After The Fall of Mubarak Egyptians Await Elections

February 25th, 2011: 

"The ruling military council said it intends to retain power for six months or longer while elections are scheduled and will rule by decree. It suspended the constitution and said a committee will draw up amendments that will be put to a referendum. It also dissolved the widely discredited parliament, elected in a tainted ballot last year," the Guardian reports. Since the fall of the Mubarak regime on February on the 11th of February, the military has taken power and promised change but some protesters are still awaiting the elections until they are confident their revolution has reached its end. In fact, "activists returned to Tahrir Square in their thousands to demand faster pace to the reforms". This is not the only reason some protesters have continued demonstrations. They also want to have political prisoners released and they want a new cabinet without figures from the old Mubarak regime. Furthermore, Hosni Mubarak is to be put on trial and will be responsible for his 31 years of rule. To calm the protesters the "ruling military council has promised elections within six months." But activists have still chanted "Revolution until victory". It is fair for protesters to want elections as soon as possible after having waited for over 30 years for an opportunity. This must be kept in mind by the military until they are able to schedule an election. After all, history has sometimes had a revolution only to lead to more bad rulers, as seen in the French Revolution with leaders like Robespierre. It is certain that this revolution has been successful and will achieve democracy in Egypt soon and for that one can praise the Egyptian people. For the claims the demonstrators had were indeed legitimate and today have proved to better Egyptian society, and possibly also the economy as reforms are scheduled to be put into place. As this extraordinary revolution slowly ends, the world can learn a lesson from the Egyptian and Middle Eastern youth: if people want a change strongly enough, then they will fight for it until it is achieved. This Arab Spring is far from over, but already flowers have begun to blossom where there was once only dirt.

Egyptians Celebrate As Hosni Mubarak Resigns

February 11th, 2011:
"After 18 days of mass protest, it took just over 30 seconds for Egypt's vice-president, Omar Suleiman, to announce that President Hosni Mubarak was standing down and handing power to the military." Today, Egyptian protesters celebrate the victory of their almost 3 week campaign for revolution. Only four days ago Mubarak announced a 15% rise in salaries and pensions in a desperate attempt to satisfy demonstrators. Despite this obvious attempt to improve income distribution and make peasants and other lower class workers happy enough to stop rebelling against the Mubarak regime, it did not work as today's events have proven. As the ruling National Democratic party lost power today, after it had won more "83% of the 518 seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections", it seemed uncertain when the military council led by the defense minister, Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, would hand over power to an elected party. "But the military council said it would not act as a substitute for a 'legitimate' government. A spokesman said on TV that the armed forces would be announcing steps and arrangements to introduce the changes Egyptians wanted." It is clear that Egyptians have indeed deserved this success and the toppling of the old regime which has now unlocked them a path to fair elections and eventually improved lives. Up to 300 lives have been claimed by violent protests but Karim Medhat Ennarah, a protester is optimistic: "For 18 days we have withstood teargas, rubber bullets, live ammunition, Molotov cocktails, thugs on horseback, the scepticism and fear of our loved ones, and the worst sort of ambivalence from an international community that claims to care about democracy. But we held our ground. We did it." Wael Ghonim, a Google-executive who had recently been released by police after being arrested for several days, also helped carry the demonstrations into the final stages. Hailed by fellow Egyptians as a hero, Ghonim was the one who had set up the Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said" (named after an Egyptian businessman whose death in June at the hands of the police set of many demonstrations). This Facebook page and the overall help of social media in the revolution helped bypass state controlled media censorship and was therefore "one of the main tools for organizing the demonstrations that started the revolt in earnest". The final push that led to the fall of the regime was also provided by the United States and the rest of the world as they sided with the protesters. Only a day before Mubarak stepped down, Obama issued the following statement: "The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity." Obama also praised the protesters by saying: "Those who have exercised their right to peaceful assembly represent the greatness of the Egyptian people, and are broadly representative of Egyptian society." After the turbulent day before Mubarak's resignation "Switzerland immediately froze the assets of the former President" and he left Cairo, to go to Sharm el-Sheikh where Mubarak has his government villas. For now, protesters are celebrating their victory from Alexandria and Suez to Cairo. Still, Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent opposition leader called the change a 'liberation of the Egyptian people' but also said: "We have a lot of daunting tasks ahead of us. Our priority to make sure the country is restored; socially cohesive, economically vibrant, politically democratic," he said. "My message to the Egyptian people is, you have gained your liberty, the right to catch up with the rest of the world. Make the best use of it." Indeed, it seems the future will be brighter than the past but Egyptians will still need the energy and motivation they had in their large demonstrations to tackle the issues Egypt still faces - some left-over from Mubarak's disturbing dictatorship. Economic issues like debt and inflation and social issues like poverty, a new constitution and new rights will need to be solved by the new government that will be elected in the upcoming elections. Today, however, protesters will celebrate the dawn of a new and hopefully better Egypt- one that their revolution has made possible.

