We did it...

It was 6:01PM, and it lasted but some thirty seconds...
Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state's affairs, the Vice President Omar Suleiman declared on Egyptian television.
Hosni Mubarak had just resigned, and the armed forces were now in charge of the nation...
Only the night before, Mubarak had vowed not to step down.
The thousands that had gathered in Tahrir Square expecting to celebrate the news of his departure were bitterly disappointed.
Thousands shouted Irhal! (Leave!), in unison, as their hopes of victory at long last were dashed by the old autocrat's obduracy.
The response from the people here is massive and direct. He can be as stubborn as he likes, but the will of the people is clear, Fakhr El-Sanhoury, a twenty-six-year-old architect, told Jack Shenker, of The Guardian.
Some people here worry about what is going to happen next, but I'm not scared. Just like the Tunisians did to Ben Ali, we will follow their example. We have won, whatever comes next, Nisma Saïd, a secretary, told Shenker.
Nisma was right.
Less than twenty-fours later, the despot was gone, driven away by his people's rigteous wrath...
Mubarak is gone, but the regime is still in place.

There will be time tomorrow to worry whether or not  the army will respect its previous pledges to honor all of the Egyptians people's demand, and is ready to cede power to civilians of the opposition...
Tonight, they have earned the right to celebrate a glorious victory, obtained in just three weeks.
For 18 days we have withstood tear gas, 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, Karim Medhat Ennarah, a protester, told The Guardian.
Mubarak resigned thirty-two years to the day after the fall of the Shah's regime in Iran.
Wael Ghonim, a spokesman for the opposition sent this message to the Iranians, shortly before Mubarak's departure. I would tell Iranians to learn from the Egyptians, as we have learned from you guys, that at the end of the day with the power of people, we can do whatever we want to do. If we unite our goals, if we believe, then all our dreams can come true.
This was the great lesson of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings.
Once the people acquire sufficient faith in their ability to take control of their own destiny, they are invincible...
May their example inspire all the oppressed in the Middle East and elsewhere...
It can be done...
The Tunisians and now the Egyptians have just done it...
(the photograph above is by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

We are getting our country back...

