Leaderless: Egyptians' Bid for Freedom
Watching events unfold in Egypt last night again, listening to the reports coming in of the wide spread looting, the absence of a police and security presence, the fall of so many protestors, it dawned on me how truly unprecedented these events have been. Nothing like this has ever happened in Egypt before. Egyptians have typically accepted authoritarian rule for over half a century, before that it was monarchy that had total control, today the people, the good and the bad elements among them, control the streets.
Even when the monarchy fell, it was the army that forced change not the people or a revolutionary movement, it was more a coup from within, and one supported by the US at that. This time the people of the Nile have risen like a long slumbering giant after thousands of years to show Mubarak the door and show the world we are here, we are alive and kicking!
As I kept the TV on mute through out the night, I started reading William Stadiem's book "Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk", a gift from a friend. The book opens with 'the end' of Farouk's reign on a balmy July day, the armed stand off at Ras el Tin Palace, the US Ambassador's intercesion between the Free Officers and Farouk, leading to the king's abdication and final departure from Egypt. The difference between what happened then and what is unfolding today is considerable, most obvious is the lack of a leadership structure for this popular uprising.
There are certainly many popular figures that could very well assume control, but none have the charisma or universal appeal for all Egyptians that Abdel Nasser had in 1952. Certainly there is Mohamed el-Baradei, the former chief of the International Nuclear Energy Agency, and Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary general, a popular figure in his own right, but is this what Egypt needs right now, another popular figure that the people can elevate to super hero status only to have him evolve into another despot?
The intelegencia on the streets said it best, what is needed now is a constitution, a new one, a new contract between the governed and the governing. The question now is will the army for whom democracy is an alien concept, as it is is for all armies every where, allow it? Will the army, through out its hiarchy up to its commander in chief Mubarak, allow civilian rule after 60 years of one party military rule? And will the US let its most valued regional ally elect a civilian administration no matter what its political credo? These questions I suspect will be answered over the following days and weeks.
As I read the chapter 'The End' I realised how events can take leaders by surprise no matter how alert, how vigilant and aware they are. Farouk was not a bad man, but he was just a man, no better than the system of governance that was in place, no better that the system of accountability that was in place or the lack thereof. And yet he had to assume responsability for all the failures and all the frustrations of his people and his officers. The last thing he could have imagined was for 'his army' to turn on him, the army founded by his great grandfather Mohammed Ali.
In the wording of the ultimatum given Farouk by the Free Officers one sees that dates and people may change, but grievances remain the same:
"In view of your misrule, your violations of the Constitution, your contempt for the will of the nation, which has gone so far that no citizen can any longer feel his life, property, or dignity to be safe; and because, under your protection, traitors and swindlers are allowed to amass scandalous fortunes by wasting public monies while the people are dying of privation and hunger.... the Army, which represents the strength of the people, has authorized me to demand that your Majesty abdicate... and that you leave the country," it was signed by Mohammed Neguib, the most senior officer chosen by the Free Officer to lead before Abdel Nasser.
But will the army today hand Mubarak a similar ultimatum if the street protests persist, will Mubarak finally see the writing on the wall and leave of his own accord? Only time will tell.
Even when the monarchy fell, it was the army that forced change not the people or a revolutionary movement, it was more a coup from within, and one supported by the US at that. This time the people of the Nile have risen like a long slumbering giant after thousands of years to show Mubarak the door and show the world we are here, we are alive and kicking!
As I kept the TV on mute through out the night, I started reading William Stadiem's book "Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk", a gift from a friend. The book opens with 'the end' of Farouk's reign on a balmy July day, the armed stand off at Ras el Tin Palace, the US Ambassador's intercesion between the Free Officers and Farouk, leading to the king's abdication and final departure from Egypt. The difference between what happened then and what is unfolding today is considerable, most obvious is the lack of a leadership structure for this popular uprising.
There are certainly many popular figures that could very well assume control, but none have the charisma or universal appeal for all Egyptians that Abdel Nasser had in 1952. Certainly there is Mohamed el-Baradei, the former chief of the International Nuclear Energy Agency, and Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary general, a popular figure in his own right, but is this what Egypt needs right now, another popular figure that the people can elevate to super hero status only to have him evolve into another despot?
The intelegencia on the streets said it best, what is needed now is a constitution, a new one, a new contract between the governed and the governing. The question now is will the army for whom democracy is an alien concept, as it is is for all armies every where, allow it? Will the army, through out its hiarchy up to its commander in chief Mubarak, allow civilian rule after 60 years of one party military rule? And will the US let its most valued regional ally elect a civilian administration no matter what its political credo? These questions I suspect will be answered over the following days and weeks.
As I read the chapter 'The End' I realised how events can take leaders by surprise no matter how alert, how vigilant and aware they are. Farouk was not a bad man, but he was just a man, no better than the system of governance that was in place, no better that the system of accountability that was in place or the lack thereof. And yet he had to assume responsability for all the failures and all the frustrations of his people and his officers. The last thing he could have imagined was for 'his army' to turn on him, the army founded by his great grandfather Mohammed Ali.
In the wording of the ultimatum given Farouk by the Free Officers one sees that dates and people may change, but grievances remain the same:
"In view of your misrule, your violations of the Constitution, your contempt for the will of the nation, which has gone so far that no citizen can any longer feel his life, property, or dignity to be safe; and because, under your protection, traitors and swindlers are allowed to amass scandalous fortunes by wasting public monies while the people are dying of privation and hunger.... the Army, which represents the strength of the people, has authorized me to demand that your Majesty abdicate... and that you leave the country," it was signed by Mohammed Neguib, the most senior officer chosen by the Free Officer to lead before Abdel Nasser.
But will the army today hand Mubarak a similar ultimatum if the street protests persist, will Mubarak finally see the writing on the wall and leave of his own accord? Only time will tell.
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