Friday, Feb. 11, 2011, 6 p.m. sharp, Egyptian local time, will go down as one of the most blessed moments in the country's history, when a wicked tyrant was forced to quit under indomitable will of his subjects without bloodshed.
The entire population men and women, old and young reacted with jubilation, a state of mind they had nearly forgotten decades ago.
Now, finally, they have discovered that the real power is with them; they are the masters of their political destiny. Not in the wildest of dreams anyone in Egypt or outside would have dared to imagine weeks ago that the country's youths would pull off a revolution against a despot and his cronies whose only concern was to line their pockets with public money.
Egyptians are a peace-loving people who live and feed off a fertile land. They only complain or get incited when they do not find their daily bread or when their religion is abused.
While more than 33 million people, roughly 40 percent of the country's 83 million, find it hard to feed themselves, billionaires in a nexus with corrupt politicians have fattened themselves with ill-gotten gains.
I used to be embarrassed, unable to give a satisfactory answer whenever any foreign journalist asked me when the Egyptian journalists would no longer remain quiet or when the Egyptians would stop pretending to be unconcerned.
The whole world has been concerned about the developments in Egypt over the past few days. US President Barack Obama was also concerned, but he said without any justifiable reason that the US is keen on guaranteeing the security of Israel. One wonders why the US should be worried. Is it because the Egyptians have rediscovered their real power to defend their freedom and stop plundering their wealth?
While Israel likes to call itself "an oasis of democracy" in the region, there is no reason why it should worry about Egypt becoming a government of the people rather than a dictatorship. It is not justifiable for Israel to expect a democratically elected government in Egypt to continue the same policies of a dictator, including agreements that endanger the security of Egypt.
A distinguishing feature of the present revolution is that it is the first of its kind, not only in Egypt but in the world, that was achieved without bloodshed. All major revolutions -- French, Bolshevik, Latin American and African -- were made at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Unique events in the Tahrir Square:
Egyptians never lose their sense of humor under any circumstance. Will other people think of getting married when the monstrous-looking tanks train their long guns at them? In Tahrir Square, not many youths found time to get married and throw wedding parties. They also took photographs standing close to the US-made killing machines. They also organized musical events and enacted plays every night in the square. Most of the billboards carried their demands along with some expressions or caricatures poking fun at the authorities, or of themselves. Their sense humor may be one of the factors that enabled them to overcome their fear and remain unflinching.
© Arab News 2011
