A fury is sweeping a nation with 7,000 years of political history. Egypt’s youth-led popular uprising for change, democracy and social justice is being watched on TV screens world-wide. It has jolted leaders in the Middle East, with Jordan and Yemen announcing changes.

Egypt, according to several analysts, is a bellwether state “as when it moved towards the Soviet bloc, many Arab states followed, when it turned towards the West, many Arab states followed; and when Islamism became a leading trend in Egypt, it also did in other parts of the Arab world.”  

NONEBut this time the Egyptian uprising seems to mirror  the revolt in Tunisia.

The demonstrations, which are into its third week, are drawing significantly larger numbers of Egyptians who have not attended the protests before, like women, children and government workers. Judges, lawyers, academics, authors, actors and diplomats have joined thousands of protestors in Liberation Square or Tahrir Square in Cairo.

News reports have highlighted that among those who joined the demonstrations were staff from Cairo University, a former director of the state bank and off-duty soldiers. A group of women at the demonstrations chanted: “Mubarak, you were head of the air force. Fly out of here.”

Prominent Egyptian feminist author Nawal El-Saadawi, whose life has been threatened by Islamists, and who predicted that Hosni Mubarak will be gone within days, joined the protestors. (I am a great admirer of Nawal El-Saadawi.)

Spirit of community and solidarity

One interesting development has been the strengthening of the spirit of community and solidarity among the people of Egypt. Neighbours have shown the true meaning of a community. Mubarak pulled back the police to create unrest in order for the Egyptians to request that he stay in power to keep the peace. With the disappearance of the police, neighbours have formed their own groups to secure streets, clean them and organise traffic in an unprecedented way

NONEPeople feel empowered and are beginning to look after their neighbourhoods and taking turns to ensure their own security. There is a reawakening among the ordinary people, who are discussing politics and speaking out about corruption that has brought decay to their society.

Speaking about corruption among public officials, a young woman who was interviewed at the Liberation Square said when asked about the Egyptian president’s reported riches: “As a public servant, Mubarak should not have even 1% of that wealth.”

This uprising has its  roots in increasing prices of food, poverty, hunger , food shortages and unemployment like the mother of all revolutions, the French Revolution. In 1789 France, skyrocketing food prices and shortages brought political changes to the country.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians turned out for the largest demonstration to date in Cairo on Tuesday, with renewed demands for the immediate resignation of their president, Hosni Mubarak.

The vice-president, Omar Suleiman, who was the former intelligence chief, is leading negotiations with Egypt's opposition groups. He has tried t to appease protestors with a TV assurance that Mubarak had endorsed a timetable for a “peaceful and organised transfer of power” in September this year.

As the Mubarak regime is struggling to survive , the protestors have said they will not give up until their demands are met, ie Mubarak to resign immediately, constitutional reforms particularly the lifting of emergency rule which has been in place since 1981, fresh elections and reforms to build a liberal, democratic and secular Egypt.

According to Suleiman, Mubarak has set up a committee to recommend constitutional amendments to remove tight restrictions on who can run for president, and promised there will be no reprisals against protestors.

Everyone can speak up

But the reforms have already begun in Liberation Square, where democracy has been achieved already. Everyone can speak up. For a people who have suddenly rediscovered what it feels like to be free, it is an empowering feeling that in Liberation Square, no one can take that away from them.

This is giving them the strength to endure virtually any hardship, including sleeping in the open, exposed to the rain and cold. This freedom is being expressed in spontaneous bursts of singing and dancing, and people of different faiths are praying together for freedom and justice.

As the events are unfolding, a new industry has sprung up. It is the perspective industry for Egypt. Political commentators, academics, religious leaders and spokespersons of special interest groups are freely giving their opinions on the background to the current crisis and the changing situation on the ground. Interestingly, some commentators are quoting from religious texts that have any mention of Egypt, as if this protest was prophesied in some bygone age.

A Malaysian national daily has sent a journalist and a photographer to present a Malaysian perspective on the developing story. The local interest in the events in Egypt is understandable in view of the sizeable number of Malaysians in that country. Some of our citizens could be caught in humanitarian situations in the midst of the crisis and that would certainly provide material for compelling news for readers back home.

Much of the coverage in the local mainstream media has been on the evacuation of over 7,000 students, with government leaders receiving the returnees. It is the duty of the government to ensure the safety of its citizens and not something extraordinary to be the focal point of the news. However, our newspapers do not see much beyond this perspective, which we can obtain from news sources outside our borders.

Beyond that, there may be an inclination - whether expressed or implicit - in the mainstream media to present a view of the uprising that the authorities would find palatable. This should be avoided as it would be a disservice to the spirit of freedom and justice that is driving the people of Egypt to put their country on the road to a better future.

However, in today’s world of on-line media, social networking and borderless information, it is pointless to present a skewed version of events, as the other side of the story gets out in a blink of the eye. Witness the sanitised version of the uprising that is presented by Egypt’s state television channel, which has tried to downplay the strength of the revolution.

NONEThe revolution has spread beyond Cairo and has swept up people in all segments of society. Among those who appeared in Tahrir Square was the Google executive and blogger Wael Ghonim, (left) who was held by state security for 12 days. In an emotional TV appearance, which had a powerful impact in Egypt and on the web and helped motivate more people to attend the protests, he said: “You are the heroes. I am not a hero, you are the heroes.”

For sure, the Egyptian uprising will reverberate not just through the Middle East, but far beyond the region and will reshape the cosy relationships that Western and other governments have with client states.


JOSIE M FERNANDEZ is currently an Asian Public Intellectual Fellow, director of Philanthropy Asia, consultant and researcher. Working on sustainability, consumer protection, philanthropy and anti-corruption actions are some of her current passions besides writing.