Best of the Week: Egyptians prove they are a democracy
Egyptian protests continue; turn violent
The most famous protests of our times continue unabated in Egypt.
During the week, embattled President Mubarak fired his cabinet, appointed new ministers, tried to get the army to enforce martial law, tired to enter negotiations with the opposition and even offered to step down when his term was complete in September.
The protestors offered to stop their agitation and go home peacefully only if Mubarak quit office with immediate effect and preferably left the country as well.
Mubarak stand stems from his belief that the country will dissolve into chaos if he does not set up an orderly transition.
The protestors' stand arises from the fact that they were not born yesterday and refused to allow the spirit of their protests to be dissipated on the strength of weak promises.
In a sad note however, the protests have been steadily declining into more violence with the numbers of the dead and the injured steadily increasing in clashes. Even the army, which made no move to oppose the protests earlier, began to get uneasy and asked the protestors to calm down.
But the protests have been hailed as the first new-age protest where the youth of a nation, coupled with modern social media, organised mass protests. So a definite sign of changing times in the Middle-East. Egypt has prioven through a million voices that it is indeed a democracy.
On a side note, Al Jazeera's ban in Egypt it also being seen as a sign that the Arab news channel can proudly take it's place among established players since now it is reviled in the both the west and the middle-east for it's honest, neutral journalism.
Image: Anti-government protestors, one showing a defaced poster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and reading "Oppressor and thief", gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, February 4, 2011.
Why is a billion-strong democracy silent on Egypt? | Full Coverage
Text: Vinayak Hegde
Images: PTI/AP
For Week of January 28 to February 4
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