Monday, February 14, 2011 Editorial
The Monday after the Friday before, and now the serious work begins for Egypt’s nascent revolution. As millions rejoiced at the fall of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, encouraging signs emerged from a military handed temporary power over a country fresh from the pangs of upheaval.
Until now, Egypt’s military has demonstrated understanding and wisdom toward the demands of protestors. Contrasted with Mubarak’s obstinate refusal to quit, the army’s willingness to act over the weekend – including its upholding of longstanding international and regional agreements – depict an institution relatively in touch with its public.
The heartwarming scenes of a mass cleanup in Tahrir Square – a burden shared by soldier and civilian alike – showed that the people largely view the army as their comrades in arms. The Higher Military Council has so far kept its promises, including the significant step it took in dissolving Parliament. It appears committed to meeting another demand, as it also announced Sunday parliamentary elections are to take place in September.
The people, who showed what power they wield by relinquishing their country in three weeks from a three-decade-old grip, will be hoping the army treats all their demands with similar urgency. A lifting of emergency rule, which has been in place for decades, would be the next, logical step in the necessary – if unspectacular – passage of quotidian post-revolution state building.
As delicate a task as the army now faces in exacting such a volume of sweeping changes within such a short timeframe, the problems predating the popular insurrection are doubly daunting.
It is not difficult to pinpoint the principal challenge faced by post-Mubarak Egypt: The economy. In a country where more than 30 percent of the population subsists below the poverty line, where unemployment is at dizzyingly high levels, swift and decisive action is the only way of safeguarding the success achieved in the street.
The military, and whichever civilian body follows them into power, needs to show it can implement reform on an economic level. Citizens have to feel tangible change in order to avoid the death of their achievement. Without change and development, another round of mass protests is surely not far off and next time participants may not be so enamored with the mantra of non-violence.
The army’s workload is huge, and support is needed from the international community, Arab neighbors and Egyptians themselves to help share the burden. As many protestors now realize, the end of the tyrant is only the beginning of the task.
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