Tahrir dream

Change,when it comes,often does so without warning — without a wisp in the air of what’s in the offing. Yet,once the process of change is set in motion,it rarely remains a question of stealth. Barely a couple of weeks ago,when mass revolt in Tunisia ousted an ossified regime,commentators were discounting the possibility of the contagion spreading to a country like Egypt. Egypt had an efficient repressive machinery and a perfected system of muting opposition. The commonplace of the street demonstration in Cairo was the same faces turning up at tiny protest rallies to face a brute police force. Now,in the second week of mass demonstrations in many of Egypt’s urban centres,governments across the world — including the US and UK,longtime supporters of the Hosni Mubarak regime — are watching and calculating so as to be on the right side of history.

It is,however,far more important that Egyptians find themselves on the right side of history. At last. A history not of great-power equations or the regional balance of arms. But one of a re-emergence of the Arab tradition of liberalism,which can secure for the people in Tahrir Square and elsewhere the dignity of fear-free democratic political life and the fundamentals of reasonably priced food,goods and jobs. That Cairo has become the eye of the storm thundering against the stagnation of the Middle East is history turning a cycle — Cairo was the epicentre of post-colonial,liberal Arab nationalism; it remained a fairly liberal city and centre of learning,despite the city’s urban chaos and growing popular support for Egypt’s Islamists. Now,Cairo wants its freedom back.

Politics in the Middle East has been frozen since the 1970s and,no matter what now happens in Egypt,an era may well be over. It is therefore hoped that through the fears of vacuum and violence that accompany unrest on the Egyptian street,the situation will be steered in a progressive direction. Because this is a movement still in its infancy and it is uncertain how it will end. Political transition in the Arab world is indeed a tough challenge. Nevertheless,it is the magnitude of this humanitarian moment and democratic opportunity that must be kept in mind. Not a geopolitical calculus that may be well past its use-by date.