Al Jazeera looks back at the 18-day-old revolution that remade Egypt and the wider Middle East. See the video here. And here’s an outstanding video on the rise and fall of FORMER president Hosni Mubarak.
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“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.”
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President Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived by helicopter to a rock-star greeting from the faithful young men who surged against police barricades, shouting, “Ahmadinejad is our life! Ahmadinejad is our President!” while marching bands struck up revolutionary anthems. This year, everyone knew that Iran’s government has more to celebrate than usual.
The Egyptian uprising has brought down one of the U.S.’s key allies in its Middle East cold war with Iran. That’s why soldiers in Tehran handed out Egyptian flags to the crowd and many anti-Mubarak slogans and cartoons were on display — including one of protesters pulling down a statue of Mubarak much in the same way that American tanks had taken down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 2003. “The sword will bring you down from your palaces of oppression with the help of God,” Ahmadinejad told the crowd. “Very soon, the new Middle East will have no Israel and no America. The new Middle East will have no superpowers
Is this an Islamist conspiracy? No. What we are observing in Egypt as elsewhere is a genuine popular movement that is embracing all sections of the community – Egypt’s judges – integral parts of the establishment – took part in Tahrir Square demonstrations. The Islamists recognise this plurality. They also know that any attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to lead the movement, or be seen to stamp their vision on the popular protests, would draw the implacable animosity of the West. They have learned the lessons of the past decade of exclusion and demonisation. They will have no desire to repeat this experience: It is not their aim. This stage of the uprising is seen as an interim one. The need next is for a temporary apolitical unity government to stage early and free elections. Al-Baradei, is a good choice to negotiate this: better known in the West than to many Egyptians, he has no real political base within the country. He can lead the interim process – and then will be expected to depart, once the people have given expression to the ‘new politics’ of a new era. The Islamists will consider their next steps in the light of this public articulation. But make no mistake, the culture of Egypt is Islamic, the everyday language of Egypt is drenched in Islamic values. The largest constituency – the poor – are genuinely pious Muslims.
• A change in Egypt will change everything in the region: For thirty years, Mubarak’s ‘dead-hand’ approach to Arab politics is seen to have been the source of stasis in the Arab world. His going would shift not just the strategic balance, but also virtually every state in the region – in one way or another. Last year’s Pew survey of Arab sentiment showed that only 17% of Egyptians held a favourable view of the US, whereas 82% held an unfavourable view – hence the deep suspicion of US and European motives in attempting to manage the post-Mubarak era.â€