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11 February 2011 By Saeed
Qureshi Now when despite his oft-repeated
pledges, the
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has
declined to step down, the protesters, as a last
resort, should storm the presidential palace and
forcibly evict him from the presidency. Such a daring
onslaught might entail brutal backlash from the guards
and pro- Mubarak troops posted around the palace.
Otherwise, there is a nagging possibility of this epic
revolution being watered down. Thus far, the
protestors have refrained from assailing the
presidential palace where the villainous president
resides and is directing the counter measures. A person who claims to be a past
master in obstinacy and having done a PhD in
stubbornness would not bow out even if the entire
Egypt goes up in flames. His defiance to
the will of the Egyptian people must to be broken at
all cost. He is unmoved despite many deaths and
casualties, not to mention the colossal economic
downturn.
The French Revolution
(1789) triumphed because the charged protestors
attacked the Bastille prison and engaged in a violent
battling with the government troops and ultimately
prevailed. The attack on Bastille was followed by
sporadic yet consistent ransacking and pillaging of
the mansions, palaces and well fortified citadels of
the aristocratic and elite members. The replica of the
degenerated French society can be seen in the present
day Egypt, in the garb of democracy, lorded over by
a most morbid and brutal military junta in tandem with
parasitic wealthy sections. The historic
French Revolution had four challengers
namely; monarchy, feudalism, papacy and aristocracy.
These three exploitative institutions were obliterated
through a relentless and sustained assault launched by
a truly mass movement. In the case of Egypt it is
primarily the military straitjacket that has to be
broken to be replaced by a genuine and unadulterated
democratic order chosen by the people. It suits the beleaguered despot
and his cunning cohorts to see the protestors wear out
by a prolonged agitation ultimately resulting in the
fatigue and weariness not to continue the movement any
further. The signs of fatigue, disheartening and
perhaps disenchantment bordering on dejection are
visible by the shrinking number of protestors holding
on at the Tehrir Square battleground. Those who resisted their hunger
and thrust and sleep for ten days now are seen asleep
with the same attires and dresses they were wearing
when they entered the arena bubbling up with a new
hope and jubilation for a stupendous change that
seemed to be around the corner. The leadership of the crusading
protestors seems to be lacking the guts as hard and
uncompromising bargainers. They appear to be deficient
in the fire of rhetoric, the thunder of a high
sounding hyperbole, resounding eloquence and the
oratorical bellicosity to propel and keep the tempo,
momentum and dynamism on the boiling point. The movement that started with a
big bang is now dissipating with less zeal and gusto
that if kept alive on high pitch and sustained
vibrancy could keep fueling the fire of rebellion and
revolt against a diabolic regime. The assemblage of the protestors
has no central leadership or conspicuous figurehead
leader who can coordinate and marshal the demands and
aspirations of the revolting people of Egypt in a loud
and aggressive manner. The disparate groups raise
slogans and keep motivating and stimulating the
courage and passion and fury of the enraged
protestors. Yet that is not the substitute for a
transitional council or body of the frontline leaders
and commanders who can keep the spirits and stamina of
the protestors in the highest gear and save it from
falling to the lower degrees. The crux of the masses movement
against a highly incompetent, murderous and corrupt
coterie of rulers is that it should be replaced with a
civilian transitional or interim government of the so
called national unity government. Before it can be
done, the mastermind of all the sufferings and
degradations inflicted upon the wonderful people of
Egypt,
Hosni Mubarak
must vacate the presidency. Along with him the entire
military paraphernalia including the ministers most of
whom are the former army generals must resign and
leave the power. As being misleadingly dished by
the official circles, there will not be a power vacuum
with the dismantling of the sitting government. In
simple words it should be the civilian leadership
taking over from the military leaders. That
arrangement would pave way for a complete break from
the gory or bleak past that have made Egypt as an
outpost for safeguarding the interests of colonial
powers most notably
Israel for
the past three decades. Egypt under Hosni Mubarak has
ignobly singled out itself as the protégé, or the
client state of both Israel and for the sake of forces
inimical to Egypt. For a paltry retainer of over one
billion dollars Egypt let loose a reign of unspeakable
terror and relentless intimidation upon its own people
in order to silence them. As an Egyptian himself, Hosni
Mubarak has been treating his own people like the
colony of slaves and fugitives to be kept under the
specter of fear, brutality, repression and torture so
that no one talks of fundamental human rights, a civil
society, a home grown vibrant economy and a political
culture based upon the popular will and sanction
through the free ballot. As a selfish and power hungry
dictator and with unabashed aggression, he has been
steam rolling public opinion, muzzling every
discordant element and leveling off all divergent
voices. So if one sows the wind, he has
to reap the whirlwind, as the adage goes. And that is
what is happening in Egypt. A tyranny exceeding the
bounds would entail a backlash of the corresponding
severity. The law of retribution works in nature. The
mills of God grind slowly but these grind exceedingly
small. It is foregone that any way, the
loathsome cronyism of Mubarak and his sold-out Cabal
could not have lasted longer. It would have remained
vulnerable even if Mubarak would have kept his throne
intact till his death or he was succeeded by his son.
The society is not a static phenomenon. It is always
dynamic and keeps moving forward. The systems of
governance and paradigms of societal behavior undergo
changes with the time passage. The downtrodden and repressed
Egyptian masses deserve a right to be living in a
civil society and enjoy the benedictions of freedom
and dignity. The "D Day" is predestined and no
aggressor or tyrant how crafty and ferocious he may
be, can stop or rollback that march towards a world
free of parasites, monstrous autocrats running islands
of totalitarianism and mercenary dispensations. Even
the foreign regimes with colonial mindset cannot stop
this onward journey of human civilization. The world media has mercifully
assumed the laudable role of a redeemer for the bonded
societies as the Egyptian society is. The media is a
collective voice of such people who are struggling for
an equable status with their counterparts living in
civil societies, who have freedom,
openness, and
civil liberties, rule of law, national
freedom, representative governments and right to
choose their leaders. The writer is a Dallas-based journalist and a
former diplomat. Email:
qureshisa2003@yahoo.com |
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