International Support

Well, given my timing and some issues that came up, I wasn’t actually able to get to the protests on time and missed the whole thing. I was really looking forward to getting some pictures and videos and sharing it with you guys but that isn’t possible; Maybe another time. It is important to know that these protests are not isolated. There have been global protests to show support for the protesters in Egypt. Before that, there were protests to support the Tunisians. If you want to get involved there are countless Facebook pages to organize in your area.

There have been protests in the U.S., France, UK, and many more. If you aren’t one to spend time to protest, then at least passing the word on about these movements wouldn’t hurt anyone!! 

For a brief video on how Mubarak came to power see the video below.

However protests in other countries are much safer than those on the battlegrounds: Egypt where the police have said that they have detained more than 800 protesters and are taking aggressive action against all protesters.

As you can see here, Egypt is not short on international solidarity support. The revolution has garnered support from protesters outside the Egyptian Embassy in London; protesters in Geneva chanted slogans in English, Arabic and French; in Montreal, in front of the Egyptian Consulate, hundreds protested against Egypt's government (There were also protests in downtown Montreal, Canada).

These protests were held across the United States, Europe and throughout the Arab world. Of course, these protests only serve two purposes: First, they are a symbolic gesture of the Egyptians to show they have international support, and second (more importantly) it is a sign to the governments of the different countries that they can not tolerate the Egyptian rule of Hosni Mubarak. It has been clearly shown that President Barack Obama has told Mubarak that he should listen to the demands of his people, however, has left the notion of replacing the Egyptian dictator unaddressed. At no point did the U.S. urge Mubarak to leave, or resign from office despite the fact that, that message, is the largest message sent by the protesters.

Tunisia may have been the catalyst of all these uprisings, and it's own Jasmine Revolution was/is certainly important, however, Egypt will be the true measure of whether such economically driven revolutions that soon demand government change can be successful despite no influence and assistance from foreign powers, and being powered by nothing but the will of the people.

If any Americans will remember from their U.S. history course, the U.S. Revolution also started because of economic conditions, primarily (but among other things) new taxes placed on the people. These protests against conditions that made livelihood more difficult eventually lead to an all out revolution where armies collided. On one side, a bunch of poor peasants soon organized to determine their own livelihood, and on the other side a powerful government with a strong military. Yes, the specifics are a bit different, however the basic conditions are similar. A comparison could also be drawn to the French Revolution.

You see, ALL revolutions have extreme similarities but they could be extremely different at the same time. The matter of the fact is, that all dictatorships, as smart as they may think they are, are short-sighted. Economic opportunity, choice of livelihood, and freedom of expression much be granted to their people. Serious restrictions on those rights will, at some point, stress the population enough to cause an uprising. Yes, the first few uprisings will be squashed, but it is only a delay of the inevitable. IF governments decide to give the people economic opportunity, choice of livelihood, and freedom of expression, the full implementations of those ideas means a free and democratic government without anyone person in power; in other words, it is a lose-lose situation for all dictators at some point.

Here are just a few powerful pictures taken by the New York Times of the protests in Egypt:

Protesters pray together during the afternoon prayer times

Egyptian soldiers watch protests and have spent more time protecting and joining the protesters than controlling them

Many have been injured by riot police using tear gas, water canons, rubber bullets and more. An estimated 800 are captured in prison from the protests.

A higher view of a protests forming in Cairo

Cars and trucks burn as protests turn violent to send a message to the Egyptian government

Protesters, alongside the military protest in the streets demanding change. In some instances, the military has paraded around with their tanks supporting the protesters.