Mubarak’s Second Departure Will Not Be the Last

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

As fate would have it, Mubarak departed from this world in February, the same month as his departure from power nine years ago.

The nine years that have passed since the January Revolution ousted him from power have proven that the thirty years he spent ruling as the absolute authority of the country firmly entrenched Mubarak’s regime in Egypt’s political life.

Crushing all forms of opposition for three decades and taming political life paved the way for the military dictatorship that followed. Thus, Sisi’s rule emerged as a more ruthless iteration of Mubarak’s dictatorship.

The economic reform policies that Mubarak implemented timidly and gradually, Sisi applied with unprecedented speed, plunging even more Egyptians into poverty, raising the poverty rate in Egypt to a third of the population, according to official state data. Sisi transformed Mubarak’s policy of containing and taming the opposition into a policy of eliminating and crushing it. Mubarak’s alignment with the U.S. and Israel was turned by Sisi into unquestioning subservience not only to the U.S. and Israel but also to financial centers in the Gulf, even to the extent of ceding Egyptian territories to Saudi Arabia.

Sisi’s crimes do not diminish Mubarak’s crimes, for the crime of thirty years of absolute dictatorial rule is what created a worse new dictator.

As Mubarak departs from life today, following his departure from power yesterday, his final departure does not erase his heavy legacy of authoritarianism, impoverishment, and subservience. Only then can a society that enjoys freedom and justice be built.