We just returned from Midan Tahrir, where it all began and where four hours ago thousands watched onscreen as the Egyptian president resigned in absentia.
My fellow citizens, in the difficult circumstances our country is experiencing, President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has decided to give up the office of the president of the republic and instructed the supreme council of the armed forces to manage the affairs of the country. May God guide our steps.
Perhaps one of the shortest resignation speeches in history, delivered by a vice president whose tenure lasted a mere thirteen days. The streets were, naturally, flooded with people -- men, women, kids -- all waving Egyptian flags, shouting, cheering, and honking their horns. We saw young men belly-dancing on the beds of pickup trucks, grateful protesters prostrated in prayer, and little children escaping from their mothers' grasps to run circles from the sheer excitement of the moment. In Tahrir itself, tarpaulin tents that as recently as this afternoon served as makeshift homes for the hundreds of Egyptians who were determined to occupy the square until Mubarak left were hosting impromptu parties, while outside people sang, banged drums, shot off fireworks, and chanted "Allahu akbar" (which contrary to popular belief in the West is NOT said only by suicide bombers about to detonate themselves, but is simply an expression of faith and gratitude).
Everywhere we went, smiling soldiers -- Egypt's new heroes -- were posing for photos with the adoring public. You have to wonder what it feels like right now to be a low-ranking solider who's just had a stressful two weeks camped out in a tank in downtown Cairo, under orders not to let the protests get out of hand...but also forbidden from using force against the people...and now finds himself not only a hero but the inheritor of an entire country.
Egypt's challenges are multifarious and complex. The country's resources are already stretched too thin for its population of 80 million (a number that could double by 2050, according to some estimates). Too many Egyptians have grown lazy on a cocktail of short working hours and government handouts; too many have been quick to blame their ills on a corrupt regime and villainous bureaucrats but slow to initiate reforms themselves where they could. If the people here believe that the military can solve all their problems for them, not only are they once again passing the buck to another strongman institution but they're deluding themselves. An Egyptian professor of mine once explained the Egyptian attitude toward governance by saying, and I paraphrase, "In America everyone wants to be president. In Egypt, most people have no desire to be president -- what they hope for is an enlightened leader who will make the right decisions on their behalf."
Do the Egyptians see in the military one more version of this wise Leviathan? Or is this the start of a new attitude toward leadership, a bid for true democracy?
My fellow citizens, in the difficult circumstances our country is experiencing, President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has decided to give up the office of the president of the republic and instructed the supreme council of the armed forces to manage the affairs of the country. May God guide our steps.
Perhaps one of the shortest resignation speeches in history, delivered by a vice president whose tenure lasted a mere thirteen days. The streets were, naturally, flooded with people -- men, women, kids -- all waving Egyptian flags, shouting, cheering, and honking their horns. We saw young men belly-dancing on the beds of pickup trucks, grateful protesters prostrated in prayer, and little children escaping from their mothers' grasps to run circles from the sheer excitement of the moment. In Tahrir itself, tarpaulin tents that as recently as this afternoon served as makeshift homes for the hundreds of Egyptians who were determined to occupy the square until Mubarak left were hosting impromptu parties, while outside people sang, banged drums, shot off fireworks, and chanted "Allahu akbar" (which contrary to popular belief in the West is NOT said only by suicide bombers about to detonate themselves, but is simply an expression of faith and gratitude).
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| People celebrating atop a burned police vehicle in Midan Tahrir. |
Everywhere we went, smiling soldiers -- Egypt's new heroes -- were posing for photos with the adoring public. You have to wonder what it feels like right now to be a low-ranking solider who's just had a stressful two weeks camped out in a tank in downtown Cairo, under orders not to let the protests get out of hand...but also forbidden from using force against the people...and now finds himself not only a hero but the inheritor of an entire country.
Egypt's challenges are multifarious and complex. The country's resources are already stretched too thin for its population of 80 million (a number that could double by 2050, according to some estimates). Too many Egyptians have grown lazy on a cocktail of short working hours and government handouts; too many have been quick to blame their ills on a corrupt regime and villainous bureaucrats but slow to initiate reforms themselves where they could. If the people here believe that the military can solve all their problems for them, not only are they once again passing the buck to another strongman institution but they're deluding themselves. An Egyptian professor of mine once explained the Egyptian attitude toward governance by saying, and I paraphrase, "In America everyone wants to be president. In Egypt, most people have no desire to be president -- what they hope for is an enlightened leader who will make the right decisions on their behalf."
Do the Egyptians see in the military one more version of this wise Leviathan? Or is this the start of a new attitude toward leadership, a bid for true democracy?
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