Mubarak is gone, but Mubarakans still rule
How the mighty have fallen. Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt with an iron fist for nearly 30 years, was yesterday carried into a Cairo courtroom on a stretcher, pleading not guilty to charges of corruption and unlawful killing through a metal cage.
For Egyptians, it must be a momentous moment, watching the humiliation of someone who had dominated their lives and denied them freedom for decades. There must have been an overwhelming feeling ofschadenfreude at the bringing low of this hated figure. But any pleasure will no doubt be tinged with sadness, not only for those who have died in the protests against Egypt’s leaders but with the knowledge that little, fundamentally, has changed.
The uprisings earlier this year – first in Tunisia, then Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Syria – were clearly an enormous shock both to the Arab elites and to Western leaders. Tunisia’s leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, fled to Saudi Arabia in January after 23 years in power. This emboldened others to attempt to topple other long-standing leaders, leading to the occupation of Tahrir Square in Cairo and the eventual resignation of Mubarak in February.
However, the success of the Egyptian uprising was only in part down to the pressure from people on the streets. In reality, while there was demand for change, there was little in the way of political vision from the protesters beyond a general demand for more freedom and a greater say in the country’s affairs. Crucially, the army stayed neutral, reflecting confusion within the Egyptian elite about what to do. But when Mubarak resigned (or, more probably, was pushed), power passed to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
In other words, what happened in Egypt was far more like a palace coup than a ‘revolution’, as many excitable people were calling it at the time…