Protests in Egypt are continuing & today was yet another unsatisfying speech from Mubarak.
It’s strangely impressive that Mubarak has managed to hang on, seemingly unperturbed by the millions of people across the world calling for him to step down and leave. The Arabist nicely sums up a few possibilities of what may be behind this:
- Tone-deafness: Mubarak genuinely thought that he could defuse the situation with a hat-tip to the protesters, and that his transfer of powers would satisfy the protesters. He may also have thought back to his Feb 2 address, where he stirred up some genuine sympathy and regained the initiative, and was trying to repeat the performance. However, he so badly mangled his speech, and struck such an arrogant tone, that he made things worse.
- Cussedness: Mubarak projected arrogance and intransigence so as to call the bluffs of everyone — the protesters, the Americans, and presumably now the military — who are pushing him to leave. Maybe he allowed expectations to be raised, so as to make the blow fall that much harder. If you can’t get rid of me after this, he is saying, then you can’t get rid of me until I’m ready to go. Show your hand, or give up.
- Worse is better: Mubarak wanted to stir things up, to provoke a march on the palace and possibly trigger some violence. The regime had its greatest success undermining the uprising when the situation was at its most unstable. The return to normalcy on the other hand this week provided the opportunity for people to come together in the workplace, remember what they really dislike about the stagnant and corrupt status quo, and go on strike. So, he thought he might end the normalcy, rekindle fears of long-lasting anarchy, and put pressure on the demonstrators to quit with what concessions they have already won.
Who knows.
I’m so glad to see that someone at AUC has added a collection sites relating to the protests into Archive-It. It’s being crawled almost daily & contains a wealth of information, commentary and photographs. This is going to be an incredible resource and I’m absolutely thrilled that someone had the vision to capture it.
A few days ago these images came through my Google Reader [I follow a collection of Egyptian blogs] and they made my heart skip a few beats.
Photo by Ahmad Salah
Photo by Ahmad Salah
Apparently there are special forces stationed at City Stars mall. This is the mall that I lived near & frequently complained about – it’s one of the most ridiculous places ever:
My Egyptian friend said it’s because it’s the largest mall in Egypt, it employs a lot of people, there are a lot of expensive stores with valuable merchandise, houses a lot of international companies and that it’d be a big loss if something were to happen to it. There are also 2 hotels attached to the mall and various military complexes in the surrounding area.
Even though I passed by men with AK47s twice a day on my way to & from the bus & armed police were a normal sight around town, there’s something menacing about their full body suits that makes me tense.
Regardless of the reason they’re there, it definitely sends a message that something is going on & that someone is uneasy about it.
Like many, I’ll be watching closely the new few days/weeks/months to see how this all plays out.
