Egypt's Triumph

Eighteen days. Two and a half weeks. That's how long it took Egypt to transform itself—unthinkably sudden, certainly. It seems impossible, but my geeky pedantry points out that it is obviously possible. What were the chances? Apparently 1 in 1, but that doesn't detract from what happened.

I'll admit that, while I was aware that there were protests in Egypt, I hadn't paid close attention to it until the past few days. I sympathized with them, but I wasn't actively following the story. I think I was soured on the affair by Iran's Green Revolution, which didn't end up being the Twitter-fueled democratic emergence that I had hoped. But last night I see a television proclaiming that Mubarak would soon address the people of Egypt, and I realized history was happening. I watched, waited for some time. Multiple sources were telling CNN that he would be stepping down. I'm an ex-debater and competitive public speakers, so I like to imagine I can, in some way, read public relations situations like this, and understand how emotions interplay with speeches like that. (This is probably just arrogance on my part.) I said to the person next to me, “At this point, he has to step down. Those people are celebrating in anticipation of him stepping down. That much energy will turn very nasty very fast if he disappoints them.” And, well, he didn't step down. (I also commented, using a Super Smash Bros. Metaphor, that Mubarak was at 250% and waiting for someone to launch him. Which might be a bit more violent than what I actually meant.)

Although it wasn't very clear at first, he attempted to organize a power-sharing arrangement where his vice-president assumed most of his power. However, even if he had had no powers, he was still president, he was still there, a big unsightly lame duck. There was no possibility the protesters who had spent two and a half weeks attempting to oust him would accept this sort of faltering compromise, which still left him in power. They started to march, many leaving Tahrir Square, venturing towards state television and the presidential palace. I was a little scared—happiness had clearly transformed to rage. Thousands of angry people were now mobbing toward the person who made them angry. I went to bed certain that Mubarak wouldn't last, but not sure that the demonstrators would remain peaceful.

At about 10:30 this morning, I opened my laptop for note-taking and discovered that Mubarak had stepped down, his vice-president was going with him, and the military was taking over. I celebrated, but not very loudly because I was in class, and after class I found myself a television and let Anderson Cooper walk me through what was going on.

Honestly, the Egyptian Revolution is one of the most inspiring things I've seen in some time. As a humanist, I hold a lot of opinions that I admit are quite optimistic. I believe that people are basically good. I believe that nonviolence can be an effective response to oppression. I believe that, given enough support and a just cause, that an strong idea can overcome physical options. Idealistic, of course. But the beautiful thing about the Egyptian revolution is that it stood that test. A diverse uprising of people were able to, through beautifully nonviolent protest, remove from their country a parasitic dictator. Rarely do I find myself able to enjoy this clarity of vision, this empathetic joy for a people rising from their shackles.

Churchill said that democracy was the worst form of government, except for all the others. This is true, but arguably it's the only really moral one. A king rules by birthright, a tyrant by threats, and a cleric by the faith of others. A president or prime minister rules, in a true democracy, by the will of the ruled. That will legitimizes government in the only possible way. It is the only way to deserve power. Egyptians are starting to realize this. That's why I'm hopeful of their new order. Currently, the military holds power. That worries me, as all people ought to be worried when the power of force is wedded so firmly to the power of politics. Yet the military is well-liked in Egypt, and the protesters cheer their assent to this new order. It's not democracy in the strictest sense, no, but this transitional regime still bears the stamp of popular sovereignty.

Optimism might be misplaced. A military regime could easily choose to delay election indefinitely and eventually become just as bad—or far worse—than Mubarak. But if this was an anti-Mubarak revolution, it was only anti-Mubarak in the sense that the Mubarak stood as an obstacle. These protests were pro-democracy. People aren't cheering and supporting the military because they've ousted Mubarak, but because they believe that the military takes power as a transitional government. People on the streets of Cairo talk about “the next six months”, ElBaradei on CNN stated that he thought it would be a year. There is a clear, unambiguous expectation that this is a temporary situation. Having seen the sort of political action the Egyptian people are capable of, I feel like generals would have to be crazy to risk its re-emergence.

America has been...an alright partner to their movement. Once the protests started we mostly sided with them, but multiple times we expressed a desire for reform within the Mubarak paradigm, or urged caution. Egypt was an ally, and I can understand that Obama didn't want to risk antagonizing a ruler who may have ended up holding onto power. But that risk is gone now. Now it is time to help them in their growth to democracy. If—and this might be a big if—we can help them, if we can lend them some way to run elections or anything to help them transition, we ought to. I'm told we have very good ties with the Egyptian military, and hopefully we can leverage that to help avoid abuses by the transitional government.

We witnessed a miracle in Egypt. We saw nonviolence succeed. We saw an idea spread across the populace like wildfire and drive them into an assertion of human dignity unprecedented in recent memory. Now that the protests are ostensibly over, what remains is potential. In the coming months we may see the rise of a beautiful democracy in the Middle East that will, with luck, serve as a beacon to many in that region. Potential, however, is only potential. It's currently Egypt's most valuable resource—but it will be the easiest to squander.