Friday, February 11, 2011
Egypt Erupts: Update [Mubarak Falls]
UPDATE 2: Mubarak steps down, hands power to the military supreme council. Great joy in the streets. It will, of course, remain to be seen the extent to which this is a significant democratic development, but for now, it seems, the best thing to do is to proffer congratulations for the perseverance of the Egyptian people and to recommend that they do not forget the power they have in their hands.
UPDATE 1: Al Jazeera is reporting that they can confirm that Mubarak has left Cairo and arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh. If that is true (based on earlier articles that I can't locate now locating his Sharm el-Sheikh compound at a golf resort), than he is here.
Huge crowds also in Alexandria, they have set off on a march to another presidential palace, the last palace occupied King Farouk before he was ousted in the Free Officers' Coup of 1952 that brought Nasser to power.
Indications of large crowds in many other cities throughout Egypt, as one might expect, but not much first-hand reporting. Al Jazeera's live blog says "thousands" in Mahala, Tanta, Ismailia, and Suez.
The key to this, it appears to me, is whether the lower-ranking officers and rank-and-file of the military can either be split from, or convinced to impose their will on, the top ranks that are fully invested in the regime. Unfortunately, this suggests that the role of the military in Egyptian in political life will, whatever the outcome, remain central, but I don't really see any other way that the protesters can achieve their base demands.