Tahrir Square is filling up at an unusually brisk pace tonight.
Is it in anticipation of tomorrow’s march of millions, or of a more momentous event to occur later this evening?
The president is to address the nation tonight.
The Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed forces met this afternoon, an extremely rare occurrence and without the president. An army official announced that all the demands of the crowd would be met...
Is Mubarak about to resign, thus?
Have the Egyptian people prevailed?
Demonstrators are already dancing in the streets…
The Prime Minister indicated that Mubarak was still president and that nothing had changed…Nothing?
Today, thousands of doctors and students demonstrated in the streets of Cairo and headed toward Tahrir Square, joining a movement whose vitality shows no sign of faltering.
Some three thousand lawyers did likewise, as did engineers, journalists and public transport workers, including bus drivers.
Even some journalists at the pro-government daily al Ahram went on strike, to protest the newspaper’s biased coverage of the unrest.
Protesters have now spent two days and two nights in front of the Parliament building, opening up a new front in the confrontation with the regime.
Yesterday, 6000 workers at the Suez Canal Authority participated in a sit-in. Striking textile workers blocked roads in Mahalla, 2,000 pharmaceutical workers went on strike in Quesna, and 5,000 unemployed young Egyptians marched in Aswan, demanding the resignation of the governor.
The unrest is spreading, for Egyptians are no longer fearful of voicing their grievances.
Not all the demonstrators have a political agenda per se, and many are demanding higher salaries and better working and living conditions. Yet, their activism is reinforcing the anti-Mubarak opposition.
Protesters are more emboldened and more determined by the day. This is a growing movement, it’s not shrinking, Ahmad Salah, an activist, told Aljazeera.
Vice President Omar Suleiman however, warned the protesters that the unrest would have to cease. We can’t bear this for a long time. There must be an end to this crisis as soon as possible. We don’t want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools, he declared yesterday.
Was the Vice President suggesting that a coup might be in the offing should the uprising not come to a swift conclusion?
Continued unrest would lead to the dark bats of the night emerging to terrorize people. There was only one alternative to the current, gradual transition process, he claimed: a coup... which would mean uncalculated and hasty steps, including lots of irrationalities.
Was the Vice President threatening to impose martial law if the opposition did not cease its daily demonstrations, now accompanied by social strife?
I mean a coup of the regime against itself, or a military coup or an absence of the system. Some force, whether it’s the army or police or the intelligence agency or the (Muslim) Brotherhood or the youth themselves could carry out creative chaos to end the regime and take power, he said.
This, however, did not deter the opposition activists from pursuing their campaign.
We are striking and we will protest and we will not negotiate until Mubarak steps down. Whoever wants to threaten us, then let them do so, Khaled Abdel-Hamid, an activist belonging to the youth movement, told The Guardian.
And I am telling this to Omar Suleiman. He’s going to watch this. You are not going to stop us. Kidnap me, kidnap all my colleagues. Put us in jail. Kill us. Do whatever you want to do. We are getting back our country. You guys have been ruining this country for 30 years, Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who was released earlier this week after twelve days in detention, told CNN.
The regime however, reiterated its threats today.
We have to preserve the Constitution, even if it is amended.
If chaos occurs, the armed forces will intervene to control the country , a step which would lead to a very dangerous situation, Aboul Gheit, Egypt’s Foreign Minister, declared today.
The regime had been clearly hoping that once a transition process had been announced, the unrest would gradually subside, alleviating pressure on Mubarak and the government.
The fact that it has not, quite the contrary, may explain its more intransigent attitude.
The Foreign Minister rebuffed US demands to repeal the emergency law, which gives the security apparatus sweeping powers, while the Vice President has steadfastly refused to consider establishing a transitional government that would include opposition leaders.
A more robust confrontation with the protest movement now seems likely.
The regime is taking a hard line and so negotiations have essentially come to an end.
Suleiman’s comments about there being a danger were shocking to us all. It was a betrayal of the spirit of negotiations, and is unacceptable. The regime ‘s strategy has been just to play for time and stall with negotiations. They don’t really want to talk to anyone, Diaa Rashwan, a member of the opposition organization the Council of Wise Men, told The Guardian.
Although the regime has striven to project a more benign and civilized demeanor, it has continued arresting. and torturing those it suspects of participating in the demonstrations.
The director of the Egyptian initiative for Personal Rights in Cairo, Hossam Bahgat, told The Guardian that he suspects hundreds if not thousands of Egyptians may have disappeared, abducted by the army.
One protester recounted his ordeal to Chris McGreal, of The Guardian.
They put me in a room. An officer came and asked me who was paying me to be against the government. When I said I wanted a better government he hit me across the head and I fell to the floor. Then soldiers started kicking me. One of them kept kicking me between my legs. They said I could die there or I could disappear into prison and no one would ever know. The torture was painful but the idea of disappearing in a military prison was really frightening.
Some people, especially the activists, say they were interrogated about any possible links to political organizations or any outside forces. For the ordinary protesters, they get slapped around and asked: « Why are you in Tahrir? » It seems to serve as an interrogation operation and an intimidation and deterrence, Bahgat added.
I think it becomes pretty obvious by now that the military is not a neutral party.  The military doesn’t want and doesn’t believe in the protests and this is even at the lower level, based on the interrogations, Heba Morayef, of HRW, told Chris McGreal.
The journalist Robert Tait, of RFE/RL was himself abducted and detained for some twenty-eight hours.
In this hotel, there are only two items on the menu for those who don’t behave-electrocution and rape, the Mukhabarat thug told Tait and the numerous other detainees.
Fellow Egyptian detainees were ruthlessly beaten and abused with an electrocution device.
Get the electric shocks ready. This lot are to be made to really suffer, a guard said as a group of newly abducted Egyptians were brought in. Holding a British passport, Tait was spared this treatment.
I had flown to Cairo to find out what was ailing so many Egyptians. I did not expect to learn the answer so graphically, he wrote.
It is not only Mubarak that must leave and leave now, but his regime must be dismantled, including his ruthless security apparatus.
If Mubarak leaves, will not the military be tempted to seize power?
Will the armed forces jettison Mubark in order to preserve the regime?
We are not there yet!
Mubarak has spoken tonight and rejected the protesters' injunction to step down.
Satisfied with what I have offered the nation for more than sixty years, I have announced I will stay with this post and I will continue to shoulder my responsibilities, Mubarak declared.
We will not accept or listen to any foreign interventions or dictations, he added.
The president, defiant and highly pleased with himself, will remain President, come what may...
The struggle continues.
Tomorrow's march of millions will give the Egyptian people the opportunity to respond...
The old autocrat will fall.
It is only a matter of time...
The photograph above was taken on Egypt TV by APTN/AP)

Suleiman the democrat...

