Mubarak: The Illusionist is Gone, Long Live the Illusionist
You ever wonder how illusionists put on those big shows in which they make an elephant or expensive sports car disappear. The secret is not finding a way to move the elephant or the sports car (which would require a complex, concealed system of pulleys and trap doors), the secret is in misdirecting the audience, which is easy to do because they are so human and so predictable.
Mubarak’s maneuverings to date indicate he is a master manipulator and skilled illusionist. Freedom: now you got it now you don’t! Tahrir Square: one day it’s full of protestors and the next day the army is clearing the remnants of makeshift tents and traffic is zipping on by. If anyone believes the tricky old octogenarian is down and out, think again! Mubarak (by extension his regime) is in control as much as ever and probably even more than before.
Mubarak’s Last Act, a theatrical play with an, as yet, unwritten ending, opens with police water cannons showering protestors praying in the middle of the streets. We are then transported to a scene of utter chaos, no police, no law and certainly no order. Then we move to ‘Woodstock-2011’, Tahrir Square, now renamed Martyrs’ Square, people power is in full swing and the people insist on Mubarak’s removal from power. After a frustratingly long and stubborn cling to power, Mubarak makes another appearance on TV reaffirming he’s staying put. The crowds are enraged. The next morning Omar Sleiman announces Mubarak’s departure from the Presidency and Cairo. The crowds give a standing ovation, everyone thinks the play is over, but what is really over and what has really changed?
Mubarak knew full well what the people’s reaction to the army tanks arriving in the streets would be; in fact he banked on it. He knew his soldiers would be embraced as the defenders of the people and the guarantors of stability and he was right. The fact remains that Tantawi was made field marshal and defense minister by Mubarak, the whole Army High Council is full of Mubarak loyalists, who owe him their ranks and positions. The old cabinet is still in place, reports indicate Omar Sleiman is still pulling strings. So what has really changed and what is the difference between Mubarak stepping down in September and the army stepping down in six months time. Both also promised free and fair elections. So, what is the real difference?
The fact is what happened in the streets of Egypt cannot be characterized as a revolution because all revolutions need to have the word ‘bloody’ precede them. No one has the stomach for a real revolution and rightly so, real revolutions are akin to civil wars they are effective in creating immediate change but the cost is simply too high.
But something was achieved in Tahrir, a rare kind of camaraderie was born, people’s personal networks suddenly mushroomed and grew exponentially. People across socio-economic strata, of all age groups were embracing one another in a spirit of national cohesion never before seen in modern Egypt. A Coptic service was held in Tahrir, something unheard of not since the Muslim conquest! This development is of much greater meaning and value than any bloody revolution could be and those networks if maintained and developed will achieve a popular victory far more effective and longer lasting. The worry now is that a political group might lay claim to the revolution or it might just be ignored and forgotten, neither must be allowed to happen.
Real change through people power will not be instantaneous, it will take time and it will be slow and frustrating at times, but Egypt is certainly on the right track. Its people have broken the illusionists’ spell! The fear is gone. Should those in authority treat them as badly as they did before the streets and squares of Misr are to the young revolutionary vanguard as welcoming as a mother’s embrace! They can do it all over again.
Mubarak’s maneuverings to date indicate he is a master manipulator and skilled illusionist. Freedom: now you got it now you don’t! Tahrir Square: one day it’s full of protestors and the next day the army is clearing the remnants of makeshift tents and traffic is zipping on by. If anyone believes the tricky old octogenarian is down and out, think again! Mubarak (by extension his regime) is in control as much as ever and probably even more than before.
Mubarak’s Last Act, a theatrical play with an, as yet, unwritten ending, opens with police water cannons showering protestors praying in the middle of the streets. We are then transported to a scene of utter chaos, no police, no law and certainly no order. Then we move to ‘Woodstock-2011’, Tahrir Square, now renamed Martyrs’ Square, people power is in full swing and the people insist on Mubarak’s removal from power. After a frustratingly long and stubborn cling to power, Mubarak makes another appearance on TV reaffirming he’s staying put. The crowds are enraged. The next morning Omar Sleiman announces Mubarak’s departure from the Presidency and Cairo. The crowds give a standing ovation, everyone thinks the play is over, but what is really over and what has really changed?
Mubarak knew full well what the people’s reaction to the army tanks arriving in the streets would be; in fact he banked on it. He knew his soldiers would be embraced as the defenders of the people and the guarantors of stability and he was right. The fact remains that Tantawi was made field marshal and defense minister by Mubarak, the whole Army High Council is full of Mubarak loyalists, who owe him their ranks and positions. The old cabinet is still in place, reports indicate Omar Sleiman is still pulling strings. So what has really changed and what is the difference between Mubarak stepping down in September and the army stepping down in six months time. Both also promised free and fair elections. So, what is the real difference?
The fact is what happened in the streets of Egypt cannot be characterized as a revolution because all revolutions need to have the word ‘bloody’ precede them. No one has the stomach for a real revolution and rightly so, real revolutions are akin to civil wars they are effective in creating immediate change but the cost is simply too high.
But something was achieved in Tahrir, a rare kind of camaraderie was born, people’s personal networks suddenly mushroomed and grew exponentially. People across socio-economic strata, of all age groups were embracing one another in a spirit of national cohesion never before seen in modern Egypt. A Coptic service was held in Tahrir, something unheard of not since the Muslim conquest! This development is of much greater meaning and value than any bloody revolution could be and those networks if maintained and developed will achieve a popular victory far more effective and longer lasting. The worry now is that a political group might lay claim to the revolution or it might just be ignored and forgotten, neither must be allowed to happen.
Real change through people power will not be instantaneous, it will take time and it will be slow and frustrating at times, but Egypt is certainly on the right track. Its people have broken the illusionists’ spell! The fear is gone. Should those in authority treat them as badly as they did before the streets and squares of Misr are to the young revolutionary vanguard as welcoming as a mother’s embrace! They can do it all over again.
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