By: Qeko
31/1/11
The Revolution is here and here to stay. The political wind of regime change blowing across North Africa seems to spread like the hurricane wind that will not be easily stopped. For many decades, North Africa has been rule by dictators many of whom have survived because of the American support. It is the US who continued to support both Tunisia and Mubarak’s Egypt. The US maintained their support for the North African dictators because they were crucial and important in the US Middle East foreign policy. For instance, the US needs Egypt if their Middle East policy has to be a success. So this wind of political change blowing across North Africa has created a crisis in the US Middle East foreign policy because any political change that takes place in Egypt has serious repercussion on their Middle East policy. No wonder that for many decades, the US has given 1.5 billion Dollars to the Egyptian military as a way of showing their solidarity and support to the Mubaraks’ autocratic rule.
A critical look into the Revolution blowing across North Africa shows some unique elements as follows; Firstly in terms of their similarity, the one common problem for both the Tunisians and the Egyptians’ has been that they all were under oppression and that their regimes were autocratic and cared less about them but did everything under the sun to enrich themselves. Both Ben Ali and Mubarak amassed huge wealth and have expensive properties that were acquired corruptly at the expense of the majority poor people in their countries. Since the Tunisians and the Egyptians had one common problem, the Revolution took the same direction and the message was the same and this was a call for both Mubarak and Ben Ali to go. The protestors in both countries called for an end to oppression and dictatorship. They called for an end to dictatorship because both of these ruled their countries undemocratically and instead made life a living hell for their people. Ben Ali for 23 years turned Tunisia his personal estate while Mubarak for 30 years turned Egypt into his kingdom where he was about to make his son the next President of the country. The problem in Egypt was not that Gamal Mubarak was being prepared to rule the country but that the President himself Hosni Mubarak did little to lift the living standards of the people and concentrated on corruptly amassing wealth at the expense of the poor Egyptians.
The dictators’ response
Looking into the dictators response to the protest, we have noted the following; in Tunisia Ben Ali could not withstand the pressure and he fled the country to Saudi Arabia while in Egpyt, the military man Mubarak vowed to stay on and if anything die on Egyptian soil. The defiant Mubarak, a military General himself who is highly decorated because of the many wars he fought for his country, showed no sign of surrender unlike the fearful Ben Ali who escaped the burning hell in Tunis.
31/1/11
The Revolution is here and here to stay. The political wind of regime change blowing across North Africa seems to spread like the hurricane wind that will not be easily stopped. For many decades, North Africa has been rule by dictators many of whom have survived because of the American support. It is the US who continued to support both Tunisia and Mubarak’s Egypt. The US maintained their support for the North African dictators because they were crucial and important in the US Middle East foreign policy. For instance, the US needs Egypt if their Middle East policy has to be a success. So this wind of political change blowing across North Africa has created a crisis in the US Middle East foreign policy because any political change that takes place in Egypt has serious repercussion on their Middle East policy. No wonder that for many decades, the US has given 1.5 billion Dollars to the Egyptian military as a way of showing their solidarity and support to the Mubaraks’ autocratic rule.
A critical look into the Revolution blowing across North Africa shows some unique elements as follows; Firstly in terms of their similarity, the one common problem for both the Tunisians and the Egyptians’ has been that they all were under oppression and that their regimes were autocratic and cared less about them but did everything under the sun to enrich themselves. Both Ben Ali and Mubarak amassed huge wealth and have expensive properties that were acquired corruptly at the expense of the majority poor people in their countries. Since the Tunisians and the Egyptians had one common problem, the Revolution took the same direction and the message was the same and this was a call for both Mubarak and Ben Ali to go. The protestors in both countries called for an end to oppression and dictatorship. They called for an end to dictatorship because both of these ruled their countries undemocratically and instead made life a living hell for their people. Ben Ali for 23 years turned Tunisia his personal estate while Mubarak for 30 years turned Egypt into his kingdom where he was about to make his son the next President of the country. The problem in Egypt was not that Gamal Mubarak was being prepared to rule the country but that the President himself Hosni Mubarak did little to lift the living standards of the people and concentrated on corruptly amassing wealth at the expense of the poor Egyptians.
