Tunisia Was the Trigger, Egypt Is the Prize

BEIRUT -- In the long-delayed modern Arab revolt for dignity, rights and freedom, Tunisia was the trigger, but Egypt is the prize. The Arab popular struggle against autocratic security and police states that was finally initiated earlier this month with the revolt that overthrew former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has reached a critical point in Egypt during the past four days. Events reached their tipping point Sunday and are likely to lead quickly to a political transition that replaces President Hosni Mubarak with a new leadership that more accurately reflects political sentiments in the country.

As happened in Tunisia, the revolt against Mubarak and his colleagues occurred very quickly, within a few weeks after young people demonstrated in the streets and called for the removal of the regime. Yet that daring challenge to a powerful police state reflected decades of mass humiliation among ordinary citizens who finally snapped in January 2011 and refused to continue living in a system that denied them their basic citizenship rights. Protesters also want to change the 30-year-old rule of the Mubarak regime because it has been marked by sustained mass mediocrity in the governance realm that in turn resulted in Egypt's pauperization and marginalization.

More...