By Lamis Andoni
There is no doubt that the Tunisian uprising was the spark that ignited the Egyptian revolution leading to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The success of the Tunisians in removing Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali sent a strong message across the region that people power can prevail even against the most stifling dictatorship.
But conditions were also ripe for an Egyptian revolt: the Mubarak regime had ignored increasing signals of widespread resentment over his three-decade rule, economic policies and brutal suppression by the state security apparatus of political dissent. In 2004, thousands took to the streets to protest Mubarak’s plan to renew his bid to run for president and pave the way for his son to succeed him. The popular movement Kefaya (Enough) was born by successfully instigating the Egyptian public’s rejection of Mubarak’s presidency.
In 2008, new movements emerged that signaled the integration of Egyptian youth with disgruntled labor in protests demanding an improvement of conditions and raise in wages for workers — especially in the influential textile industries. Again the regime resorted to repressive tactics and underestimated the simmering popular anger spreading among large segments of the population.
But it was the death of a young man at the hands of the police in 2010 that proved to be the rallying call for Egyptian youth to engage in protests and popular activism. Khaled Said was picked up by two policemen in an internet cafe in the coastal city of Alexandria and beaten to death in an incident that symbolized widespread police brutality.
Little did the authorities realize that the death of Khaled Said directly touched all of Egypt, not as an isolated incident, but because his fate might have befallen any member of the public. In fact, the selection of the date Jan. 25 as a protest day was not coincidental; Jan. 25 is the officially-designated day to pay tribute to the police force. These young organizers wanted to turn the occasion into a rejection of police brutality.
Little did they know that their cyberspace call would mobilize tens of thousands leading up to a revolution that would bring down the regime.
Yet without the scenes and the shouts of the Tunisian revolution, viewed on satellite TV screens, it is unlikely that the Jan. 25 protest could have transformed into an eruption of millions of Egyptians. Said Buazzizi did not only immolate his body, but the fire he lit penetrated the souls of millions of Arabs who share his agony of despair, either in failing to find jobs or being unable to fend for families or because they are strangling under the hold of authoritarian regimes.
In the case of Egypt, the plight of that Tunisian young man and other Tunisians’ enflamed wounds opened by decades of western-inspired (and at times imposed) open market policies that only further massed wealth and consolidated power in the hands of the ruling elite.
It was in 1984 when Tunisians rose up against the suspension of some government subsidies, the price for an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, resulting in price hikes of food staples. The short-lived uprising was quelled and in the years that followed — especially under Ben Ali — dissent and popular grievances were silenced.
Egypt understood the agony of Buazzizi well. It spoke to a cumulative pain that reaches back to the late seventies when the late President Anwar Sadat turned Egypt into a pro-western government and introduced “the open-door economic policies” that deepened class polarization and produced a wealthy elite of “fat cats” that thrived on corruption and exploitation.
In 1978, Egyptian anger exploded in what was called the “bread uprising” that was eventually crushed and dismissed by the regime as a “thieves revolution”.
Like Tunis, the regime used security organs to coerce subordination and submission, undeterred by protests from Egypt’s opposition and the ordinary citizen.
In Egypt, the rigging of recent parliamentary elections led to the withdrawal of most opposition candidates and enabled the domination of the ruling party, which alienated wide sectors of the society from upper middle class to the down-trodden, eventually bringing them in the hundreds of thousands to Tahrir Square.
It was no coincidence that this revolution was led by youth. To begin with, we often forget that most movements in the Arab world in the fifties and sixties in the hey-day of Pan-Arabism were led by young people. In more recent history, it was Palestinian youth who led the first and second intifadas.
But what is new is that Arab youth are now initiating revolutions to topple repressive Arab regimes that had seemed unmovable. It seems this new Arab generation is not haunted by the memories of defeat that haunt previous generations, whether it be the failure to liberate Palestine, prevent the American occupation of Iraq or stand up to dictators.
And certainly new technology has liberated the new generation of many of the chains imposed on previous generations. Cyberspace offers freedom, safety and a network to vent anger — away from traditional constraints.
The real test for the new generation, as for all revolutionaries, was in going to the streets and facing the enemy in reality and not in virtual space. I believe that in the call for Jan.25 the new young activists found strength in numbers and a shield in the masses. More significantly, they demonstrated their courage and readiness to sacrifice and continue despite — and perhaps in honor — of the fallen.
But the revolution is still in the beginning. In both Tunis and Egypt, the ruling elites are still clinging to power trying to impede fundamental changes. Dangers still lie ahead, especially if those in power succeed in dividing the people and sedating them with false promises.
People in Egypt and Tunis both say that they trust the army. Thus, the army’s role is crucial to the success of the revolutions, unless western intervention succeeds in staging soft coups d’etat in cooperation with officials from the bygone eras. The key remains in keeping up popular pressure lest external and internal forces abort reformist steps towards achieving social justice and democracy.
Lamis Andoni is a veteran journalist and analyst. This commentary is published by DAILY NEWS EGYPT in collaboration with bitterlemons-international.org.
