John Rees on where the Arab revolutions are going

'Democratic revolutions can be more or less thorough going. Some of the ‘colour revolutions’ of recent years have merely given a thin democratic veneer, if that, to old corrupt elites. Others, like the South African dismantling of Apartheid, have led to a more fundamental political change, although the underlying relations of exploitation remained untouched.

The Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions are heading towards a more, not less, complete dismantling of the old political structure. This momentum means that a second ‘revolution within the revolution’ which challenges the economic relations of exploitation is easier to contemplate.'

See 'The Arab revolutions: results and prospects'


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