Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you have heard about the unrest that has been going on in Egypt. Over a million Egyptians have flooded the streets, demonstrating, rioting and clashing with police forces, their anger directed at one man, their president for the past 30 years, Hosni Mubarak.
With the exception of Muhammad Naguib, who was merely a caretaker president after Egypt's 1952 Revolution, the Arab republic has had only two presidents other than Mubarak. Mubarak lacks both the charisma of the first, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the vision of the second, Anwar El Sadat. This made the fact that he has been in power for so long a topic we often debated in the Egyptian Politics and Government class I took at the American University in Cairo during my semester abroad there in the fall of 2009.
The answer, it seemed, was that Mubarak had been able to keep such a strong grip on power through heavy−handed politics and maneuvering. Politically, he has been brilliant. From a democratic and human rights point of view, however, Mubarak deserves no such pat on the back.
Mubarak has locked up opponents, like members of the Muslim Brotherhood — perhaps the largest opposition movement in the country — and Ayman Nour of the Al−Ghad party, whose only crime seemed to be running for president against Mubarak in 2005.
The political rights of the people have also been infringed upon throughout Mubarak's rule primarily because of emergency law. Under emergency law (which has been in effect for Mubarak's entire 30−year rule), constitutional rights are suspended, censorship is legal, the powers of the police are immense and political demonstrations as well as the creation of new political organizations are made very difficult. The brute and draconian crackdowns of Mubarak's thugs and riot police during the Kefaya movement in 2004 and 2005 have stifled mass opposition movements and scared people away. The 2005 election also marked the first time that multiple candidates could directly run for president.
Furthermore, U.S. support of Egypt has only allowed Mubarak to get away with undemocratic practices. While the U.S. bemoans the lack of democracy and the human rights abuses that take place in North Korea, Iran and Myanmar, it turns a blind eye to those that occur in Egypt, for the sake of a so−called sense of "stability" in a vital region. Egypt receives around $1.5 billion from the U.S. per year. With most of that aid going to the military, however, Mubarak has neglected the dire social, political and economic needs of the people.
The Egyptian people have had enough. For the past week, the world has seen dramatic images from Cairo's Tahrir Square. The problem seems to be that Mubarak is not living in this world, or, if he is, he resides in an insulated bubble. His appearances on state television over the past week have been sporadic and have shown that he is out of touch with his country. Sacking his entire cabinet was not enough. Appointing a new cabinet (made up of members of the old cabinet) was not enough. And his announcement on Feb. 1, that he would not be seeking re−election in September, though historic, was not enough.
The people want him out. They do not trust him. He may have briefly won the upper hand back when his thugs instigated brutal clashes in Tahrir Square on Wednesday and Thursday, but it now seems that even those closest to him are negotiating with the U.S. to broker a deal that will see Mubarak out sooner than September.
Try and understand, Hosni, you've had a hell of a run, but your time is up. Ben Ali is waiting for you in Saudi Arabia.
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