Free Lecture Sponsored by the Olympia World Affairs Council
SPEAKER: Dr. Steve Niva, Professor of Middle East and International Politics, The Evergreen State College
TOPIC: Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution: The Military’s Coup and the Conflict Between “Transition” and “Revolution”
THURSDAY, March 1, Olympia Center, 7:30 PM, Room 101
Professor Steve Niva has just returned from Egypt where he met with activists, journalists and academics who are involved in the new round of protests. He will examine the electoral successes of the Islamist political parties and explain the lack of unity among the contenders. The big winner, the Muslim Brotherhood, believes that working through the military sponsored “transition” process will eventually give them the power to shape a new Egypt. On the other side are the mostly younger activists, including many labor advocates, who believe that only by sweeping away the lingering aspects of the Mubarak regime through “revolution”, including the institutional power of the military, will a new democratic Egypt emerge.
Professor Niva will share what he learned from this trip and discuss the rise of new protest movements, including the role of Egyptian soccer fans known as “ultras” and the military counterrevolution largely backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia.