The struggle to bring down the reigning president of Egypt has brought in the efforts of Egyptians, and people of Egyptian descent in countries all over the world. As has often been the case in authoritarian countries, the people who have fled those countries, and their descendants, are exercising rights that their relatives, friends and countrymen in their home countries lack. While protesters have been risking their lives and safety on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, their sympathizers in places like the United States have been exercising their right to be heard in relative safety. Though their end game may be unclear, they seem united in their opposition to President Hosni Mubarak.
The Focus In on Mubarak
Though, he’s called a “president”, Hosni Mubarak is really part of ruling group in Egypt that extends back to the 1950s. He was the Vice-President of Egypt under Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated following brokerage of a peace pact with Israel. Sadat, in turn took the reins from Gamal Abdel Nassar, who is considered the father of modern Egypt. This ruling clique has promoted socialism, secularism, and nationalism.
Mubarak, however, in his thirty-year term, has lost whatever esteem he may have had. His administration is considered by some Egyptians to be corrupt and incompetent at running the country.
When the protests in Egypt started, they also started in the city of immigrants, New York. The focus of those protests has been a symbol of the Egyptian government, the diplomatic mission headquarters.
One of the protesters gathered at that site told NY1 News, "We need a united movement of Muslims and [Arab] Christians, and many Christians are in the streets with their Muslim brothers and sisters demanding things -- jobs, decent education, decent health care."
The protest in anti-Mubarak and not fundamentalist Muslim, although that group has been involved with the protests, also.
The Role of Muslims in the Protest
Egypt is a majority Muslim country, but is fairly secular. One of the major Islamist groups, The Muslim Brotherhood, has, in fact, been largely absent from the protests, until just recently. This group has its roots in the late 1920s and is currently outlawed in Egypt.
Brotherhood members have been participating in the protests, but the group has only officially joined the protests recently. It does not appear to have a guiding role.
A Brotherhood member, Mohamed Al-Assas told the Guardian, he is not participating in the protests as a Brotherhood member, but as an Egyptian,
"Many of the older political leaders, not just of the Brotherhood, but of other formal parties as well, were not so enthusiastic about the demonstrations. But that doesn't matter because this is a youth revolution – we don't need leaders to tell us what to do."
Right now, the Brotherhood has said officially it only hopes to be recognized and no longer outlawed in a post-Mubarak Egypt.
Right now, no one knows what that post-Mubarak world looks like, but there are many Egyptians who wish to bring it about.
Jon Pike - Pike is a Ph.D. in communication and writes about activism and popular culture topics for Suite101.
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