The Egyptian Revolution - Research Paper Example

?The Egyptian Revolution What started out as a peaceful protest by Egyptians to stand against police brutality has finally subsided with more than 1,000 people dead, a multitude of people injured and disabled, the small country of Egypt is well on its way to a much brighter future under a new Constitution, and seeking a truly democratic government. At one point, Egypt was a world leader until more than three hundred years of colonialism set it up to fail. After thirty-one years under a cruel dictator, there is now hope that Egypt will once again rise to take its rightful position and reinvent itself with freedom and justice for all. The Egyptian Revolution The daily existence of living in Egypt has been a bad dream where the only thing that is real is poverty, fear, cruelty, and corruption. There is no real education or work; it is all socially connected and related to corruption. One must follow the regime, never speaking out about what is seen, heard, or experienced. There are no human rights, no sense of right or wrong, no rules, just the consequences of corruption; a sick game of roulette. A person can only rise as far as what is allowed by the regime, for as long as is needed for the purpose to be served. On the surface, all appears to be well under control; the people have what they want, and all is well. On January 25, 2011, a scream erupted from the small country of Egypt that was heard around the world, “Mubarak must go!” (Tadros, 2011) The people of Egypt watched closely as Tunisia quickly removed their source of misery; it was a spark of hope for all those oppressed by corrupt regimes throughout the Middle East. Egyptians were tired of living under a corrupt government that made survival impossible; tired of police brutality, tired of the intense suffering that made daily living just another day to wait for death to come in sweet relief. The people of Egypt had reached a point where they were basically unable to survive under the current regime, police brutality had killed many innocent civilians; it was the monster lurking in the dark for every Egyptian. It was discovered that the New Year’s Day bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria, where 21 people were killed was actually masterminded by the Police Minister, Ali Habib. The people were tired of being targets for this sick regime that enjoyed making it appear that it was a religious issue as another clash between Copts and Muslims. The truth was out; it was the regime that continues to cause and feed the problems between the Muslims and the Christians. The current regime had killed so many innocent people that a few more deaths wouldn’t matter; especially if those deaths could somehow make a drastic change to bring an end to the horror within Egypt. The voice of the people said, “Let freedom ring!” (Awad & Dixon, 2011) It is the right of every human being to be able to live a productive life by providing for themselves and their families; no one should have to live in fear and suffering just to appease a sick regime. Egypt has done the right thing in taking the chance to make a change in order to bring relief and freedom to its people. As a result, many other countries in the Middle East have begun to speak out against their governments for freedom and human rights too. Egypt will possibly lead the way for democracy to finally reach that part of the world. It all began six years earlier when three Egyptian men; a physician, a chemist, and an engineer, had expatriated to London and begun to meet to discuss civil disobedience under the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. They slowly built a network of support on social networking sites that gave them a following in Egypt. A combination of the Tunisian Revolution one month earlier, plus the social media network coverage and discussions, gave the people the courage to do something about their misery. January 25th is celebrated as Police Day in Egypt; a time to show support and appreciation for whatever protection the police have given the people. However, this year, the people decided it was time to show the police how they really feel about being brutalized; it was from this effort that January 25, 2011, also known as the Police Day of Anger, gave birth to the Egyptian Revolution. (Awad & Dixon, 2011) The protests all started out peacefully, until the regime turned out the police on the people to stop future protests. Even as mosques were dismissing people from their weekly services the police began firing on the people, often using real bullets instead of rubber ones; their aim was to disable and kill. More than 1,000 people died; to date, the number of disabled hasn’t been counted. Most people in the clashes lost at least one eye; some lost both. Many young people lost their eyesight for freedom. Egypt is a man’s world, the women never get involved publicly, however many women joined the protesters. These were desperate women who left their homes and families not knowing if they would ever see them again. This shows that they felt they had nothing