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, who fought against Israel in the 1967 and 1973 wars, became the head of the country’s intelligence services in 1993.
A close confidante of Hosni Mubarak, he saved the president’s life (and also his own for he was traveling with him) when he insisted that the latter ride in an armored car while on a visit to Addis Ababa in 1995, thereby foiling an assassination attempt…
As head of intelligence, Suleiman was closely involved in nurturing relations with Israel. His duties also included waging a ruthless war against Islamic extremist groups within Egypt, which he succeeded in eradicating.
Recent WikiLeaks cables reveal that the Vice President has only contempt for the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization he invited for talks last Sunday, which consists of, in his words, liars who only understand force.
He has cunningly manipulated the threat the Islamic movement supposedly represents to deflect Western pressure to democratize Egypt’s authoritarian regime.
Suleiman claimed that the MB (Muslim Brotherhood) had spawned different Islamic extremist organizations, most notably the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Gama’a Islamiya (Islamic Group), according to a cable written in February 2006 by the US ambassador, Francis Ricciardone.
In a previous cable, the ambassador wrote that the regime has a long history of threatening us with the Muslim Brotherhood bogeyman.
Suleiman was also an active and effective participant in the Bush/Cheney extraordinary renditions program.
The CIA seized alleged Al Qaeda operatives abroad and would then transfer them to Egypt so that Mr. Suleiman’s services could interrogate them. Torture was standard operating procedure. As another former ambassador recalled, he was not (a) squeamish man by any means…  
Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, an Al Qaeda militant, was captured by the Pakistanis in November 2001 and handed over to the US at Bagram base, in Afghanistan.
He was then sent to Egypt, where Suleiman’s task was to convince him to confirm the Bush contention that Saddam Hussein was assisting Al Qaeda, and that the Iraqi dictator intended to provide biological and chemical weapons to the terrorist organization…
Libi confessed and the information extracted formed the basis of Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations in 2003, justifying the Bush/Cheney claim that Iraq presented a dire and imminent threat to the security of the United States…
The information provided by Libi turned out to be nonsense, but was the direct by- product of Suleiman’s interrogation techniques.
They were killing me, Liby declared later. I had to tell them something…
Not surprisingly, the Israelis trust Mr. Suleiman. There is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Suleiman succeeding Mubarak, a 2008 US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks indicated.
Suleiman is an imposing man. He’s pretty wily, very polished and extremely intelligent. People are scared of him, for obvious reasons, a former British ambassador, David Blatherwick, told The Guardian.
He is not known to be a progressive thinker. Nobody would consider him to be a democrat, Steve Cook, of the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Guardian.
This is the man Washington believes is best suited to manage the transition process designed to lead to the establishment of a functioning democratic regime…
We hear that they are committed to this and when we press on concrete steps and timelines, we are given assurance that that will happen, Hillary Clinton told NPR.
A clear road map has been put in place with a set timetable to realize the peaceful and organized transfer of power, the Vice President declared Tuesday morning.
The US fully supports this process therefore, and now believes it is counterproductive to demand Mubarak’s resignation for that would lead to snap presidential elections, which could prove detrimental to the establishment of a genuinely democratic regime in the country. That risk could be avoided however, if a Mubarak resignation was followed by the suspension of the constitution, such that an interim government would have sufficient time to prepare fair and free elections. This is one of the opposition ‘s demands…
Free and fair elections demand preparation we are told, for the constitution must be amended. It is important to kind of look over the horizon. You don’t want to get to September and have a failed election and then people feel: What did we do, what was the point of all this, Hillary Clinton declared on Sunday.
The process must not be rushed!
Washington and Mr. Suleiman jointly believe that what must be averted at all cost is instability. Mubarak’s departure would have adverse consequences on the transition process. Other people who have their own agenda will make instability in our country, the Vice President suggested…
Yet, the man now custodian of the democratization process does not believe the country is ready for democracy and will not be until the people here have the culture of democracy, he insisted.
In addition, he accused the demonstrators of being manipulated by foreigners and Islamic groups. It’s not their idea, he said referring to the demands of the protesters. It comes from abroad…
The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs,condemned the Vice President’s remarks.
The notion that Egypt isn’t ready for democracy I think runs quite counter to what we see happening in Tahrir Square and on the streets in cities throughout the country. It’s clear that statements like that are not going to be met with any agreement by the people of Egypt because they don’t address the very legitimate grievances that we’ve seen expressed as a result of these protests, he said.
Should we be entrusting Egypt’s future to this man?
Yes, since our paramount objective here is not allowing the emergence of a democratic regime per se, but preserving the stability of the country, even if that entails it should remain an authoritarian one.
This sort of « orderly transition » in post-Mubarak Egypt is more likely to usher in a return to the repressive status quo than an era of widening popular participation, Joshua Stracher, an academic, wrote in Foreign Affairs.
It plays right into the hands of the regime. The longer this goes, the better it is for Mubarak, Suleiman and the rest of the military-dominated leadership, said Steve Cook.
I fear the administration is heading toward acceptance of the perpetuation of the Egyptian dictatorship in all but name, Robert Kagan, of the Brooking Institution, told Politico.
What do Egyptians make of the US position?
Don’t gamble on a leader-put your money on the people, a doctor, Lotfy Abdul-Mageed, told the Washington Post.
Others however, were not surprised, yet neither need nor want Western support.
If the United States supports the revolution, it is good for the United States. If they do not, it is an Egyptian issue, Islam Lofty, a lawyer, told the NYT.
In the end, does it matter what Washington says or does?
The administration is being hammered but it has no leverage to influence events, Steve Cook told The Guardian.
Hillary Clinton did concede as much.
Now the Egyptians are the ones who are having to grapple with the reality of what they must do, she said.
Indeed, and all the opposition groups, like the Muslim Brotherhood, have demanded the immediate resignation of President Mubarak.
Today, hundreds of thousands, according to Aljazeera,  protested in Cairo demanding, once again, Mubarak’s immediate departure.
If, ultimately, the warnings and proclamations of Western leaders  matter little on the ground, why are they not wholeheartedly supporting the brave Egyptian people who are demanding not only that Mubarak step down, but also those rights we already possess and take for granted: freedom of speech, freedom to choose one’s leaders and to earn a decent living…
The Obama administration obviously wants to support democracy. But the US has been backing the military regime in Egypt for 30 years, Andrew McGregor, of the Jamestown Foundation, told the NYT.
It is high time that we ceased supporting a sclerotic, authoritarian regime that is morally bankrupt and that has been preying on the population for much too long.
It is the regime itself that has become a source of instability, precisely that which we wish to avert at all cost…
We should be insisting on its downfall, therefore, so Egypt can transform itself, with our help if it wants it, into a functioning and vibrant democracy.
Supporting the people of Egypt instead of its current rulers is the only sensible thing to do. It is also the only ethical thing to do.
Who would we be if we did not say we stand on the side of the people, asked Chancellor Angela Merkel?
Saying that we are on their side is grossly insufficient.
The time has come for Western democracies to withdraw all support for the Mubarak regime, and help the Egyptians create their own future, on their terms, not ours…
(the photograph above can be found here)

This is our revolution...

