Egypt’s Friday of rage against dictatorship
What has been named as The Revolution of Anger commenced across Egypt on Tuesday, January 25th, and by the eve of Friday different political parties and groups announced a show of solidarity with the national uprising. It was a significant point of the events of the past few days that Mohammed El-Baradei, the former chief […]
What has been named as The Revolution of Anger commenced across Egypt on Tuesday, January 25th, and by the eve of Friday different political parties and groups announced a show of solidarity with the national uprising. It was a significant point of the events of the past few days that Mohammed El-Baradei, the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and leading opposition figure in Egypt, returned home to take part in the nation-wide protests. El-Baradei had called on the president to step down after ruling Egypt with an iron fist for thirty years. He would, otherwise, suffer the same fate as the Tunisian dictator, Ben Ali. El-Baradei was eventually arrested by the security forces.
Egyptian security had warned against the Friday demonstrations but the political forces emphasized the continuation of the protests against the Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The people ignored the warnings of the security forces and went to the street in thousands. The cabinet held an emergency session and reports emerged that there were possibilities of the dismissal of the Interior Minister, Habib al-Adeli, in a bid to calm the atmosphere. Yet the main response of the security forces was a savage attack on the demonstrators. In the first round of demonstrations from Tuesday, the BBC’s Jon Leyne reported that at least three people were killed including a policeman. Cairo witnessed the largest of the earlier demonstrations and they had been inspired largely by the events of the past few weeks in Tunisia. The internet became a medium which brought thousands of people into the streets.
The Cairo demonstrations were co-ordinated on a facebook page with thousands of people clicking on the page to say they would join the demonstrations. In response to the mobilization roles of the internet, the micro-blogging website Twitter, reported that its website had been blocked in Egypt. Similarly, the Swedish-based website Bambuser, which streams video from mobile phones, said that it had also been blocked in Egypt. The rallies from Tuesday drew far more people than the organizers had also hoped for and riot police were taken by surprise by the anger of the protesters. They allowed the crowd to make their way to parliament and it was there that police in full riot gears fired volleys of tear gas as well as water canon at the demonstrators. In return the protesters stood their ground and threw stones at the police. Cairo’s Tahir Square saw demonstrators attacking a police water canon vehicle, opening the driver’s door and ordering the driver out.
Jon Lyne reported a Cairo resident as saying the protesters were determined to keep up their demonstrations until President Mubarak had gone. “People are behaving as if they are ready to die”, the resident was quoted as saying, and went on that “the atmosphere is very tense, it feels like a revolution. I see people who are determined, people who have nothing to lose, people who want a better future”. Those who had gathered in front of the Supreme Court held a large banner that read “Tunisia is the solution”. Some chants referred to Mubarak’s son Gamal, who people suspect is being groomed to become the father’s successor. “Gamal, tell your father Egyptians hate you”. Learning from the wrong steps they took during the Tunisian revolts a few weeks earlier, the United States administration was quick to comment on the developments in Egypt. The Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton said the administration supported “the fundamental right of expression and assembly” and urged all parties “to exercise restraint”. She added that the USA believed that the Egyptian regime was “stable” and “looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people”. By Friday even President Obama was asking long time American-backed dictator, Hosni Mubarak to carry out fundamental reforms. Obama said “violence is not the answer in solving these problems in Egypt”. As the day of rage deepened by nightfall on Friday, the US Secretary of State again addressed the Egyptian issue asking the government to restraint the security forces and the demonstrators to peacefully protest. She underlined the strategic relationship between the USA and Egypt.
In the city of Alexandria, a stronghold of Egypt’s biggest political opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, thousands of protesters went into the street chanting: “Revolution, revolution, like a volcano, against Mubarak the coward”. AFP reported that protesters threw stones at the police after prayers with cries of “God is greatest” followed by “we don’t want him”, referring to Mubarak. There were demonstrations in the eastern city of Ismailiya as well as in Suez. In the Delta city of Mansura, AFP also reported hundreds of people chanting “Down with Mubarak” as they came out of mosques, even when heavily outnumbered by security forces. It reported that some Imams encouraged worshippers to “go out and seek change”. In another Delta city, Damietta, tens of thousands protested and set fire to the NDP headquarters, according to the report of France24. The organizers of the rallies had focused on torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment, describing the protests as “the beginning of the end” for the dictatorship. Egypt faces pretty much the same sets of problems as Tunisia, ranging from rising prices of food, the high rate of unemployment and the deep-seated official corruption. Indeed analysts are talking about the deep-seated frustrations in Egypt with the Mubarak dictatorship that has been in power for thirty years. The unprecedented demonstrations have overwhelmed the security forces because as the international media has reported most of Friday, the waves of people in protests have also seen the riot police being beating back and the breaking of the “fear factor” amongst the Egyptian people.
