Saturday, February 05, 2011

Editorial

Although hundreds of thousands of protesters reportedly filed Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square for Friday’s so-called “Day of Departure,” President Hosni Mubarak still refuses to depart.

Mubarak is under intense pressure at home, and numerous foreign nations also say they are pushing him to go – and yet he continues to procrastinate. Procrastination it is, because he is merely delaying the inevitable: the Hosni Mubarak regime is clinically dead. That decision has been made – perhaps Mubarak was the last to make it – in any number of world capitals, with the inspiring anti-Mubarak demonstrators in Cairo leading the way.

Mubarak’s dawdling stems from one, simple narcissistic desire – to save face. After the past few days of clashes and looting, however, it appears that either Mubarak can save face or the country of Egypt can. The more time that he needlessly persists as head of state, the more violence, chaos and casualties Egypt is likely to endure.

As usual, the victims hardest hit by the ongoing instability will be the poor. The country’s wealthiest classes and its professionals can withstand a period of unrest, but the halts in production, the shortages of basic foodstuffs and the disappearance of tourist income will all inescapably trickle down to inflict more suffering on those least equipped to handle it.

Some 40 percent of Egypt’s population lives on less than $2 per day, and the equation almost boils to down to either saving face for one outmoded dictator or the detriment of tens of millions. He has trampled their dignity mercilessly for 30 years, and yet in his last days in office the only dignity that he seems aware of is his own.

Instead of worrying about himself and his gilded coterie, Mubarak should listen to what his closest allies are telling him. Leaders in Europe and the U.S. are all echoing the same phrase, asking him to begin the transition immediately; translated from the tongue of diplomats, that equates to an explicit demand that the president hit the road right now.

The possibility still exists to carry out a smooth transition from Mubarak’s tyranny to a democratic regime, but the chances for an orderly transfer of power are diminishing by the day, if not by the hour. The autocrat’s loopholes and machinations and excuses must not be accepted. Even if he can argue his case for saving face, he should instead realize that by leaving without delay he can save citizens’ lives and economic livelihoods.

Even though it has become too late to repair the reputation of his rule, by announcing his exit as soon as possible Mubarak can avoid an even worse legacy – and at the same time he can, at last, do something that benefits the people of Egypt.