It was a new day in Tahrir on Sunday, the thirteenth in the Egyptian people’s struggle to overthrow the reviled Mubarak regime.
Approximately one million people (according to Aljazeera) attended this day of the martyrs, during which both Christian and Islamic services were held to commemorate the victims of the uprising.
The atmosphere however, remained festive and a wedding was actually celebrated on the square Sunday afternoon.
Yet, there were signs that the army was attempting to remove some of the makeshift  barriers erected by the occupants as protection from hostile outside forces, and moving inside the square. As a result, some youths resorted to sitting down in front of the tanks to immobilize them…
As banks and shops began reopening, Vice President Omar Suleiman invited opposition forces to discuss constitutional reform.
Washington and other Western capitals support this process, and the man leading it, the Vice President.
That (an orderly transition) takes some time. There are certain things that have to be done in order to prepare, Hillary Clinton said, in a speech given at a conference on security in Munich.
At the same event, Chancellor Angela Merkel made a similar statement.
There will be change in Egypt, but clearly, the change has to be shaped in a way that is peaceful, a sensible way forward, she declared.
The West clearly fears that the current revolutionary process could subvert the current order, creating a vacuum that would then be filled by forces (anti-Western Islamic forces) imposing an agenda hostile to its security interests.
The Palestinian precedent must also be haunting them: free and fair parliamentary elections were conducted in 2006 with Western support. Our friends, The Fatah of President Abbas, were trounced by Hamas, an Islamic movement opposed to the peace process with Israel.
Washington and the EU are keen on making sure such an outcome is not replicated in Egypt…The establishment of a democratic regime would be the desired outcome, as long as its leaders are pro-Western and Israeli…Elections must not be organized to soon, for only one party is currently sufficiently organized and influential to win them, the Muslim Brotherhood. President Obama claimed on Sunday evening that elements of its program are anti-American, according to Fox.
Revolutions have overthrown dictators in the name of democracy only to see the process hijacked by new autocrats who use violence, deception and rigged elections to stay in power, Clinton added.
In light of such a risk, Washington prefers supporting the old autocrats, those it knows well and has been subsidizing for thirty years. If stalwarts of the old regime such as Suleiman supervise the transition leading to new elections in September, the greater the chance, it is hoped, that Egypt’s new leaders will pursue policies compatible with US and Israeli interests in the region.
To say that Mubarak should stay and lead the process of change, and that the process of change should essentially be led by his closest military advisor (Suleiman) who’s not the most popular person in Egypt, without the sharing of power with civilians, it would be very, very disappointing, Mohamed ElBaradei told Reuters.
There remained some confusion however, concerning what role, if any, Mubarak should play in this process. We need to get a national consensus around the pre-conditions for the next step forward. The president must stay in office to steer those changes. I believe that President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical-it's his chance to write his own legacy, declared Frank Wisner, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Egypt, on Saturday. This did not reflect, apparently, the official position of the United States.
In light of what’s happened the last two weeks, going back to the old ways is not going to work. Suppression is not going to work. Engaging in violence is not going to work, President Obama had declared on Friday.
He did not demand however (nor did the Europeans) that Mubarak resign.
Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq confirmed on Saturday that the Egyptian president would not step down before the end of his term, which expires in September…
Vice President Suleiman, thus, met with members of the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, a party banned over fifty years ago, but that is tolerated in the country.
Suleiman did make some concessions. He called for the formation of a committee to examine possible amendments to the constitution that would permit free and fair elections; the prosecution of corrupt officials; measures to promote the freedom of the press; the lifting of the emergency law when conditions allow and the release of political prisoners currently in detention.
The Muslim Brotherhood however, was not satisfied.
We cannot call it talks or negotiations. The Muslim Brotherhood went with a key condition that cannot be abandoned, that he (Mubarak) needs to step down in order to usher in a democratic process, Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a spokesman for the organization, told Aljazeera. If they were serious, the parliament would have been dissolved, also a presidential decree ending the emergency law, he added.
Mohamed ElBaradei, who was not invited to participate, also criticized the Vice President’s approach.  The process is opaque. Nobody knows who is talking to whom at this stage. It’s managed by Vice President Suleiman. It is all managed by the military and that is part of the problem, he told NBC.
