Malaysiakini
An awe-inspiring rise by ordinary people against an old and tired regime.
Friedrich Hegel, one of the most prominent philosophers of the Western world, once posited that the hand acting on world history is the spirit of human freedom.
We have witnessed the hand of history in recent weeks, first in Tunisia, and then in Cairo, Egypt. The agitation from the same hand of history is also stirring other societies in the Middle East, such as in Yemen, Jordan and Syria.
NONEThe latest news in Egypt has caught everyone by surprise. There is no adequate way to describe the event, except to characterise it as a peaceful revolution from the ground up. It has been a proper people's revolt, a movement by ordinary, small men and women, against an archaic political structure that is feudalistic, dictatorial and self-serving.
It is awe-inspiring, and most satisfying, to watch millions of ordinary Egyptians rising in one body against an old and tired political structure.
To the people of Egypt, the person of Hosni Mubarak has come to represent all that is bad with their country. There is despotism, corruption and abuse of power on a grand scale. This has been a cardinal crime against the law of democracy: a small handful of powerful people have been able to subjugate a whole nation of millions. It is a cynical corruption of the ideals of politics.
The case of Egypt is a classic instance of bad government, period. The country has been in the iron claws of an anti-democratic and dictatorial regime for 30 years, a regime ruled by the brute force of government hegemony. Few other nations can show the world a worse case of injustices exhibited by bad politics, totally and cynically oblivious to common wisdom or simple human decency.
The Mubarak government there has been in power for 30 years and has not shown the slightest inclination for democratic reforms that will deliver social justice to the people. The lives of the people there display all the weaknesses of an unjust society, where 40 percent of the population live under the poverty line, and where a tiny clique of the privileged class enjoys immense wealth.
Even as we write, the pro-government forces there are trying to turn back the inevitable march of history. We see how pro-government forces, including thugs, strive to turn the protest into a bloody, violent conflict, so that the existing government can benefit from the muddy waters of nihilistic chaos.
Fortunately, for Egypt, and the rest of the world, the armed forces have so far maintained a reasonable appearance of fairness, and so remains the only stabilising force in the madness that has gripped Egypt.
Mood is that Mubarak is no longer wanted
We do not know how the situation in Egypt is going to be resolved. Hosni Mubarak has proclaimed that he will step down, yet he insists he will serve out the rest of his term until September this year. But judging from the mood on the street, Mubarak's position in Egypt is untenable. The solution to the crisis in Egypt now depends entirely on the removal of Mubarak.
protest against hosni mubarak us embassy kuala lumpur crowd 1Still, the messy crisis there will leave many contentious issues. Obviously, the political system requires an overhaul to bring drastic changes to an aged regime that has grown irrelevant and out of touch. It will properly require a complete constitutional reform to give power back to the people. The country's constitution badly needs to be rewritten.
Meanwhile, we observe how the dominant forces of the state's core are doing all they can to resist the revolution. They will fail, because they are on the wrong side of history. Egypt will never be the same again, no matter what happens in the next few months. The people have awakened, and they will never go back to the slavish existence of previous days.
I am hoping that the crisis in Egypt will eventually end well for the people of that poor country, without carnage and massive bloodshed. The unfolding drama just goes to show that the battle against injustice can never be won easily, without paying a heavy price for it.
Meanwhile, I would like to express my solidarity with the long-suffering people of Egypt and pray that their revolution will be brought to a end - and end that empowers the people through the working of historical forces.
Long live the people of Egypt!
An awe-inspiring rise by ordinary people against an old and tired regime.
Friedrich Hegel, one of the most prominent philosophers of the Western world, once posited that the hand acting on world history is the spirit of human freedom.
We have witnessed the hand of history in recent weeks, first in Tunisia, and then in Cairo, Egypt. The agitation from the same hand of history is also stirring other societies in the Middle East, such as in Yemen, Jordan and Syria.
NONEThe latest news in Egypt has caught everyone by surprise. There is no adequate way to describe the event, except to characterise it as a peaceful revolution from the ground up. It has been a proper people's revolt, a movement by ordinary, small men and women, against an archaic political structure that is feudalistic, dictatorial and self-serving.
It is awe-inspiring, and most satisfying, to watch millions of ordinary Egyptians rising in one body against an old and tired political structure.
To the people of Egypt, the person of Hosni Mubarak has come to represent all that is bad with their country. There is despotism, corruption and abuse of power on a grand scale. This has been a cardinal crime against the law of democracy: a small handful of powerful people have been able to subjugate a whole nation of millions. It is a cynical corruption of the ideals of politics.
The case of Egypt is a classic instance of bad government, period. The country has been in the iron claws of an anti-democratic and dictatorial regime for 30 years, a regime ruled by the brute force of government hegemony. Few other nations can show the world a worse case of injustices exhibited by bad politics, totally and cynically oblivious to common wisdom or simple human decency.
The Mubarak government there has been in power for 30 years and has not shown the slightest inclination for democratic reforms that will deliver social justice to the people. The lives of the people there display all the weaknesses of an unjust society, where 40 percent of the population live under the poverty line, and where a tiny clique of the privileged class enjoys immense wealth.
Even as we write, the pro-government forces there are trying to turn back the inevitable march of history. We see how pro-government forces, including thugs, strive to turn the protest into a bloody, violent conflict, so that the existing government can benefit from the muddy waters of nihilistic chaos.
Fortunately, for Egypt, and the rest of the world, the armed forces have so far maintained a reasonable appearance of fairness, and so remains the only stabilising force in the madness that has gripped Egypt.
Mood is that Mubarak is no longer wanted
We do not know how the situation in Egypt is going to be resolved. Hosni Mubarak has proclaimed that he will step down, yet he insists he will serve out the rest of his term until September this year. But judging from the mood on the street, Mubarak's position in Egypt is untenable. The solution to the crisis in Egypt now depends entirely on the removal of Mubarak.
protest against hosni mubarak us embassy kuala lumpur crowd 1Still, the messy crisis there will leave many contentious issues. Obviously, the political system requires an overhaul to bring drastic changes to an aged regime that has grown irrelevant and out of touch. It will properly require a complete constitutional reform to give power back to the people. The country's constitution badly needs to be rewritten.
Meanwhile, we observe how the dominant forces of the state's core are doing all they can to resist the revolution. They will fail, because they are on the wrong side of history. Egypt will never be the same again, no matter what happens in the next few months. The people have awakened, and they will never go back to the slavish existence of previous days.
I am hoping that the crisis in Egypt will eventually end well for the people of that poor country, without carnage and massive bloodshed. The unfolding drama just goes to show that the battle against injustice can never be won easily, without paying a heavy price for it.
Meanwhile, I would like to express my solidarity with the long-suffering people of Egypt and pray that their revolution will be brought to a end - and end that empowers the people through the working of historical forces.
Long live the people of Egypt!
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