We were greeted with heartening pictures of people rejoicing on Tahrir Square in Egypt last evening. The protests, which were continuing since past 18 days had caused a loss of lives yet the people persisted. Day and night, people thronged the Square and kept up their relentless demand that President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately. Mubarak who has been at the helm of affairs in the country since the last 3 decades, is among the 5 richest men in the world with a fortune of about $70bn. No prizes for guessing how he amassed that wealth. And, to think that he rose from poverty and was an upright and respected Army General at one time. How and why these people go wrong and become greedy beyond comprehension is something we wonder when we see scams break out in India on regular intervals. With high levels of unemployment, corruption, and a perpetual state of Emergency ensuring that freedom of speech was curtailed, the Egyptian people had decided that enough was enough. And, thus began one of the strongest campaigns for the ouster of the President who tried twice to hang on till September to transfer power, but that was not acceptable to the people who wanted him gone now. So, finally people’s will triumphed. It is heartening to see that what could not be achieved in Tiananmen Square could be achieved in Tahrir Square. China and Iran brutally crushed people’s wills and continue to do so, but Tunisia began the revolution and Egypt fought a hard battle. The Arab world is demanding change!
Now the power is in the hands of the Military in Egypt, and we hope that they transition power to a democratically elected government in a fair manner by September. For the sake of Egyptian people, I hope that there is a fairytale ending in store for them. The US played its role by pressuring Mubarak, but it must be remembered that it was US that created this situation by assisting Mubarak all these years and sending huge military aid to him. There is something so totally wrong with the US policy of upholding justice and democracy, yet propping dictators for selfish gains. They ruined Afghanistan and Iraq in the bargain.
Well done Egyptian people. You showed great mettle and upheld the credo that when united people can bring down mountains. I hope this serves as a lesson and inspiration to the entire world.
yaa.. this whole episode is really a lesson for them who are ruling people without caring for them and also for the people whoe are being ruled by the persons like Hosni Mubarak but take things as granted….
BTW…”Mubarak Ho… Mubarak Gone”
irfan
Now it is to be seen how the government is formed, actually now the dirty business starts.
Atleast we knew what Mubarak was doing, how he amassed his wealth, the amount our politicians have in their possession is a secret which I doubt even their families don’t know.
I fail to understand what A Raja did with his Rs 3000cr (in bribes)
Yeah, hope the transition to a democratically elected govt is smooth, worth the battle and the lives lost. After all the cases of corruption erupting in India, the world’s largest democratic country, I wonder if there’s a difference at all! But let’s just hope for the best:)
I wish the younger generation would be inspired by what has happened in Egypt and do the same thing in India. There should be a plan, for in our country every party is corrupt, and army is no exception.The media is just digging up more and more filth, but it is leading nowhere.
The can of worms has been opened, but no solution has been found.
Mubarak Ho
Mubarak gone
good for Egypt.
@Irfanuddin Very true! I hope we as a country can use our people power to defeat corruption, which is the single biggest threat to our lives today.
@bbsearchingself True, all eyes will be focussed upon how the exact transition happens and hopefully the people who form a democratic government are not as corrupt as in India. But, imagine living in a state of perpetual emergency. We might be unhappy with our democracy, but at least we have our rights to be grateful for.
We will force the politicians to prosecute those guilty.
@RGB I am as disillusioned with our democracy and corruption as you are. I just hope that people become more socially conscious and united seeing that people’s power really can bring down despots. We need to be more demanding for our own rights and for the sake of the poor and the helpless in our country.
@rama I hope so too that people in India are also charged to raise voices against corruption and to demand more rights in a united manner such that it cannot be crushed by the government. We have a democracy, but somewhere along the way, we sort of accepted the corruption and have become spineless. I urge each one to treat the cause of eradicating corruption as his/her own to see a change.
@sm a Mubarak moment definitely and Egyptians deserve it.
It was really amazing what Egyptian people did. wonderful.
In the west we look scornfully upon corruption and pretend that we are far above it – and yet our own Govt. is full of scandel and we are blind to the fact that they prop up dictators and the support given keeps the cycle going.
We all would wish for a fairy tale ending for Egypt.
@Talha Yes, quite amazing!
@jane Your candor is disarming. I wish all can see what is going wrong with the Western policy of supporting wrong people for selfish gains.
A very good post…i have posted something similar to this on the issue..hope so u would like it…u can find me on http://xploreer.blogspot.com
Excellent news on Egypt and Well done to the people I hope we indians can get together and make this happen in india tooo .. and get rid of our country from these greedy idiots…
Bikram’s
The Egyptians have set everyone an example 🙂
I believe it is going to take sometime before democracy is established in Egypt. I personally do not see liberation because people were not treated like slaves.
But it was good to see power of people and I think we should have a bit of respect for Mubark for listening to people and stepping down…
Let us see what comes out.
@kiran Thank you for your visit. I will surely visit your post.
@Bikramjit I hope the same for India as well.
@Destiny’s child Protest like an Egyptian :).
@A I would treat this as liberation because Emergency Law was in place since the 1980s. There was no freedom of speech, no right of assembly, and any dissidents were crushed with an iron will. Despite our flawed democracy, we enjoy certain rights in our country, and hence we tend to treat them a bit casually. I have no respect for someone like Mubarak who plunders the resources of his own country and rules like his fiefdom. Maybe, he felt that he could not hang on any longer, or he did not have the requisite support from the army. Whatever may be the reason, he did not step down due to any courtesy. And, really they must confiscate his ill-begotten wealth.