The process initiated on Sunday satisfies the leaders of the current autocratic regime, and those of the West.
Yet, who consulted the main protagonists, that is to say the Egyptian people, so diversely represented at Tahrir Square?
The movement’s particularity is its amorphous nature and fundamental democratic character.
I was expecting to find the Wafd were the leaders, or the Brotherhood were the leaders. There are no leaders at all, one demonstrator told the NYT.
It is led, or rather, inspired and motivated by Egypt’s youth.
Those young men defended Egypt. They took the bullet, a leader of ElBaradei’s National Association for Change, told the NYT.
It is inside the Square that the demonstrators elaborated their own political agenda.
When the government shut down the web, politics moved on to the streets, and that’s where it has stayed. It’s impossible to construct a perfect decision-making mechanism in such as fast-moving environment, but this is as democratic as we can possibly be, a young demonstrator told Jack Shenker, of The Guardian.
Protesters debate the future of the nation.
Their delegates meet to refine this agenda and the proposals that are greeted with the loudest cheer and applause when communicated to the crowd by the PA system are adopted.
The regime is trying to demonize protesters as agents of foreign powers, fomenters of chaos and so on. But go down to Tahrir, sit on a corner, and within five minutes you’ll be in the middle of a spontaneous political discussion-the energy of people’s ideas is inspiring. It’s down there that the legitimate voice of the protesters and our revolution can be heard, Hossam el-Hamalawy, a journalist, told Shenker.
The revolution is now in the custody of the streets, and that is where its future lies, not in the White House, nor the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis.
What we have here is the opposite of a vacuum; we have democracy in action on the ground in Tahrir Square. We are full of hope and ideas, and our gallant young people are guarding our periphery, the author Ahdaf Soueif wrote in The Guardian.
The words of people are stronger than guns, one protester named Mohammed mused.
In the words of Anthony Shadid, Tahrir has become an idea as much as a place…
Those in the Square and elsewhere have been victimized, brutalized, robbed, disenfranchised  and at best, ignored for over thirty years. The notion that Mubarak and his henchmen can be entrusted with the transition process the aim of which is to establish an authentic and functioning democracy is absurd.
Either the people or the regime will prevail; there can be no accommodation.
It’s in the streets now. It’s the people of Egypt protesting. We have no future. Either we die, or this regime goes completely, Omar Ghoneim, a businessman, told Anthony Shadid of the NYT.
I am doing this for my son. Mubarak has to go because with Mubarak my son has no future…The government is Mubarak’s government, not our government. I will stay here until Mubarak leaves. I will stay here days, months, years, an accountant called Ismael told Chris McGreal of The Guardian.
But we cannot be afraid to free ourselves. I’m 30 years old and I’ve never voted in an election because they were always corrupt and fake. We are going to stay until he goes, Ahmed Moar, a university professor, told The Guardian.
The authenticity and power of the messages being hurled from Tahrir Square should not be ignored in Washington D.C.
Many Egyptians fear that the US, even Obama’s US, will do whatever it takes, even sacrificing their interests, to preserve the current regime, even in a diluted form, in order to protect Israel.
Egypt is not against America. I don’t want the Americans to tell my country what to do. All Egyptian people must decide. America has an agenda. It is not our agenda and this is our revolution, Ismael added.
What are the objectives of the revolution?
The former opposition presidential candidate, Ayman Nour tried to summarize the people’s fundamental demands:
*the eradication of the police state and its repressive apparatus;
*the formation of a national unity government tasked with drafting a new constitution;
*the organization of free and fair elections.
First and foremost however, Mubarak must leave, and leave now.
In essence, Ahdaf Soueif poses the fundamental question: can a people’s revolution that is determinedly democratic, grass-roots, inclusive and peaceable succeed?
It is the responsibility of all those who believe in freedom, justice and democracy to ensure that it does.
Crucially, this responsibility belongs to those who represent us, Mrs. Merkel, MM. Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy.
It is the revolution of the Egyptian people, which they have paid for with decades of abuse, and we have no right to strip it away from them, in order to preserve a sclerotic, corrupt regime which we foolishly believed could foster stability in the region.
Only a functioning democracy can achieve this, not brazen despotism.
So let us, at the very least, if we can manage no better, get out of their way, and allow them to finish what they have so valiantly started…
(the photograph of Christians and Muslims commemorating the fallen in Tahrir Square is by Amel Pain/EPA)




