Revolution in the Arab World - Observation of a lost soul Blog

foreign policy • revolution in the arab world • 18 days
down with various figures from the traditional opposition, including members
of the Muslim Brotherhood—the same group Mubarak’s police state
had spent years persecuting. He then issued a deeply disingenuous statement
that seemed crafted to offer symbolic concessions without conceding
real power or control over the pace of reform. Message: The government
is being reasonable while you kids in Tahrir Square are bent on destroying
Egypt. Time to go home. On Sunday, Feb. 6, banks opened across the country,
and the government urged people to go back to work. Instead of killing
protesters, the regime would now ignore them.
The crowds were dwindling, and yet the Tahriris held firm. They announced
a “week of resilience,” signaling that they were hunkering down
for a long struggle. On Sunday, Feb. 6, the “day of the martyrs,” huge images
of fallen heroes, some showing smiling faces, others grim shots of bloodied
corpses, decorated the square. Meanwhile, the protesters adamantly refused
to negotiate until Mubarak stepped down.
If there was a turning point, it was a heartfelt interview on the night of
Monday, Feb. 7, by Wael Ghonim, a key protest organizer whose sudden
disappearance had become an international cause célèbre. Ghonim, an articulate
Google executive, effectively gutted the regime’s propaganda campaign
against the protesters, weeping as he insisted that the youth in Tahrir
Square only wanted what was best for Egypt. The next day’s protests were
the biggest yet.
From Tuesday, Feb. 8, onward, the protesters pressed their advantage as
cracks began to show in the regime and new civic groups joined the revolution.
Demonstrations and strikes broke out within ministries and syndicates
and in factories across Egypt. Suddenly, thousands of professors, judges,
lawyers, and delegations from distant governorates were marching on Tahrir.
On Wednesday, Feb. 9, in their boldest move yet, a group of protesters
seized the street in front of the parliament building before the Army could
react and rushed in blankets and tents for an extended sit-in. On Thursday
evening, after a drumbeat of leaks and statements suggesting Mubarak was
planning to step down proved overly optimistic, an angry crowd blockaded
the state television building. And on Friday, Feb. 11, seemingly the entire
country took to the streets as rumors spread that Mubarak had fled Cairo,
if not Egypt altogether.
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