New Egyptian Nation Building: Stage One Historically Done

It took 18 days to topple an authoritarian regime in Egypt. What comes in the days to come will see if a new nation can rise from the bottom up like, well, the image fits, the Great Pyramids.

As the AP reported:

Egyptians celebrate at Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military. The country exploded with joy, tears and relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV.

Egypt's youthful uprising has prevailed, after taking on for 18 days the full might of the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, President for 30 years.

Soon after evening prayers were said, a grim faced Vice-President Omar Suleiman, a long-serving regime loyalist, announced on state television that Mr. Mubarak had resigned. He read out a statement: “President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of President of the republic and has charged the High Council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country.”

Earlier during the day, Mr. Mubarak and his family left for the Red Sea resort city of Sharm-el-Sheikh, bringing the curtains down on an authoritarian era, which began when he assumed power in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a military parade.

Mr. Suleiman's words broadcast for less than 30 seconds were electrifying, causing the bottled up emotions of anxiety, defiance, courage and hope among the youthful protesters to explode. Some fainted with emotion at the Tahrir Square, which became an arena of unending celebrations; the sound of firecrackers was often drowned by the overhang of a deafening roar, which emerged from the joyous flag-waving masses.

“It is the beginning of a new Egypt which seems to have been cleansed and reborn,” a man at the square said. Others said they were experiencing a new sense of pride in being Egyptian. “I feel I am again empowered and in control of my destiny,” said Amira, an engineer and regular visitor to the square.

The deserved euphoria notwithstanding, some said the “revolution” was incomplete, expressing fears that the military might yet block the political space the pro-democracy movement, led by a new cyber-active generation, now wishes to occupy.

Analysts say that after the military's assertion, the country is returning to a model defined by Gamal Abdel Nasser, modern Egypt's founder, of running the state by an army officers' council. Defence Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi has emerged as the new strongman and will remain so till the time the political transition is complete.

In a day of tumultuous developments, protesters, angered by Mr. Mubarak's Thursday night announcement that he was not immediately stepping down, decided to target more symbols of the regime. For the first time since the January 25 revolt began, protesters decided to directly take on the President by marching towards the heavily guarded presidential palace. A stand-off with the military had begun there but it melted into scenes of joy in the face of Mr. Mubarak's announced exit from the presidency.

Protesters also gathered in large numbers in Alexandria, outside yet another palace belonging to the former President. Besides, several hundred people surrounded the state television building, from where Mr. Mubarak's address was broadcast. Disregarding the extra layers of razor wire and heavy military presence, the protesters successfully blocked people from entering the building.

But as night thickened over Cairo, pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei poignantly said on his Twitter page: “Today, my dream has come true. Egypt has been going down the drain for the last few weeks and we need to get it back to where it should be… We need a democratic country based on social justice.”

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Watch the historic events in Egypt closely. Analyze how things move from Tahrir Square from the first stage of nation building -- identity -- to the remaining five.

Identity, the people need to have a sense of belonging to a group. As quoted above Egyptian citizens have said they identify with their Egypt for the first time in their life.

Legitimacy, a government must cultivate the respect and the willing obedience of its citizens. The regime must rule the people. So far, the people of Egypt respect the military, they did not respect the now ex-President.

Penetration, the government policies reach the people and people follow the policies.

Participation, the regime must allow the people to believe they participate in the regime.

Distribution, does the regime distribute services, and social justice as ElBaradei said above.

The first step in Nation Building is identity, which comes from a people, because they have a sense of belonging to a group. Identity must be from a grass roots level, it must be from the people. On a day that has been called the greatest in Egypt's history, where Egyptians have been seen willingly cleaning the streets, claiming ownership in their country, this has been accomplished in 18 days. What happens in the days to come will see if the seeds of democracy can take root.

The second and third steps have one theme in common, the obedience of the people to the government of men. How this plays out is still unsure. Stay tuned. Usually a military coup and democracy are not synonymous, but these are revolutionary times in Egypt.

Tom Friedman's take on Revolution impresses himself

Those of you who read Friedman over the summer should not be surprised by this, but the NY Times columnist quoted himself while writing today about events in Cairo. He then used another one of his classic aphorisms to describe the new-found identity Egyptians have in their home.

FAIR blogged these Friedman quips:

It might be hard for you to imagine covering the democratic uprising in Egypt as a way to reflect upon all the wise things you've written in the past.

But you're not Tom Friedman. He wrote today (New York Times, 2/11/11):

I spent part of the morning in the square watching and photographing a group of young Egyptian students wearing plastic gloves taking garbage in both hands and neatly scooping it into black plastic bags to keep the area clean. This touched me in particular because more than once in this column I have quoted the aphorism that "in the history of the world no one has ever washed a rented car." I used it to make the point that no one has ever washed a rented country either--and for the last century Arabs have just been renting their countries from kings, dictators and colonial powers. So, they had no desire to wash them.

That wasn't the first time Egypt reminded him of something smart he'd written (NBC's Meet the Press, 1/30/11):

For the first 15 years or so of his rule, Egypt really did stagnate. I visited, gosh, back 12 years ago. I remember writing that Mubarak had more mummies in his Cabinet than King Tut, OK. Then he slowly, under our pressure, and under the pressure, really, of globalization, started to open up. And in the last few years, actually appointed a lot of reformers to his Cabinet who produced a real opening, a 6 percent growth, I believe, last year.

Appearing on Charlie Rose last night (2/10/11), Friedman said this:

We've had this conversation before where we talked about the Iraq War and the whole idea of why it's important to democratize a place like Iraq. I think I said to you the old aphorism that in the history of the world no one has ever washed a rented car. And the point I made about Iraq is that no one's ever washed a rented country, either.

Is this guy wise or what?

Here is Friedman's interview with Charlie Rose :

//www.charlierose.com/view/content/11466