left to lose; their families could not survive under the present conditions. Many had lost several loved ones to the regime. (Tadros, 2011) When the protesters stormed the police buildings to burn and destroy them, Mubarak ordered the male prisoners to be released in an attempt to show the people how they were only safe under his regime. What resulted was a massive looting and crime spree that left many businesses destroyed and burned; women were sexually assaulted. Interestingly enough, at the same time as the male prisoners were released (the female prisoners were kept), the police were pulled from the streets and given a one month vacation with pay until the situation was better controlled. Many protesters apprehended the “thieves” in the commission of their crimes only to find they were wearing their police identification under their disguises; another sick idea of the regime. It was Mubarak’s way to show the people that he was their only means of security. (Tadros, 2011) Once the people had defeated the police, their second issue was to expose and get rid of the widespread corruption that the Mubarak regime had used to keep the people oppressed and in poverty. Every effort was focused on removing the sources of corruption; there was no returning to the way things were. The leaders of the Revolution and the people demanded that Mubarak and all his support system be removed from government. (Tadros, 2011) It was discovered that Wael Ghonim, a 37 year old Google executive had been using the social media to gather support for getting rid of Mubarak and the old regime; he was abducted and all forms of communication were shut down in Egypt. For more than five days there was no phone service; for nearly two weeks the internet was shutdown. (Tadros, 2011) The people gathered in Tahrir Square daily; more than one million protesters who actually camped out there to support the cause. Support came from all over the world to overthrow the regime; secret meetings began to shift the focus off of Mubarak onto a new target. Omar Suleiman. It was hoped this shift in authority would appease the protesters; he would be an interim Vice President. However, his ties to the old regime were too strong; most felt he was just a puppet with Mubarak and sons still pulling the strings. (Kennedy, 2011) Another issue of the corruption was that it is a well known fact the aging Mubarak had been grooming his sons, particularly Gamal to rule following him. Due to his advanced age, his sons have run the country for the last ten years. Election primaries held in the fall of 2010 showed strong support for Mubarak; few people voted under fear of retaliation from the secret police and “paid” criminals that patrolled the voting precincts. Gamal ran in the election; however Mubarak won because in the end, everyone knew that he would hand over the position to his son, Gamal. (Kennedy, 2011) Gamal had spent the last ten years taking money from the people through various ways to invest in personal interests with advice from his well trained associates. His mother is British and he was educated in London, with no particular loyalty to the Egyptian people. The taxes that had been collected from the people went to support projects that made him and his friends wealthier, instead of meeting the needs of the people. While it is true that Mubarak directly did not participate in this corruption, the fact that he did not prevent his family from abusing the government and people of Egypt makes him overall responsible for what happened during his leadership, or lack of it. (Tadros, 2011) The education system is also corrupt in Egypt. The Ministry of Education required that textbooks rewrite history to defend Mubarak and his decisions, instead of representing the truth of what occurred. In public schools, students only had to attend and get top marks; regardless of how they got them. It wasn’t through academic achievement, it was through parents paying the teachers, who were basically paid nothing by the schools, for “private lessons” that students got high marks; a social connection and money was necessary. Through this method, students with top marks were able to go to college for free but were only given a choice of about five different careers they could enter; the marks determined which career they entered. This created a lot of people being poorly trained for very few jobs. Only those who were well connected socially and financially could get a job at graduation. Young people dedicated themselves to a college education, regardless of its value, only to sit in sidewalk cafes; bitter, angry, and unemployed. The young men had no hope of ever being able to work enough to save the money required to get married and start their families as independent adults. Their only hope was to somehow expatriate to another country, leaving behind their families and close ties; their support systems. Young women lived only for the thought of marriage; with careers, though many women had graduated from college, a remote possibility. The people were tired of living in substandard accommodations while the ruling