.
 

Vintage Mubarak...

Some eight days after the start of the Egyptian people’s revolt, and which some have called a revolution, Mubarak’s supporters finally took to the streets, as if on cue.
Tens of thousands of them stormed Tahrir Square, hitherto the bastion of those demanding the President’s resignation.
In ten minutes, there will be a big fight here-it is an old game, the oldest game in the regime, one observer at the scene told the NYT.
Indeed, shortly, before 230PM, the violence began, instigated by Mubarak’s supporters.
The assault appeared well planned. Just twenty-four hours after Mubarak‘s speech during which he told his people he had no intention of stepping down, but would serve until the end of his term, and President Obama’s statement demanding that the political transition begin now, the old autocrat unleashed his supporters, brazenly announcing to all that he had not conceded defeat, on the contrary.
Mubarak is saying a big « F… you » to the United States and a big « F…you » to the Egyptian people, unfortunately. He’s saying, « you want me to leave? I will not leave. You will not intervene in my domestic affairs. And I will kill my people», Amr Shalakany, a professor at Cairo University, and the American University in Cairo, told McClatchy.
Some of his supporters arrived by bus. Some were reportedly paid 50 Egyptian pounds ($10 or so) to attend.
The onslaught started when Mubarak’s supporters threw projectiles at anti-government demonstrators thronging the square.
With our blood, we sacrifice for you, oh Mubarak, they chanted.
One hour later, the baltageya, or thugs in local slang, riding horses and camels, charged into the crowd wielding sticks and truncheons, striking all those within their reach…
The confrontation lasted some twenty hours, as each side lashed out at the other with clubs, sticks, bottles and rocks.
« He won’t go, » President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters chanted on the other side. « He will go, » went the reply. « We’re not going to go », reported Anthony Shadid, of the NYT.
Later Wednesday night, Mubarak supporters resorted to more lethal weapons, such as firearms and Molotov cocktails, thrown from rooftops onto opposition demonstrators below
Eight were killed, and some 890 injured during the violence, including some journalists (such as CNN‘s Anderson Cooper, who along with his crew was beaten up). Some two dozen others were also arrested.
Tellingly, the army refused to intervene.
Why don’t you protect us, the protesters complained to the idle soldiers?
Because of the mounting violence, the demands of anti-government demonstrators became more radical.
The people want the execution of the president. Mubarak is a war criminal, some shouted, according to the NYT.
They want to take the revolution from us. We are ready to die for the revolution, Mohamed Gamil, a dentist, told the NYT.
Who were the violent Mubarak supporters?
Many opposition demonstrators suspect that they were civilian-clad policemen, officers who vanished from the streets last Friday.
The strategy of sending in the thugs after making half-hearted promises was vintage Mubarak. The tactic is familiar to political observers, for he’s employed the same approach in national elections-assuring Western allies of fair polls and instead rounding up opposition candidates and dispatching foot soldiers to rough up supporters, wrote Hannah Allam of McClatchy.
Some Mubarak militants that were caught by opposition members possessed police identification cards. Some were severely beaten.
Not all were stalwart or opportunistic supporters of Mubarak, however.
Some attended because they considered that the concessions Mubarak had announced during his TV address (not seeking reelection, and amending the constitution to allow fair and free elections, for instance) were sufficient. There was no need to humiliate the President and demand his immediate departure..
People should leave Tahrir Square. The president has made the concessions he was asked for. So now people can go home. If he tries to undo the changes, we can always go back again, Mohamed Megahid, 30, told The Guardian.
On Thursday morning, bursts of gunfire were heard again in Cairo.
Clashes then erupted near the square.
This time however, the army did step in, positioning its tanks so as to separate the antagonistic factions.
Moreover, as more and more opposition demonstrators returned to the square (between 50 and 100,000 according to The Guardian), they remained firmly in control of this anti-Mubarak stronghold, and determined to pursue their campaign.
Yesterday was a slaughter. I will not leave Tahrir. I will be here until Mubarak leaves or I die, Mustafa Mohammad told the LAT.
The Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq actually apologized for the violence although a government spokesman denied the authorities had anything to do with the tragic events. I offer my apology for everything that happened yesterday because it is neither logical nor rational, he declared.
The opposition made it quite clear however, that it will not negotiate with the current regime, reflecting the will of the streets.
This is Mubarak’s mafia and they are trying to terrify us, Mohammed Ali, a twenty-three-year-old demonstrator told The Sydney Morning Herald, referring to the pro-Mubarak militants. We are not interested in negotiations. It’s been 30 years of talking. Mubarak has to leave.
The opposition has asked the Egyptian people to take to the streets again Friday, hoping that a massive turnout (which they have called the Departure Day demonstration) will finally convince Mubarak that it is time to leave.
Yet, it is not clear what will happen should, in all likelihood, he refuse to do so.
The lack of an effective and articulate opposition is also a legacy of Mubarakism.
The problem is that for 30 years, Mubarak didn’t let us build an alternative. No alternative for anything, Adel Wehba, an opposition supporter told Anthony Shadid of the NYT.
If I resign today, there will be chaos, Mubarak told Christiane Amanpour, of ABC News, this afternoon. The old autocrat has lost all sense of reality.
Chaos risks engulfing the entire nation if he does not leave and leave now.
It is clear that Egypt’s youth, having discovered its power and potential after eight days of revolt, will not tolerate any other denouement than Mubarak’s departure
What we want is simple-democracy. We don’t want Mubarak’s son as the next president; we want free elections and the right to choose the best candidate for president.
The mood here is positive among young people. We feel we are doing something very great. We feel the country is now ours and that we can change anything, Mohamed Saad, a young Egyptian, wrote in The Guardian.
Saad and millions like him have just sealed Mubarak’s fate…
(the title of this post is borrowed from this McClatchy piece; the photograph above of Mubarak supporters confronting opposition demonstrators is by AP)

Welcome to a free Egypt...

