Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are expected to take to the streets Friday, united in a call for “freedom” and “dignity” and the end of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
After three days of widespread protests that have left at least seven dead and about 1,000 arrested, protest organizers have designated this the ultimate “day of rage.”
There is much riding on the outcome. How many people turn out, how the police deal with them and whether the army takes control – all of these things will determine the future of the current regime.
Arriving in Cairo Thursday evening, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning former head of the international Atomic Energy Agency, made clear his intentions.
“It's a critical time in the life of Egypt, and I have to participate with the Egyptian people,” said Mr. ElBaradei, who has considered running for president in elections this year.
“If people, in particular young people, if they want me to lead the transition, I will not let them down,” he said.
Clearly the country is worried about what may transpire. Trading on the Cairo stock exchange was halted Thursday morning when the value of the market fell more than 9 per cent in the first 11 minutes.
Safwat El-Sherif, secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party, tried to put a brave face on things when he gave the party's first public response to recent events at a hastily called news conference.
“The NDP is ready for dialogue with the public, youth and legal parties,” he said. “But democracy has its rules and process. The minority does not force its will on the majority.”
Regardless of the outcome of the protest, this popular uprising represents a new reformist movement in Egypt, one not linked to the traditional centres of opposition in Egypt – the pockets of liberal intellectuals and the Islamists who have been successfully marginalized by the 29-year-old Mubarak regime.
At its core is a disparate group of mostly secular young people drawn from most walks of society and politics. Some are holdovers from the Kefaya movement that demonstrated for democracy starting in 2004. Others hail from the April 6 youth movement that organized protests in aid of striking workers in an industrial town outside Cairo in 2008. Many are completely unaffiliated.
Maryam Suleiman, a 20-something wearing blue jeans, was hoarse from leading the down-with-Mubarak chants on the steps of the Journalists Syndicate near the national courthouse Thursday. She and 75 fellow demonstrators stood face-to-face with the 150-or-so security forces lined up against them.
Ms. Suleiman, who describes herself only as “a citizen,” says she belongs to a little known movement called the Popular Front for Peaceful Change.
Mohamed Gamal is one of Egypt's pre-eminent bloggers, who goes by the handle “Gemyhood.” At 30, Mr. Gamal describes himself as one of the oldies in the protests. It all started with a small group of bloggers who got together five years ago, he said.
“We were dreaming of democracy and new governments,” he explained, and began to realize the potential of the Internet. “We were the first to use Facebook, the first to use Twitter,” he said, in order to get out messages and bring in new people.
“Things are moving very fast in Egypt, and this is the only way of keeping up with the people.”
This diffuse resistance movement has sprung up without the help of the traditional opposition – liberal reformers and the Muslim Brotherhood – and it represents a different constituency with its own agenda.
“We've gone way beyond the old movements,” Mr. Gamal said. “Even Kefaya is too old now.”
“Ours is not a political movement,” Mr. Gamal insisted. “It's people power, unaffiliated people power.”
The goal that started out as democracy and political change, has simply become the end of Hosni Mubarak. “We want to take this man down,” he said.
