dozens of states - slashing budgets, cutting workforces, and eliminating or reducing benefits since 2008, a process so far with no end in sight on the backs of ordinary workers least able to cope.

In Wisconsin, they, their supporters, and unions leaders are responding, occupying the Capitol, distributing fliers, planning vigils and "teach-outs," including over a dozen unions pledging millions of dollars, phone banks, and volunteers to fight back there and elsewhere.

According to Kim Anderson, National Education Association (NEA) head of government relations:

"We view the events in Wisconsin as one of the worst attacks on workers' rights and their voices in the workplace that we've ever seen."

University of Wisconsin's Kevin Gibbons, heading its teaching assistants union, said:

"I think Governor Walker is using this financial crisis as an excuse to attack unions, and if Wisconsin goes, what will be next?"

Already tensions in other states are growing, perhaps heading for the boil. In Ohio, public workers protested outside the Columbus Statehouse against legislation eliminating collective bargaining rights for thousands, restricting them for many others if Senate Bill 5 (SB5) passes. In Indianapolis, teachers rallied against a similar bill, and in Nashville, Tennessee, a legislative committee is considering its own.

Wisconsin's Republican majority will vote on Walker's plan by week's end. Except for possible amendments, passage seems assured unless protester thousands grow to tens of thousands, shut down the state like in Egypt, and stay the course by remaining resolute against injustice they won't tolerate.

Public sector unions called the protests, including the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), among others. Students and private sector workers participated.

These same unions and others, however, endorse Obama's new austerity budget, and backed his Race to the Top assault on public education. They also supported other measures barring government worker strikes. In Wisconsin, they're concerned about a bill provision banning automatic dues check-offs that if enacted affects millions of dollars in union revenues.

Workers have more pressing concerns - job security, a living wage, vital benefits, including health care and pensions, and unions backing them against federal, state and local governments wanting their rights weakened or stripped.

A University of Wisconsin teaching assistant perhaps spoke for others, comparing state developments to ongoing Middle East uprisings, saying, "When the government stops listening to us, that's when it becomes like Egypt."

It will have to far exceed replicating it, however, to halt America's race to the bottom, harming workers relentlessly to enrich bosses, wanting maximum wealth and power at the expense of rank and file workforces treated like serfs, a malignancy spreading everywhere unless stopped.

On Wisconsin for class struggles too important to lose.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

posted by Steve Lendman @ 1:41 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israeli Planes Carrying Crowd Dispersal Weapons Arrived in Egypt

Via El nido del cuco

ISRAEL RUSHING TO AID OF MUBARAK

Rights- 02. Feb, 2011

 NGO claims that Israeli planes carrying crowd dispersal weapons have arrived in Egypt

Veterans Today

Monday, 31 January 2011 14:20

Three Israeli planes landed at Cairo’s Mina International Airport on Saturday carrying hazardous equipment for use in dispersing and suppressing large crowds.

The International Network for Rights and Development has claimed that Israeli logistical support has been sent to Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak to help his regime confront demonstrations demanding that he steps down as head of state.

According to reports by the non-governmental organisation, three Israeli planes landed at Cairo’s Mina International Airport on Saturday carrying hazardous equipment for use in dispersing and suppressing large crowds.

In the statement circulated by the International Network, it was disclosed that Egyptian security forces received the complete cargoes on three Israeli planes which were, it is claimed, carrying an abundant supply of internationally proscribed gas to disperse unwanted crowds. If the reports are accurate, this suggests that the Egyptian regime is preparing for the worse in defence of its position, despite the country sinking into chaos.

On Sunday 30 January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Israeli government ministers in a public statement saying: “Our efforts aim at the continued maintenance of stability and security in the region… and I remind you that peace between the Israeli establishment and Egypt has endured for over three decades… we currently strive to guarantee the continuity of these relations.” Netanyahu added, “We are following the events unfolding in Egypt and the region with vigilance… and it is incumbent at this time that we show responsibility, self-restraint and maximum consideration for the situation… in the hope that the peaceful relations between the Israeli establishment and Egypt continue…”

The Israeli prime minister urged Israeli government ministers to refrain from making any additional statements to the media.

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2001-rights-ngo-claims-that-israeli-planes-carrying-crowd-dispersal-weapons-have-arrived-in-egypt

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

We are not going anywhere until our demands are met.

