Aabid Waqar

By: Professor Hamid Mowlana

After the public uprising against Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the president of Tunisia who ran from his country, last week Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, fell to the same fate. It is interesting that Mubarak was set aside in Egypt on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It only took 18 days of widespread public protests to oust this president.

American and western support of dictatorships and their fall due to public uprising does not have a long history. It is a sign of the defeat of American policies. A brief look at the governments which were supported financially, politically, and militarily by America over the past few years is eye-opening. America supported Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, General Musharraf and Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan, Suharto in Indonesia, Pinochet in Chile, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran, Mobutu Sese Seko in the Congo, Marcos in the Philippines, and Duvalier in Haiti.

The governments who are supported by foreign militaries are facing serious issues of legitimacy. A huge separation of trust has formed between the people and the governments supported by the west. The leaders of these countries and their western heads are in a state of confusion. The foundations of their oppression and sultanates are breaking. When the protests in Egypt started three weeks ago a retired Israeli general told Thomas Friedman, a journalist for the New York Times: “Well, everything we thought for the last 30 years is no longer relevant.” Mark Heller, a Tel Aviv University strategist said: “Everything that once anchored our world is now unmoored.”

What the people desired in Egypt over the past decades has been clear and legitimate. They wanted the freedom of choosing their destiny. They wanted to be saved from dictatorship. They wanted independence for their country. They wanted their country to cooperate with other Islamic countries. They wanted social justice. But, the American support of the Egyptian government was always at odds with these desires. This has to be heard from the American politicians themselves. Before the fall of the dictatorship in Egypt, Robert Gates, the United States secretary of defense, mentioned America’s support and cooperation with the generals of the Egyptian army.

Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, resigned. But, the army that put him into power and supported him for many years is still present. The Egyptian people are now pondering over how they can uproot the source of this cancer; over how they can make Egypt an independent nation. This is not going to be easy, but it is possible. The reaction to Mubarak’s resignation from presidency in the Arab and Islamic world has been varied, but strong.

The people of Egypt must answer the calls of history.