People’s Moment in Egypt

The successful ouster of the tyrannical Hosni Mubarak from his 30 year old rule in Egypt would remain as one of the most important events of this century. The fact that it was made possible by people’s power adds to its importance. The pro-democracy activists of Egypt used modern online tools like the Facebook and Twitter to come together and waged a mostly peaceful uprising against the dictator Mubarak. It is certainly people’s moment in Egypt as after 18 days of unrelenting struggle, brave Egyptians attained their long cherished freedom.

Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak assumed the presidency in 1981 following the assassination of the then President Anwar El Sadat. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force. He is mostly seen as a pro-west leader and has generally been known for his support of Israel. Hosni Mubarak significantly presided over the Camp David accord, which contained a series of agreements between Egypt and Israel. At the same time most people in Egypt do not accept the Camp David agreement and generally accuse Mubarak for the installation of the accord. Mubarak continued with his reign of the country using highly rigged general elections in the country. Elections were held once in every 6 years and in all these elections Mubarak used the state machinery to turn the popular votes in his favour. During his reign state corruption was extremely high and it led to the imprisonment of many young activist and political opposition without trial. Egypt has been under perpetual Emergency Law rule since 1967 and under the law constitutional rights of the people were suspended, police powers were extended and censorship was legalised. Citizen’s efforts towards achieving freedom of speech and expression were thwarted using iron hand. All these factors lead to popular discontent and people took to the streets after gaining encouragement from the Tunisian uprising.

The role of online social media in the success of the Egyptian revolution is commendable. Facebook and Twitter were effectively used by the activists to organise people for the cause. It could be safely said that the revolution was started online, as accepted by Wael Ghonim, Marketing Manager, Middle East at Google Inc. He is one who started a Facebook page for convincing the masses about the need for an uprising and is credited with helping millions of Egyptians feel emboldened to take to the streets to bring down 30 years of autocratic rule by Hosni Mubarak. During the victory march by the protestors after Mubarak announced his resignation, many people carried banners and posters that read ‘Thank you Facebook’ in Arabic and English. The wide use of social media sites by the protesters in Egypt has raised alarm bells in China, where both Facebook and Twitter are blocked.

The Egyptian revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak drew inspiration from the Tunisian revolution that resulted in the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Similarly all other autocracies in the Middle East are under threat of people’s movement as in Tunisia and Egypt. Governments in other Middle East countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Jordan are petrified at the probability of similar popular uprisings against them.

Though Hosni Mubarak gave up his presidency and fled to Sharm el-Sheikh, all of Egypt’s problems haven’t disappeared yet. The Supreme Military Council has taken over from Hosni Mubarak and they have made it clear that they have no intention of holding on to the power and will only oversee the peaceful transition of power to democratic forces of the country. The people’s movement has to remain vigilant till the governance of the country gets into the hands of the democratic players. Hopefully such a transition of power from autocracy to democracy would happen in a peaceful way. There is little doubt that the people’s revolution in Egypt would remain in the annals of history as one of the greatest movements for freedom. It is equally true that a violent storm of democracy is sweeping across Middle East and only time will tell how many more despotic governments are going to get uprooted in its rage.