The authorities had done their utmost to limit the turnout for the March of Millions yesterday in Cairo. Roads between Alexandria and Cairo had been blocked, rail service and public transportation in the capital interrupted.
Yet, the crowds that reached and demonstrated in Tahrir Square were simply unprecedented.
Hundreds of thousands?
Aljazeera estimated that over two million Egyptians filled the square and adjacent areas to demand that President Mubarak resign at once.
Egyptians from all walks of life, many accompanied by their children were there and demanded to be heard at last.
Peasants from southern Egypt joined Islamists from the Nile Delta, businessmen from upper-class suburbs rubbed shoulders with street-smart youths from gritty Boulaqin in a square that served as a vast tapestry of a country’s diversity joined in the bluntest of message: Mr. Mubarak must surrender power.
« Go already», read one sign held aloft. « My arm’s starting to hurt », wrote Anthony Shadid and David D. Kirkpatrick in the NYT.
McClatchy’s Hannah Allam and Shashank Bengali described the scene thus:
All day long, protesters chanted « leave! » It came from the mouths of children draped in the Egyptian flag, bearded clerics in turbans, teenagers dancing to a drumbeat and elderly women with tears in their eyes. Long before the president’s speech, cameras flashed and video recorders rolled as the protesters documented what they hoped would go down in Egyptian history as the end of Mubarak’s regime.
« In my whole life, I’ve never known another president, and suddenly I can’t imagine how he can stay for even one more day, » said Tasneem Osman, 26. « He has to go. He will go. »
With information more and more difficult to obtain, as internet and mobile phone services were shut down by the authorities, rumors swirled in Tahrir Square. Some protesters cheered at the news that President Mubarak had fled the country. Alas, from the protesters’ point of view, this turned out not to be…
Google, Tweeter and Say now devised a system, speak2tweet allowing Egyptians to send Twitter messages by phone (Wednesday morning, however, the internet services were partially restored).
Originally, the huge crowd was to march on the Presidential Palace eight miles away, but the undertaking seemed too perilous, potentially leading to clashes with the army, which has, for the time being, refused to confront the demonstrators.
In the early evening, a huge television screen was installed in the square, broadcasting Aljazeera, a network officially banned by the authorities (it has now, once again, become available).
The determination of the Egyptians present seemed intact, even after a week of protest: everyone is out there to deliver a clear message to the system that we are not going to let go. We want our voices to be heard, one protester told The Guardian.
Moreover, the weeklong revolt has led to a virtual economic paralysis.
The stock market, which lost 17% last week, has been closed for four straight days.
The transportation of goods around the country has ceased due to a general lack of security. Shops and banks are closed, ATMs are empty and tourists are feeing the country.
Hence, most Egyptians did not receive their January salary as they are paid in cash, and none is available…
Life is therefore, becoming difficult, putting additional pressure on the protagonists. on President Mubarak, compelled to find a quick solution to the crisis, and on the demonstrators, obligated to choose between satisfying their material needs, and thus abandoning the struggle, or pursuing their political agenda and accepting the hardships that ensue.
Things are tough, but I’m more concerned about getting this government out of power. We can get by on less, Ahmad Ismail, a young real estate agent, told the NYT.
The pressure on President Mubarak to resolve the crisis has been intensifying.
The magnitude and intensity of the demonstrations convinced the Obama Administration last weekend that the days of the Mubarak regime were numbered.
As a result, and at Hillary Clinton’s behest, Frank Wisner, a former ambassador to Egypt, was dispatched to Cairo to try to convince Mubarak to leave the scene…
Yesterday, in a NYT op-ed piece, unequivocally called Allying Ourselves With the Next Egypt, John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote that the stability of his country hinges on his willingness to step aside.
The message was clear. Mubarak was now recognized as an impediment to the emergence of a new, democratic Egypt.
Kerry also urged the President and his son, Gamal, hitherto considered his designated successor, not to run in next September’s Presidential election.
He also recommended that the US reorient its financial aid to Egypt, currently almost exclusively directed towards the Egyptian military, in support of Egyptian society.
Although he did not formally ask for the President’s resignation, he concluded his article thus,
It is vital that we stand with the people who share our values and hopes and who seek the universal goals of freedom, prosperity and peace.
For three decades, the United States pursued a Mubarak policy. Now we must look beyond the Mubarak era and devise an Egyptian policy.
The old autocrat was now clearly on his own…
As a result, President Mubarak told an expectant nation during a television appearance last night that he would not seek reelection next September.
I will say, with all honesty and without looking at this particular situation, that I was not intending to stand for the next elections because I’ve spent enough time serving Egypt. I’m now careful to conclude my work for Egypt by presenting Egypt to the next government in a constitutional way.
Yet, he also made it quite clear that he would serve the remainder of his term, which expires in September.
The events of the past few days impose on us, both citizens and leadership, the choice between chaos and stability. I am now absolutely determined to finish my work for the nation in a way that ensures its safekeeping, he added.
He was also defiant, vowing that no one would drive him from the homeland he had served for so long.
The Hosni Mubarak who speaks to you today is proud of his achievements over the years in serving Egypt and its people. This is my country. This is where I lived, fought and defended its land, sovereignty and interests, and I will die on its soil, he declared.
The demonstrators in Tahrir Square, who followed the speech on television, were deeply disappointed. Leave, they chanted.
Leave, have some dignity, others shouted.
The President’s concessions were deemed insufficient, too little too late.
The people said it clearly: they want a new democratic regime and this regime has lost its legitimacy.
I would have liked that President Mubarak would listen to the sounds of the millions that went out today, Mohamed ElBaradei told Aljazeera.
You see all these people, with no stealing, no girls being bothered, and no violence.
He’s trying to tell us that without me, without the regime, you will fall into anarchy, but we have told him, No, a demonstrator told Anthony Shadid of the NYT
The Egyptians no longer need Mubarak. He no longer protects his people, or the nation, but has become an obstacle to the development of their vast potential…
Nor is he serving the interests of his country, but only his own, at the expense of those of his people.
President Obama called Mubarak shortly after he had addressed the Egyptian nation, to inform him that the crisis could not wait until September to be resolved.
What is clear, and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak, is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now, the President said.
Though not asked to do so, it is clear the President was hoping that Mubarak would resign as soon as possible, for, as he declared, the status quo is impossible.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground was becoming more volatile.
Thousands returned to Tahrir Square (many have been there since…last week).
Some 3,000 of pro-Mubarak supporters also took to the streets this morning.
Some clashed with pro-democracy activists in Tahrir Square.
Thousands and thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters are now pouring into the square, Peter Beaumont, of The Guardian, reported this afternoon.
Fearing that the current situation was untenable and could degenerate into violence, the army issued a statement asking the demonstrators to go home.
Your message is received…Your demands became known. And we are here and awake to protect the country for you, not by power but by the love to Egypt. It is time to go back to normal life. You have the power to allow Egypt to return to normal life. We are with You. We will continue to secure our country, a Defense ministry spokesman declared this morning.
It seems that the pro-democracy camp intends to occupy Tahrir Square massively again on Friday, after mid-day prayers, hoping to force Mubarak from power at last.
Mubarak’s supporters seem intent on defending the old autocrat’s regime…
Mubarak should have done the honorable thing and resigned.
His legacy may now include helplessly presiding over a popular revolt that then degenerated into a violent bloodbath…
(the photograph of yesterday's demonstration in Tahrir Squrae is by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

It is time to choose...

