After 30 years in power, Mubarak driven out by the street |
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Collection title
AFP Video
First broadcast date
02/11/2011
Abstract
President Hosni Mubarak, driven out by the street last Friday, after eighteen days of unprecedented popular protest, ruled Egypt unchallenged for three decades.
Production companies
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French Press Agency (AFP) - Own production
Primary theme
Contemporary historical challenges 19th-20th c.
Credits / Cast
- Belaid Djilali - Journalist
Map locations
- Egypt - Lower Egypt - Cairo
Context
After 30 years in power, Mubarak is driven out
François Siino
A few days after the Tunisian revolution had caused the downfall of a dictator in place for two decades, it was the turn of the Egyptians to turn out in the street. On January 25th 2011 the call to demonstrate made by young Egyptian web-community met an immediate success. Unlike the situation in Tunisia, Egypt's capital was from the beginning the centre of the protest movement, notably on the square which was going to become emblematic of the whole movement, Tahrir Square (liberation square). The most notable aspect of this mobilisation was the lack of an obvious leader, plus the marginal role of the political class. Another marking factor was the rapid appearance of a common objective and watchword: the fall of the regime.
This regime was run by President Hosni Mubarak, who had been in power for nearly 30 years. As this news report says, Mubarak, a career army officer, came to power following the shooting of Anouar Sadat by Islamic extremists in October 1981. The state of emergency then declared was never lifted. As elsewhere in the Arab world, the Egyptian political regime combined economic liberalism with political coercion, and that meant, among other things, strong ties between the business community and senior politicians suspected of corruption and illegal enrichment. Such a system can only generate despair: among the poor and middle classes because they know the state will do nothing to get rid of the crying inequalities but also among the educated generation, deeply frustrated because even with good degrees their hopes are blocked in a society stitched up by politicians.
Arguing the need to fight terrorism, as demanded by western countries, Mubarak, a faithful ally of the United States, maintained a strict control over political expression, authorising arrests and illegal detention and torture. In 2010 the last signs of a hardening of the regime was the murder in June of the young blogger Khaled Said and the notoriously rigged elections in November 2010 which excluded all opposition. But perhaps more than anything the idea of having Mubarak's son Gamal succeed him as head of state was the final straw that set off the social and political protests
It only took 18 days for the demonstrators' main objective to be attained – getting rid of Mubarak. In the meantime the president had tried to convince the protesters that he would give up power at the end of his mandate, naming Omar Suleiman (head of the secret police) vice-president and, on January 31st 2011, changing his government. But at the same time as those concessions were made, the police, the security services and the baltagis (the strong arm of the regime) violently repressed street protests, causing the deaths of several hundred people. The Egyptian president's last speech, on February 10th 2011, announcing he would only remain as head of state until the next elections, still stirred up revolt. The army, a powerful and unaccountable organisation, abandonned Mubarak, who, the following day, was forced to relinquish power.
Bibliography
Ben Nefissa Sarah, Destremeau Blandine, 2011, Protestations sociales, révolutions civiles, Paris, Armand Colin.
Pagès-El Karoui Delphine et Vignal Leila, 2011, « Les racines de la « révolution du 25 janvier » en Égypte : une réflexion géographique », EchoGéo [En ligne], 27/10/2011. http://echogeo.revues.org/12627
