Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The revenge of the middle-class anti-elitist

Twenty-First Century Victorians

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt "The Brotherhood was designed to cut across class barriers. Social solidarity was essential to preserve unity. Members are obliged by article 10 of the Brotherhood's General Order to provide such solidarity. Upper-class members are encouraged to purify their souls by helping out those with lesser means, whereas the latter learnt to live contently under the paternalistic care of their social betters. To balance the potentially divisive drives of the upper and lower echelons, middle-class members, an organizational majority, managed the whole ... This brilliant arrangement made evryone happy: spiritual salvation for the wealthy; immediate relief for the poor; and political power for the aspiring middle-class." — Hazem Kandil, Inside the Brotherhood, 2015, p. 76

Louis Proyect: "All me cynical but my take on the middle-class protests in Venezuela is that it is less interested in democracy than it is in ratcheting the Gini coefficient back towards one. I remain a committed Marxist but when it comes to Maduro versus Leopoldo Lopez, the opposition leader who was a key figure in the 2002 coup attempt, I’ll stick with Maduro—warts and all. Or I should say Boligarchs and all."  Yes, but also have to be very critical of Maduro.

Some good and valid arguments, including facts. I wonder though why investment (the engine for growth) and the rate of profit (the life blood of capitalism) are totally absent in the article. Has western-style democracy become too expensive for capitalism?

I am crying for these middle class people