The dictators’ response
Looking into the dictators response to the protest, we have noted the following; in Tunisia Ben Ali could not withstand the pressure and he fled the country to Saudi Arabia while in Egpyt, the military man Mubarak vowed to stay on and if anything die on Egyptian soil. The defiant Mubarak, a military General himself who is highly decorated because of the many wars he fought for his country, showed no sign of surrender unlike the fearful Ben Ali who escaped the burning hell in Tunis.
The Vacuum that Ben Ali left in Tunisian was filled by the Speaker of Parliament who was letter elevated to the Presidency so that he together with the Prime Minister take care of the transitional government. To properly handle the political pressure from the protestors, both the President and the Prime Minister resigned from Ben Ali’s ruling party. This unity government has never been welcomed by the majority Tunisians because they still see that through the President and the Prime Minister, Ben Ali even though he is in exile, will still rule Tunisia. The issue is that these two were part and parcel of Ben Ali’s political dictatorship and they cannot just change colours now just because of the pressure. Tunisians want a neutral interim administration which will prepare the country for elections. Their worry is that the Ben Ali’s Prime Minister and caretaker President cannot be trusted because they will end up using the power of the incumbency to win the election.
In Egypt however, Hosni Mubarak responded to the protest by appointing the Vice President after 30 years of ruling the country alone. Mubarak never wanted to have a Vice President but manage Egypt alone like his personal estate. In addition he also appointed a new Prime Minister himself. Many commentators have said that Mubarak appointed the Vice President this time around because he is in trouble and want him to play a front line role in the discussion with the opposition. In other words, Mubarak could not have appointed this Vice President if there were no political mayhem in Egypt. Why should he appoint someone now to be the Vice President after ruling the country alone for 30 years? However the one unique element about the three top Egyptian administrators is that they are all former senior military men and Mubarak has appointed them because of the huge respect the Egyptians people have on the army.
Now just like their Tunisian counterparts, the Egyptians’ anti government demonstrators have one common problem that Mubarak should resign and there be an interim administration which should oversee both the Presidential and parliamentary election coming in September. However the unseen US power seem to suggest that the US want Mubarak himself to be at the helm of power and oversee the election which is a problem to many of us. Mubarak need to give space to a neutral administration otherwise the coming election will lead to more bloodshed because the Egyptian people are sick and tired of Mubarak. What the US should do if they have to redeem their political integrity to make sure that they properly side themselves with the oppressed people of Egypt and tell Mubarak to leave office otherwise history will judge them wrong.
Western nations missing the point
The Tunisian and Egyptian revolution has shown how easily western nations seem to miss the point when dealing with African people. The Western nations are so much blind and deaf that they don’t see and hear the specific cries of African people as has been the case with Tunisian and Egypt. In both Tunisia and Egypt the people are calling for a total regime change and nothing else while unfortunately the US and some western governments are talking the language of allowing dictators to still stay in power and initiate reform. What reform can dictators who have ruled for decades introduce in the 21st Century. These dictators are old fashioned and have no idea what the youth in this century actually need. Thus is why in trying to appease these dictators, in Egypt the US is asking the Mubarak to hang on there and initiate reforms and thereafter call for elections in September. The one amazing thing is that Mubarak has rule Egypt for 30 years and had all the time on earth to initiate anything as a way of helping empower his people. So the US and their western counterparts are greatly missing the point and the best thing they can do is to hear the cries of the people who are calling for Mubarak to resign and leave office. If the US is a champion of democracy then they need to ask their friend Mubarak to resign which is in line with what the people are demanding. The people don’t want the reforms or any form of transition government but want one thing, that Mubarak should resign and leave office.
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