Speaking for Amnesty International, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa, said “the Egyptian authorities must rein in the security forces to prevent bloodshed”. Hassiba added that “the authorities cannot continue to rely on the 30-year-old State of Emergency to enforce a blanket prohibition on public demonstrations and grant sweeping powers of search and arrest”. Amnesty International said protesters must have the right to organize protests and demonstrate free from intimidation, violence, and the threat of detention and prosecution. In response to the clamp down on the internet and mobile telephony, it said “by taking this dramatic step of stopping the flow of information between Egyptians the authorities have shown the lengths to which they will go to remove the right to peaceful protest”. It went on to add that it received reports on Thursday of the killing of 22 year old Ahmed Atef in North Sinai when security forces opened fire on a crowd of more than 1000 demonstrations in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. It also said that seven protesters were killed in the north-east city of Suez. At least 1120 protesters had been detained according to figures from lawyers and human rights organizations, quoted by Amnesty International.
By Friday night, reports emerged that the army had been drafted to put a stop to the protests which had continued beyond the hour of the curfew which the regime had imposed. On live television, as I write these lines there were huge explosions in the night in Cairo, just as Aljazeera was reporting fire in the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), while demonstrators burnt many police armoured vehicles and even made an effort to roll one of them into the river. As the night fell on Cairo, it was becoming evident that the regime had taken a decision to crackdown on the demonstrations, even when some elements within the ruling circles were saying that the security forces alone could not prevent a revolution, that reform was necessary. Mustafa al-Fekki, a member of the NDP and the chairman of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee was reported by France24 as saying that “nowhere in the world can the security forces put an end to revolution”. Al-Fekki said the security option alone is not sufficient, and the president is the only one to put an end to these events”, adding that there should be “unprecedented reforms”.
Analysts are reporting that what is being witnessed is an uprising which will profoundly affect the Arab world, because of the central importance of Egypt in the Arab and African world. Egypt has a population of over 80 million people and as the largest Arab country is witnessing an alliance of all political tendencies from the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest political opposition to the right, liberal politicians, moderate Islamists and communists and leftists, all united in opposition to the dictatorship. The people on the street have demanded the departure of the interior minister, whose security forces have been accused of heavy-handedness, an end to the decades-old state of emergency and a rise in the minimum wage. But these were to spiral into the one demand that the dictator Hosni Mubarak should go. Analysts say that the strategic momentum is shifting away from the dictator because the threats about a crackdown on demonstrators who defy the curfew were not heeded by the people. Similarly, in several cities around Egypt, the security forces lost the streets to the people. What is not too clear as I file this report is where the military’s loyaltylies. When the first military armoured cras emerged, people jubilated hoping they will support the people just as their counterparts in Tunisia did, by not firing at the people as the dictator had hoped. And by nightfall, in Cairo, there were unconfirmed reports of the police and the military exchanging fire, in a situation which remained very fluid and unstable.
The events continue to unfold as I file this report, but what is clear is that Egypt cannot be the same again, no matter what the next few days bring. The dictatorship cannot continue to rule in the old way, just as the people are no longer prepared to live in the same old way, having lost the fear factor. Egypt is braced for change which will have far reaching consequences for the international situation. Under Mubarak, Egypt has been a strategic ally of United States imperialism, and is in bed with Israel, in the controversial “peace process” with the Palestinians, which has seen the consolidation of the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel, while the meaningless motion of a so-called process rolls on for years on end, giving nothing to the Palestinians, much to the anger of Egyptians and other Arabs and Muslims around the world. What effect the removal of the Mubarak dictatorship will have on that is still in the air. But for now, the Egyptian people are on the streets trying to sweep away the dictator, Mubarak. The repercussions of the events which started a few weeks ago in Tunisia are being felt all over the region and further afield. Things will not quite be the same again: either in Egypt , Yemen or even in Washington.