Tahrir, the New Tiananmen?

I have travelled to Egypt twice, each time being thoroughly awestruck by its history and civilization and the wonderful cultural witnesses to those times.  I also have many Egyptian friends.  Today's Egyptian people are its current wonders.  Their activities in recent days have shown exceptional courage and dedication to change - even to the extent of putting their lives on the line.

Having been inspired by events in Tunisia, Egyptian citizens, male and female, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian - indeed citizens from all walks of life - have come together to protest the autocratic regime that has ruled them for 30 years.  They want the leader of this regime, Hosni Mubarak, to leave.  He, on the other hand, has attempted to placate the protesters with the meaningless pledge that he will not run for office again.  He says that he "wants to go," but cannot because the country will descend into chaos.

Chaos, however, has been caused primarily by pro-Mubarak supporters, whose behavior has resembled that of thugs.  Until yesterday, the protesters, although numerous, were peaceful.  Yesterday, they were attacked in Tahrir Square in Cairo by pro-Mubarak forces.  Who are these "pro-Mubarak forces?"  According to one recorder of events, Ahdaf Soueif:

"So who are these people? In support of the president, they throw Molotov bottles and plant pots from the tops of buildings onto the heads of women and children. To establish stability and order, they break heads with rocks and legs with bicycle chains. To have their say in the debate they slash faces with knives. Who are they? Well, every time one of them is captured his ID says he's a member of the security forces. ..."

Another individual, Robert Fisk, who is actually on site, reports as follows:

"'This is Mubarak's work,' one wounded stone-thrower said to me. 'He has managed to turn Egyptian against Egyptian for just nine more months of power. He is mad. Are you in the West mad, too?' I can't remember how I replied to this question. But how could I forget watching – just a few hours earlier – as the Middle East 'expert' Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, was asked if Mubarak was a dictator. No, he said, he was 'a monarch-type figure'.

The face of this monarch was carried on giant posters, a printed provocation, to the barricades. Newly distributed by officers of the National Democratic Party – they must have taken a while to produce after the party's headquarters was reduced to a smouldering shell after Friday's battles – many were held in the air by men carrying cudgels and police batons. There is no doubt about this because I had driven into Cairo from the desert as they formed up outside the foreign ministry and the state radio building on the east bank of the Nile. There were loudspeaker songs and calls for Mubarak's eternal life (a very long presidency indeed) and many were sitting on brand-new motorcycles, as if they had been inspired by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's thugs after the 2009 Iranian elections. Come to think of it, Mubarak and Ahmadinejad do actually have the same respect for elections."

The EU is demanding that Mubarak begin an immediate "democratic transition" and respect the rights of journalists, several of whom have been beaten severely by pro-Mubarak forces, such that they have required hospitalization.  Two US Senators have sponsored a resolution urging Mubarak to transition out immediately.  It appears that US President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are also urging him to leave.  Up to now, these demands and appeals appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Will Tahrir Square become Egypt's Tiananmen Square?  The protesters remember that lesson well.  If they give in now, they will likely be subject to severe repercussions.  They have simply gone too far and risked too much to give in now.  Right now, we who value liberty, freedom of speech, expression, assembly and the freedom to choose our leadership in free and fair elections should all be Egyptians!