Lessons From Egypt

Victory of non-violent Egyptian protestors a grave blow to al-Qaeda, Global Jihad

The revolution in Egypt was not prompted by the economy. The Egyptian economy’s state improved in the past decade, poverty declined, and the number of workers in the agricultural sector went down.

The unemployment rate of young Egyptians indeed frustrated them and pushed them to the streets, yet there was one fundamental motive for the uprising: A sense that the leadership is detached from the public, doesn’t listen to it, and doesn’t engage in any dialogue with it; a leadership that is withdrawn and is far removed from the problems faced by the middle class, and especially its lower end.

The first lesson of the Egyptian uprising is that the absence of dialogue with the public ultimately brings down rulers, including the most powerful ones. There’s no obligation to agree to the demands, which are sometimes odd, that emerge from the public squares, including the ones online. Yet the rulers must listen to them, with attentive ears and an open mind.

The second lesson of the uprising is that non-violence pays off. The leaders of the protest in Cairo adopted, either openly or covertly, the non-violent struggle doctrine developed by American thinker Gene Sharp. Back in the 1970s, Dr. Sharp started to formulate practical rules for toppling dictators using non-violent means. He later founded the Albert Einstein Institute, which operates out of a small Boston apartment yet affects protest movements worldwide.

The victory of non-violent uprising in Tunisia and Egypt is not only a stable basis for future democracy; it also constitutes a grave blow for al-Qaeda and Global Jihad groups that raise the banner of violent holy war. As it turned out, no regime is immune to non-violent masses.

The third lesson from Egypt is that the shift from banning freedom of speech and assembly to fully allowing them can take place in one day. The old regime is going home, the ruler is heading to exile, people stop fearing, censorship crumbles, and the normal democratic bargaining begins. The ease with which the walls of political prisons crumbled (20 days of protests were enough!) proves how weak they were.

Democracy functions immediately upon its establishment, and the next revolutions will therefore take root in the Middle East shortly. The rulers in Syria, Libya, Morocco, Iran and Sudan have already realized that the process is irreversible. They are completing the preparation of their escape routes.

However, the quick path to democracy is not the quick path to socioeconomic prosperity.

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