Al Jazeera: Anger in Egypt (cont'd)
Egypt’s military have a long history of collaboration with US-controlled tyrants.
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They took questions from journalists and the public during the three-hour programme, which generally won positive reviews from Egyptians.
And they promised a number of significant reforms:
- The current government, headed by prime minister Ahmad Shafiq, will be temporary.
- High-ranking officials accused of corruption during the Mubarak regime will be investigated and arrested (several have been already, and the generals promised more).
- Political prisoners will be released (though they did not specify when).
- Egyptians will be allowed to vote in upcoming elections using their national IDs, rather than using the old fraud-ridden system of voting cards.
A system worth restarting?
The military, for its part, seems to be trying to outmanoeuvre the protesters, by pledging political reforms while simultaneously casting the rallies as a drag on the struggling Egyptian economy.
But labour activists view this as a rare opportunity to win real economic reforms. Corruption and nepotism were hallmarks of the Mubarak-era Egyptian economy, which allowed a handful of well-connected cronies to enrich themselves through monopolies and back-room deals.
Strike actions are likely to continue, in other words, with a few activists even now calling for a nationwide general strike to oust the Shafiq government and the military junta.
This tension will probably come to define Egyptian politics over the next few weeks and months, and decide the (still uncertain) outcome of the Egyptian revolution.