Dissolving through direct action

Yesterday, Egypt’s State Security Investigation Service, or the “SS” as it has been locally named, was dissolved, as announced by Interior Minister Mansour al-Issawi.  This comes just a week after Egyptian activists demonstrated at State Security buildings across Alexandria and Cairo, including its headquarters in Nasr City, in the north of Cairo, which was occupied and searched by the demonstrators, who discovered huge piles of documents which had been shredded in an attempt to cover up evidence of torture and human rights abuses under the Mubarak regime.

What the outcome of dissolving the state security will be is still unclear; reports suggest that the government want to create a replacement, ominously titled as the “National Security Force”.  However, the SSIS has been one of the main instruments of terror for decades of Mubarak rule, and it’s disbandment will bring jubilation to thousands of ordinary Egyptians.  But, as Egyptian journalist and political activist Hossam el-Hamalawy observes, the SSIS is not the only culprit of recent crimes:

“Of course this is a great thing and we are happy, but the state security are not the only institution involved in trying to create this counter-revolution.  There is the mukhabbarat intelligence services, there are the remnants of Mubarak’s NDP party and there are the local governors of municipalities.  Even the Generals of the army are blaming the state security for certain abuses on occasion, but they are also a part of the counter-revolution.”

El-Hamalawy described the distinction between the mukhabbarat and the SSIS as “that of the CIA and the FBI in the US”.  Both Egyptian security agencies work hand-in-hand in illegally detaining citizens, with the former allegedly involved in the interrogation process of the victims of US rendition flights to Egypt.

“The dissolving of the state security is a victory,” el-Hamalawy continues, “but it does not mean there will be no more torture in Egypt.  There were many different elements of the security forces implicated in crimes under the previous regime, right down to the traffic police.  The dissolving of the state security comes as a direct response to the pressure on the streets, and we are sending a clear message to the heads of all elements of the security forces; if you are responsible for the torture of citizens, you will face similar demonstrations and your offices will be occupied.  The people will not be silent any longer.”

It seems that the Egyptian revolution has come to a tipping point; as el-Hamalawy predicts, only continued pressure can ensure sustainable change.  The army generals are in a highly contradictory position; as Jeremy Bowen reported for the BBC, “the army has been at the centre of power in Egypt since a coup in 1952.  The system that has developed since then suits the generals very well.  Now they are expected to dismantle it.  Power and money are hard things to give up.”

The generals may not be willing to give up their power, but neither was Hosni Mubarak.  And we all know what happened to him.

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