According to French sources, Mubarak wanted to cut it short and leave, but he stayed because the USA and some of his men insisted that he should stay until the stage is prepared for Omar Suleiman Al-akhbar. It's still not clear whetherOmar Suleiman, and the army are in the same trench.

Gen. Ismail Osman said that the army would not resort to the use of force against the Egyptian people, and called on citizens to not to take what would impair the general security of the country.

"Post-Mubarak transition" as seen in Washington ...

".... “Omar Suleiman and Tantawi think that the critical thing for the future of Egypt is that there be no confrontation between the military and the people,” said Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development and a former consultant to the National Intelligence Council. “Their thinking is, if there is a split between the popular will and the military, the whole state of Egypt no longer has its basis of legitimacy.” 

 

That judgment is significant, Cohen said: “By saying that there cannot be a confrontation between the military and the demonstrators, they are basically telling Mubarak the game is over for him." The assessment came as the Egyptian army issued a formal statement Monday saying that it would not use force against the Egyptian people .....  Tantawi and Suleiman “have different ideas about how the transition can take place,” Cohen said...."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 6:07 PM

Stay tuned



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

EGYPT: Feb. 1, 2011 is a definitive day in the Egyptian historic revolution.

By Aadel M Al-Mahdy

Jan. 31, 2011 at: 5:07 pm.

It is said, “Whoever throw seeds in foolish shall reap in sorrow”. The dictator Mubarak has done so for a long time after lucky winds and circumstances entrusted him with the responsibility of leading Egypt after the assasination of his predicessor, President Anwar Al-Sadaat. He has been elected for more than one time. But in the process of leadership, he did not only go astray. He willingly succumbed to the temptation of power that comes with the chair and became a magnet of his own evil, thus attracting thuggish souls around him. “Birds of a feather, flock together”, so it is said.

Would Feb. 1, 2011 be a miraflores day of the Egyptian revolution? A definitive day where protesters, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, secular, will meet at the Liberation square (Midaan Al-Tahrir), at 9:00 am and then  march to the presidential palace of the Dictator.

It is expected that Mubarak will not be there.  But the demonstration may cease the place.

Whether the dictator will be present or the not, the revolutionary move brings to my memory the time when an Egyptian patriot, Ahmad Urabi, (Urabi Pasha) stood up and protested with his military gallant company in front of the palace of the corrupt Khedive who ruled Egypt then and who himself was subject to Anglo-French (the USA of their time) control under the rules of the Caisse de la Dette Publique. And only then, Urabi in response to the idiocy and arrogance of the corrupt Khedive uttered his famous phrase that always brought tears to my eyes when I was young, “How could you enslave people, when their mothers delivered them free?!”

With reference to an article posted on this blog, Uprooted Palestinians, and on theNakedTruthInAconfusedWorld blog, let us hope that Feb. 1, 2011 will not be a Miraflores Day  (confrontation day in Venezuela in  2002) when CIA backed police forces fired live ammunition in order to destabilize  the Chavez regime and cause chaos in the streets  With Israel panicking and the USA not so far asked Mubarak to step down, and Biden, polishing Mubarak’s character, let us pray that nothing similar will happen.

Long live Egypt

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

EGYPT: This time the enemy is from within.

Egyptians

seek million-strong march to oust Mubarak

By Aadel M. Al-Mahdy

Jan. 31, 2011 ate 6:58 pm

In my mind, when I was a kid, the mere mentioning of the word “India” would evoke mental images of adventures and paradox, and the mere mentioning of the word “China” would evoke mental images of wise people.

And then I grew up to find out that every country has its own share. 

Egypt for example had trouble weeks ago when there were tension between Christians and Muslims after the attack on Al-Qiddiseen Church in Alexandria.  I was very upset because Egyptians have already had their share of misery under the corrupt regime of Hosni Mubarak and needed not to add more to their plates which are already full to the brim.

But the slumbering giant awoke throwing off the yoke of slavery and shaking off the shackles of suppression, asking the corrupt president to step down along with his rotten cabinet. 

People gathered in thousands in the street senchanting their demands; Muslims and Christians and otherwise. Differences had no meaning any more. All united against one enemy. But this time the enemy is from within.

 1919 

Egyptian revolution flag

In 1919, Saad Zaghloul lead the people in a revolution against the British tyranny. They demonstrated in the street enchanting their demands; also Christians, Muslims and otherwise; one nation, one land, one hand.

We

are all Egyptians.

Long live Egypt

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian