Anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square as Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak addressed the nation. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
And so it has happened. Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt. Who would have thought it’d happen? I certainly didn’t think he would ever give up power. He’s ruled Egypt with an iron fist for nearly 30 years. Why would a few protests change the status quo. As in Iran, all those marches, demonstrations could have gone for naught. But, not this time. Something different was in the air – revolution. 110,000 people peacefully (for the most part) gathering in Cairo and throughout Egypt for 18 days have forced Mubarak to step down. Or more precisely, the military sided with the protestors and THEY forced Mubarak to step down. Either way, the result is the same. Peaceful protests en-mass forced a dictator out of office.
From my days living in Cairo while attending the American University in Cairo to study Egyptology, I still vividly remember life Egypt under Mubarak. All the phones made that distinctive clicking sound of being wire tapped. When I plugged my laptop into the AUC dorm’s Ethernet connection my computer was monitored. The red screen that would periodically pop up stating “computer XXXXX is monitoring your device” was a dead giveaway. My first day at the University, all of the study abroad students received a call from the tech department stating that a virus had swept through the University affecting all computers. We needed to bring our laptops to the tech department to have special anti-virus software installed. Only their anti-virus software would prevent our computers from becoming infected and the viral plague from spreading. I laughed and kindly informed them “No thank you. I have Norton Anti-virus, which will get rid of any virus that tries to take down my computer.” “Oh no,” they countered, “that will not work. We must install our special software. Only it will work…..Insha’Allah.” Yeah right, special software, read “please let us bug your computer.” I squashed their plans with a firm “no way can you install ANYTHING on my computer.” And the creepiness continued. The study abroad department at AUC warned us to be careful what we said at all times, particularly of a political nature. The walls had ears. A couple I knew who worked at the embassy routinely had their apartment ransacked. Nothing was taken; the apartment was just searched by the Egyptian secret police.
When I stepped out of my dorms, the level in poverty in Egypt was mindblowing. Cairo is one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Go outside for a couple hours, your hands will turn black from the air pollution. On a good day you can only see a few blocks, due to the heavy smog that blankets the city. Beggars sit on street corners, usually missing a limb or two, covered in flies, and missing many teeth; pitifully raising their hands (if they have them) at anyone who passes by. If you take a car or bus to areas outside of Cairo’s main city center, you’ll see dead animals lining the roads, dead animals in the drainage ditches, and the occasional dead person beside the road. People are too poor and have too many problems of their own to care about removing the bodies of the unknown from the streets.
Anti-government protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square listen as President Hosni Mubarak speaks to the nation February 10, 2011. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
As a tourist you have a direct impact on so many families’ lives when you travel to Egypt. There is money in Egypt from oil, the Suez Canal, and big money to be made in the tourist industry. I would know. I went to college with the children of the Egyptian billionaires. This money stays among the uber rich and the highest levels of government. Mubarak was more interested in keeping the population of Egypt repressed and subservient and himself rich, than instigating social programs and aid to combat this staggering level of poverty.
Mubarak controlled the People’s perception of their lives and the world both inside of Egypt and outside. In towns outside of Cairo, loud speakers adorned street lamps emitting a steady stream of propaganda. Blaring Mubarak is great, Mubarak protects you, Mubarak keeps Egypt safe, and so forth. That’s brainwashing in action. Then there was the state run news ERTU. They wrote reported as news what Mubarak and the government wanted the people to believe. They flooded the masses with fear and conspiracy theories. Mubarak controlled the Egyptian people’s perception of the world. All that the everyday Egyptian knew of the world was funneled through the twisted lens of Mubarak’s administrations’ filter.
I lived in Egypt in 2003, before Facebook had really taken off. With the growth of Facebook, the internet and other forms of social media, the Egyptians have been able to gain better access to information from the outside world. Facebook was one of the first sources to break the story of the protest s in Egypt, and has been a main tool utilized by the protestors to organize.
On January 25th, the first protests occurred in Tahrir Square. For 18 days, the Egyptian People held that square and refused to leave. Tahrir Square is where the American University in Cairo is located, along with the Egyptian Museum. It was surreal to see a place I walked around every day on my way to class, now the peaceful battleground of a populace uprising in Egypt. It is the heart of Egypt, and by planting themselves there, the protestors made a powerful symbolic statement
On Thursday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (They have only convened 2 other times in the history of modern Egypt. They met in 1967 during the 6 Day War and 1973 during the Arab-Israeli War.) issued Communique #1. In this Communique they stated that the military would take necessary measures to protect the nation and support the legitimate demands of the people
Historically in the middle east, when the military of a country issues Communiques it usually is right before a military coup. And this poses the question, is this a military coup in another form? If they force Mubarak to step down and then proceed to take over the government, the Egyptian people may have traded one dictator for another. With the chanting Thursday by the crowds in Tahrir Square that the military was with the people, I couldn’t help but mentally urge the Egyptian people not to trust the military. Something doesn’t ring true about this situation. It seems more likely that if the people ask the military to take over, they will and then not give the power to a democratic government, rather , keeping it for themselves. But only time will tell if democracy will prevail, or it the military decided to take the opportunity to “help” the People of Egypt out and thus supplant themselves in power.
A woman cries in Tahrir Square after it is announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was giving up power February 11, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Photo credit: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
This morning reports were coming in that Mubarak and his family had left the Heliopolis Presidential Palace for sunny Sharm el-Sheikh. Then the announcement was made, Mubarak was stepping down as president and giving all powers to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. Jubilation erupted in Tahrir Square. People celebrated in the streets all day and night. They had claimed a large victory on the way to democracy. And not through extreme violence, but they won by peacefully (relatively) gathering in large forces and refusing to budge until their demands were met. Put another way, the people en mass stated that they were no longer going to participate in the dysfunction of their country. They were not going to give power to their corrupt government through their silence and compliance. Governments are in power because we give them power through our acceptance and their rule and our participation in society. The Egyptians took back that power they had given the government by no longer participating in their society.
When I lived in Egypt, It was whispered around the country that if Mubarak left office the country would fall to ruin and chaos. Different factions of the government, his son and members of the military, would vie for power. We are about to see that moment. What was not factored into the equation is that a relatively peaceful populace uprising would be what removed him.
Egypt is the corner stone of the Middle East. What happens in Egypt will have rippling effects for the entire region. Will Jordan be next? If peaceful, nation-wide protest can oust one dictator, will other regimes in other countries fall because the people see that it is possible if they stand firm and refuse to continue participating in their own national dysfunction. If they can form a democracy, it could trigger copycat revolutions aiming for the same goal. People are waking up and ready for change, what’s going on in Egypt could just be the inspiration and encouragement they need. We sit at one of those magic moments in history. A crossroads where the world changes. We have a stake in what happens in Egypt because it will affect the rest of the world.
Posted in 2011, Egypt
Tags: 2011, Egypt, Egypt protests, Egypt Revolution, February 11, Hosni Mubarak, Mubarak, Revolution, Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Tahrir Square
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