Revolution in Egypt

14Feb/110

I thought this was a great piece on the the events leading up to the revolution and a great recap of the whole ordeal right through to the point where Mubarak stepped down.

Dual Uprisings Show Potent New Threats to Arab States

The morning where Mubarak was widely expected to step down but did not:

Considered the heir apparent to his father until the youth revolt eliminated any thought of dynastic succession, the younger Mubarak pushed his father to hold on to power even after his top generals and the prime minister were urging an exit, according to American officials who tracked Hosni Mubarak’s final days.

The defiant tone of the president’s speech on Thursday, the officials said, was largely his son’s work.

“He was probably more strident than his father was,” said one American official, who characterized Gamal’s role as “sugarcoating what was for Mubarak a disastrous situation.” But the speech backfired, prompting Egypt’s military to force the president out and assert control of what they promise will be a transition to civilian government.

Could this be the future?

“If a small group of people in every Arab country went out and persevered as we did, then that would be the end of all the regimes,” he said, joking that the next Arab summit might be “a coming-out party” for all the ascendant youth leaders.

I guess I learned nothing from the success of non-violent rebellions in the past. I did not believe that peaceful protest was going to lead to any positive change.

For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.

Reading about how resilient and disciplined the Egyptian people were in sticking to the path of non-violence was very inspiring. This was the message that they all believed:

“This is your country; a government official is your employee who gets his salary from your tax money, and you have your rights.”

It was greating reading how different factions in Egypt work together toward this common cause.

Even Obama got in on the action. Some of the words that were reportedly said to Mubarak in conversation:

“You have a large portion of your people who are not satisfied, and they won’t be until you make concrete political, social and economic reforms.”

“I respect my elders. And you have been in politics for a very long time, Mr. President. But there are moments in history when just because things were the same way in the past doesn’t mean they will be that way in the future.”

Shortly after, Mubarak was expected to resign but did not.

It was that rambling, convoluted address that proved the final straw for the Egyptian military, now fairly certain that it would have Washington’s backing if it moved against Mr. Mubarak, American officials said. Mr. Mubarak’s generals ramped up the pressure that led him at last, without further comment, to relinquish his power.

“Eighty-five million people live in Egypt, and less than 1,000 people died in this revolution — most of them killed by the police,” said Mr. Ghonim, the Google executive. “It shows how civilized the Egyptian people are.” He added, “Now our nightmare is over. Now it is time to dream.”

This is not the end. Things are just beginning over in Egypt.