family and its partners enjoyed a life of luxury funded by money stolen from the people. (Tadros, 2011) Not everyone in Egypt was dissatisfied with the Mubarak regime. Many Copts and religious minorities, as well as regime connected older and prominent citizens are so afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood and the threat of Egypt becoming a strict Islamic state ruled by Sharia law until they preferred to have Mubarak remain. Many have flourished under the regime and were deeply disturbed that the new changes would upset their lives and security totally. These Mubarak supporters and the police clashed with the protesters fiercely and faithfully. The protesters had nothing left to lose; many fought to the death. (Tadros, 2011) Mubarak also had ties with many world leaders who kept him in power to support their own interests in the Middle East. However, as these supporters saw the voices of the people get stronger and more powerful, suddenly; these same world leaders began to support the opposition movement. It leaves one to believe that again, this support isn’t genuine, but rather a well aimed attempt to protect their positions and interests in the Middle East with regards to the oil and global shipping routes through the Suez Canal. During this time, there was U.S. Marine support off the coast of the Suez Canal. It was not there to remove Americans stranded in Egypt, or even to assist Egyptians in any way; it was there to ensure that America and Israel wouldn’t be hampered in shipping interests or in receiving Middle Eastern oil supplies. (Cooke, 2011) On February 17, 2011, Mubarak made several contradictory announcements that he would step down, only to announce an hour later that he would fight until the end. This angered the protesters even further. The Army felt they could no longer control the people and Omar Suleiman asked Mubarak to step down. General Mohamed Tantawi, the Minister of the Egyptian military, led a committee to step into the position of ruling Egypt as a temporary solution until new elections can be held next fall. Finally, after more protesters came to Tahrir Square to join the already bulging, center of Cairo blocking group, Mubarak resigned his position, got on a helicopter and left for Sharm El Sheik; a resort town on the Red Sea where he owns an estate. He is supposedly still there with serious health issues. (Kennedy, 2011) After nearly three weeks of being held hostage in their own country with severely restricted curfews and limited communications, Egypt was finally free. Now what? It was assumed that there would be total chaos as many world leaders doubted whether Egypt was ready to be self-ruled and push toward democracy. As it stands today, Egypt has had their first vote since Mubarak left; a test to see if Egypt is truly ready to move on. The vote was to see if the people want to keep the old Constitution as it is with minor changes, or get a new one entirely; one built on democracy and equity for all Egyptians. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of Egypt moving forward. As the people move towards democracy, life is slowly getting better; at least there is no police brutality or regime cruelty. The senseless murder of Egyptians who oppose the regime has stopped and human rights are slowly coming about; one day at a time, one step at a time. The whole world takes a breath as Egypt begins to heal (Fam, 2011.) Freedom has never been free, and never will be. If people decide they want a change bad enough to make it happen, then they have to be prepared to sacrifice whatever is necessary to make that change happen. The people of Egypt had lost so many native sons to the brutality and corruption of this regime; they felt they had nothing left to lose. This drive to survive gave them the power to finally stand up and demand freedom, democracy, and human rights for all Egyptians. Every life lost was not lost senselessly; it was part of the cost of bringing about freedom for all the people. References Awad, M., Dixon, H. (2011). Special report: inside the Egyptian revolution. Thompson Reuters, Inc. April 13, 2011. Web. April 16, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-egypt-revolution-idUSTRE73C18E20110413 Cooke, S. (2011). Who is the real opposition in Egypt? Global Research. February 6, 2011. Web. Arpil 16, 2011. http://theglobalrealm.com/2011/02/06/who-is-the-real-opposition-in-egypt/ Fam, M. (2011) Egypt’s first vote after Mubarak tests shift to democracy. BusinessweekBloomberg.com. March 19, 2011. Web. April 16, 2011. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-19/egypt-s-first-vote-after-mubarak-tests-shift-to-democracy.html Kennedy, D. (2011). Who’s who? The key players in Egyptian revolution. AOLNews.com. February 10, 2011. Web. April 16, 2011. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/10/whos-who-the-key-players-in-egyptian-revolution/ Tadros, S. (2011). The story of the Egyptian revolution. American Thinker. February 2, 2011. Web. April 16, 2011. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/the_story_of_the_egyptian_revo.html Read More