The Movement in Egypt: A Dialogue with Samir Amin

Abstract

In this dialogue spanning February to May 2011, Samir Amin, one of the most important theorists of dependency theory and a long-time activist in third world social movements, discusses with Wang Hui, Wen Tiejun, and Lau Kin Chi, professors from China, the implications of the political unfolding of the Arab Spring in Egypt. With a consensus that the Egyptian revolution is not a color revolution, Samir Amin examines the components and strategies of the movement that brought down the Mubarak regime, the formation of Popular Committees and the National Council, as well as the confluence of left forces into the Alliance of the Socialist Forces. The dialogue explores the spirit of defiance and the regeneration of social connections in the Egyptian movement, situates the current struggles in the context of the politics of Egypt and the geopolitics in North Africa in the last decades, analyzes the complicity of the Muslim Brotherhood with the United States, and compares Egypt to other countries of social upsurge in the region. The exchanges explore the gross inadequacies of liberal democracy in addressing the infrastructural problems that Egypt is confronted with, probe the ways to go beyond street politics and parliamentary politics, and relate the current political crisis to the economic crises of high inflation and high unemployment. The dialogue ends with a comparison between Egypt and China, pointing to the need for food sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency, political autonomy, and a long memory appropriate to these two nations with deep historical roots.