There’s an Egyptian professor at my school that I’ve been meeting with from time to time to discuss Marxism. He often buys the paper and reads our articles online. He is pessimistic about the possibility of revolution.
In our last meeting in his office, he told me that the state is too powerful, that it could never be overcome. I described how the state is not as strong as it seems; it contains the contradictions of class society, with lower layers sometimes sympathizing and even defecting to the side of the workers in a revolution. Plus it’s no match for the sheer size of the masses, when they’re organized!
For a brief moment, he had this faraway romantic look, as if he was somewhere else, and said he was reminded of being a young grad student in Egypt in 2011. He excitedly told me about how, before the revolution broke out, his people were so terrified of Mubarak; they often said that he could never be overthrown, that his state was too powerful and well-armed.
And yet, when the Arab Spring broke out, he distinctly recalls seeing police officers run home in their underwear—they wouldn’t be caught dead with their uniforms on, lest they feel the wrath of the masses! Where once there was an armed officer on every corner, they were suddenly nowhere to be found. He admitted that perhaps revolution isn’t so impossible after all, in the face of a mighty state!
-Niki A., Montréal