Biggest Protest Yet In Cairo Puts Pressure on Mubarak To Step Down

February 4th, 2011: 

The "day of departure" protest that was scheduled in Tahrir Sqaure today produced the biggest turn-out yet of anti-Mubarak protests. Even after Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak announced on February 1st that he would stand down during the next election in September. However, millions still joined in the protests today because they want Mubarak to step down immediately, and as the Egyptian actor Mohsena Tawfik put it: "Once revolution has begun it will not stop". Barack Obama supported the revolutionaries by saying that "change must begin now". Yet as Mubarak made his grave appearance on state television earlier this week he "attacked those responsible for protests that had been 'manipulated by political forces', caused mayhem and chaos and endangered the 'stability of the nation', the Guardian reports. Mubarak said he was always going to quit in September, something he had never told the public until recently. Ironicly this appearance of Mubarak may be the very reason protests have escalated recently. Amr, a 32-year-old protester said: "the tragedy is in the lies told about us by the regime". This clearly shows that the protesters have the right to continue demanding the immediate step down of Mubarak. With 20% of the population currently below the poverty line it is clear that society is made up mostly of the lower class where a stable Bourgeoisie, or middle class, is clearly missing. This explains why protests have been so popular, as indeed the lower class are feeling the effects of Mubarak regime's failure at improving the economy the most (most notably felt in unemployment and the cost of living, since many young people in Egypt now do not earn enough money to support a family). Another reason protests have continued is the anger at pro-Mubarak supporters, who according to the Guardian, have been "using clubs, bats, knives and even homemade spears" to charge Tahrir Square. This shows that Mubarak feels the need to combat mostly peaceful protests with violence which only makes the protester claims more legitimate. In fact, a coalition of 300 youth coordinators  who planned the initial demonstrations against the Mubarak regime have laid down specific demands."They include not just the removal of Mubarak but also the disassembling of the entire NDP elite around him, precluding a smooth transition should vice-president Omar Suleiman, a close Mubarak ally, take the helm once the president leaves" They also call "for the formation of a committee made up of judges, youth leaders and the military which will appoint a transitional government, plus a founding council of intellectuals and constitutional experts who will draw up a new constitution and put it to the Egyptian people in a referendum." Finally, they "demand free and fair elections at a local and national level once the new constitution has been implemented." These are all concrete claims that are based on basic human rights and this is why through social media and international press, many foreign countries support the trustfulness of the demonstrators movement, fittingly called the "Arab Spring". In fact, if the revolution should be successful then no doubt the economy will improve as well. This is because currently the protests are endangering the tourism sector of Egypt's economy and have already caused a loss of $1billion in tourism in the past nine days. However, Egypt is said to receive about $11 billion in revenue through tourism a year and so Mubarak needs to step down as soon as possible to stop any more money collected to go lost. Furthermore, even with direct taxes on ships "using the Suez canal generated $954.3 billion in the last financial year... Egypt still ran a current account deficit of $803 million in the third quarter of 2010 and had to borrow to cover the difference." This shows that if educated and democratic leaders are finally allowed to help govern he economy of Egypt it is possible to reverse the effects of Mubarak's mediocre financial ministry and regain purchasing power which can help alleviate poverty and develop infrastructure. It is clear that these protests are indeed legitimate and that the pressure is on for Mubarak to step down. The coming days will prove critical to determine whether this revolution will finally take the next step and reach the phase of the 'Fall of the Old Regime'.