The army has to choose between Egypt and Mubarak, read a banner held by protesters yesterday in Cairo.
As of yet, the army has refused to clarify its intentions.
Nevertheless, it did take one principled stand that may spell the end of Mubarak’s regime.
In a statement, the armed forces said the following:
The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use force against our great people
Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody.
That the army should be hesitant to support unequivocally the regime is not surprising.
The armed forces embody Egyptian nationalism.
A 1952 coup led by Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew King Faruk and the monarchy.
The nation has been led by military men ever since.
An army composed of conscripts, it has close links with the Egyptian people.
As such, the lower ranks no doubt share the frustrations and demands of those demonstrating in the streets of Alexandria, Cairo and Suez.
The fact that the army has clearly stated that it would not fire on its own people may further embolden the Egyptian opposition movement.
Their leaders have called on all Egyptians to demonstrate today in unprecedented numbers in a march of millions, to commemorate the seventh day in the Egyptian people‘s campaign to rid the country of the autocratic Mubarak regime.
President Mubarak has refused to yield and appointed a new cabinet yesterday, including a new Interior Minister in charge of security, Mahmoud Wagdi, former director of Egypt’s prisons.
He did instruct his Vice President, Omar Suleiman (notorious for his role in the US extraordinary renditions program and his propensity to employ torture, when head of the country’s intelligence services) to begin talks with the opposition on constitutional reform. The president has asked me today to immediately hold meetings with the political forces to start a dialogue about all raised issues that also involve constitutional and legislative reforms in a way that will result in clear proposed amendments and a specific timetable for its implementation, he said, according to The Guardian.
The various strands of the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Ayman Nour, the former presidential candidate, Mohamed ElBaradei’s National Association for Change, and the young activists in the April 6 Youth Movement, appointed a committee to negotiate with the Mubarak government.
Though the Muslim Brotherhood constitute the most powerful and influential current, ElBaradei was asked to lead it.
Well known abroad since his days as head of the IAEA, winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, he was considered a more appealing spokesman than a member of the Islamic organization…
A national salvation government was also appointed, to be led by Mr. ElBaradei as well, should President Mubarak resign in the near future.
Young political activists, particularly in the April 6 Movement, have been at the forefront of the opposition coalition, using the internet and social networking sites to mobilize disgruntled Egyptians against the regime (Egypt’s internet is now completely down, as the last provider Noor, was shut down as well yesterday. Satellite TV, and the coverage of Aljazeera, now fuel the movement though the network was taken off the air Sunday by the Egyptian government, which arrested six of its reporters yesterday, and confiscated their equipment).
The young people are still leading this, Ibrahim Issa, an Egyptian intellectual, told the NYT.
Mohamed ElBaradei himself has been following the advice of the young activists. At their request, he went to Tahrir Square on Sunday afternoon and addressed the demonstrators.
Their alliance with the older, traditional Egyptian opposition militants has given the opposition more coherence.
Leadership has to come out of the people who are already out there, because most of us are under 30. But now they recognize that we’re in the street, and they are taking us seriously, Amr Ezz, a lawyer and 27, member of the April 6 Youth Movement, told the NYT.
What are the opposition’s objectives?
The resignation of President Mubarak; the formation of a new government, and amending the constitution such that free and fair elections can then be held.
Yet, Mubarak is still there.
Will he still occupy the presidential palace if millions do march in Cairo’s streets today?
Yesterday, some 250,000, according to Aljazeera, demonstrated in the capital, demanding Mubarak’s resignation. They are unlikely to settle for anything less.
As one Aljazeera journalist wrote yesterday, but it is now blatantly obvious to anyone who mingled in Tahrir Square crowds growing larger by the day that they won’t go home until they have a new leader.
We  have spoken. When the citizens speak, we cannot go back.
I came here to fight the fear inside me. Now people have lost their fear, Ahmed Mustafat, a demonstrator, told The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood.
To hasten the autocrat’s departure, opposition leaders will encourage protesters to adopt what David Kirkpatrick and Mona El-Naggar of the NYT called the hug a soldier strategy, to entice the military to support their cause.
We are dealing with the army in a peaceful manner until it proves otherwise, and we still have faith in the army. Until now, they are neutral, and at least if we can’t bring them to our side, we don‘t want to lose them, Mr. Ezz told the NYT.
Moreover, Mubarak has not yet lost US support.
The way Egypt looks and operates must change, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday, but it’s not for us to determine…undoubtedly in this case, transition means change.
That position is no longer tenable…
The Egyptian people demand the fall of the Mubarak regime, because the President has repeatedly demonstrated these last thirty years that he cannot, or simply will not, cater to the needs of his people: freedom, justice, democracy and decent living conditions.
Only a new republic founded on democratic principles can now satisfy the Egyptian people.
The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years will be the one to implement democracy, Mohamed ElBaradei told CBS’s Face the Nation.
It’s better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, it’s time for you to go, ElBaradei said.
French junior minister for youth affairs, Jeannette Bougrab was bold enough to say that Mubarak should leave, but was then promptly summoned by French Prime Minister François Fillon and reprimanded...
Though Western support for the Egyptian demonstrators has been subdued, it is still considered recklessly excessive by the Israelis.
The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren’t considering their genuine interests, a senior Israeli official declared, according to The Guardian.
If only that were true….Let us hope that the millions demonstrating today will finally compel the leaders of the Western world to support wholeheartedly the brave Egyptian people.
Do MM. Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy really wish to be remembered as leaders who betrayed the very foundations of their own societies and preferred to support an ailing despot until the bitter end, instead of a proud people demanding what is rightfully theirs?
(the photograph above is by Reuters)