Socialist group discusses implications of Egyptian conflict

Members of Pitt’s International Students for Social Equality group met last night in the… Members of Pitt’s International Students for Social Equality group met last night in the William Pitt Union to discuss economic inequalities in Egypt and around the world.

The event, held in the Lower Lounge of the Union, attracted fewer than 20 people for a lecture titled “The World Significance of the Revolution in Egypt.” The International Students for Social Equality, a Pitt-based affiliate of the Socialist Equality Party, hosted the event.

The crisis in one of the Arab world’s largest countries has jumped into the headlines for more than a month and sparked related conversation around campus and across the world. Many believe that the departure of long-time President Hosni Mubarak offers Egyptians an opportunity for democracy. Others fear another dictatorship will emerge.

Samuel Davidson, a staff writer for World Socialist Web Site, led the discussion on an analysis of economic inequalities in Egypt and the world.

“Forty percent of Egyptians live on $2 a day,” Davidson said. “Between 5 and 15 percent of GDP goes to military expenditures, and Egypt is on the world’s top 25 worst countries in violations of human rights according to ILO [International Labor Organization],” he said.

He attributed the current struggle of the working class in protesting countries to be a result of the 2008 economic crises, which drove people toward destitution and increased struggles.

According to a New York Times publication, the world inequality index showed the U.S. at 40.8 percent inequality. Tunisia and Egypt ranked only slightly lower in the index, at 39.8 percent and 34.4 percent respectively.

When asked what he thought the ideal solution would be in Egypt, Davidson said, “We would like to see socialism. We do not believe that the reforms will be lasting as long as the military is controlling the reform process.”

Davidson felt that the social uprising and lack of leadership presents an opportunity for socialist reform, making the typically abstract concept of socialism tangible in modern society.

“We’re not trying to destroy the economy, we’re trying to make it fair so that a small minority of people does not control the majority of wealth and capital,” Davidson said. “Masses create the initial groundwork for a new regime.”

Kevin Foley, president and founder of the student group at Pitt, added that the SEP idea of socialism is not to take money and spread the wealth, but to have a planned economy.

Davidson’s hour-long PowerPoint presentation began with discussion on the ideals of Leon Trotsky, which he said are core to the Socialist Party ideology. Davidson emphasized that, like Trotsky, the SEP does not support Stalinism.

Various socialist literature covered a table to the side of the lounge room. This literature included works such as “Towards Socialism or Capitalism,” “1937: Stalin’s Year of Terror” and “The Crises of the World Capitalist System,” that were for sale.

“The purpose of the event is to discuss the imminent developments in the Middle East,” Foley said. “The protests started in Tunisia but now spread to Egypt, Morocco, Yemen and Bahrain. Our view on the whole situation is that there is a lack of leadership in all of these movements.”

Foley added that the Socialist Equality Party hopes to gain strength and influence by building leadership and establishing independent parties made up of the working class in these countries.

“In Pakistan, the SEP recently helped facilitate the birth of a new socialist party,” Foley said.

Meredith McNair, a freshman at Pitt who attended the lecture, identifies as anti-capitalist because she believes that people on top are in total control of the government and have distorted democracy and capitalism and what it was meant to be.

“We don’t need a revolution in the USA, just a change in direction, perhaps back to FDR-like policies,” she said. “In general, I hope that Pitt students will follow international news and become more aware of what’s going on in the world.”