The Arab states are dying. Where can their national politics lead, founded [as they are] on the misery of their people?
There wasn't any Egyptian revolution.[1] It died in its first few days; it died with the textile workers shot because of their "communism." In Egypt, one puts the crowd to sleep by showing them the Suez Canal. The English will not get far: only as far as Jordan or Libya.
Saudi Arabia bases its social life on the Quran and sells its oil to the Americans. All of the Middle East is in the hands of the military. The capitalist powers erect rival nationalisms, and play them [off against each other].
It is necessary to supercede all ideas of nationalism.
North Africa must liberate itself,[2] not only from foreign occupation, but also from its feudal masters. We must recognize our country everywhere that the idea of freedom that suits us rules, and only there.
Our brothers are beyond the questions of frontier and race. Certain oppositions, such as the conflict with the State of Israel, can only be resolved by a revolution in both camps. It is necessary to say to the Arab countries: our cause is communal. There is no West facing you.
Mohamed Dahou[1] Here Dahou refers to "the second Egyptian revolution," which broke out on 26 January 1952. The "first" Egyptian revolution began in the spring of 1919.
[2] From the French, who ruled Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The war for Algerian independence began in November 1954, shortly after this text was written.
(Published in Potlatch: Information Bulletin of the French Group of the Lettrist International, #6, 27 July 1954. Translated from the French and footnoted by NOT BORED!)