In Egypt, demonstrations have broken out demanding democratic leadership. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had been expected to give power to his son Gamal Mubarak, but protestors are demanding democratic elections:
The protesters from the Egyptian Movement for Change called for multi-candidate presidential elections.
“There is a widespread feeling that there is no use of betting on the regime’s promises of reform, in light of the monopoly of authority and wealth, and ignoring the chronic problems which are gripping the country,” the group said in a statement.
The movement for democracy in the Middle East is spreading, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Lebanon and now to Egypt. As we’ve already seen from Eastern Europe, when such movements begin, they can have an incredible transformative effect on a region. For too long it’s been simply assumed that the Middle East was too backwards, too mired in autocracy and religious zealotry to ever have democratic government. Time and time again we’ve been told that the task of spreading democracy is both hopelessly naive and dangerous.
Yet here we are. We’re seeing an unprecedented groundswell of native pro-democracy sentiment in the Middle East. The long-term strategy of the “neoconservatives” was never to make everyone democratic at gunpoint, it was to give democracy a foothold, an opportunity to spread itself. What we’re seeing now are the first few indications that the dreaded “neoconservatives” were right after all. The people of Iraq embraced democracy on their own. Lebanon is calling for freedom from Syrian oppression. Egypt is seeing a pro-democracy movement demanding popularly elected leadership.
Some of this may have happened sooner or later had the US and its allies not invaded Iraq. However, the events of January 30th have had an incalculable effect on other Middle Eastern countries. If the Palestinians and the Iraqis can democratically choose their leaders, why not the Lebanese? The Egyptians? The Iranians? The Saudis? Democracy is contagious, and the leadership of Tehran and Damascus, Riyadh and Cairo, are all beginning to sneeze.
