By Ehab Lotayef
In 1983 an Egyptian graduate student finished his Ph.D. at McGill University and returned home.
A few years later he was involved in introducing digital technologies in Egyptian governmental institutions. Before the turn of the century he was appointed minister of Communications and Information Technology (a newly established ministry). During his tenor as minister he played a major role in making the Internet accessible to a large segment of Egyptian society. His success in this was probably a major reason that President Hosni Mubarak appointed him Prime Minister. The first engineer to become prime minister of Egypt, maybe ever.
When the McGill alumni was the 7th prime minister to serve under Mubarak, who had then been president for nearly 23 years. The four prime ministers who preceded the McGill alumni were economists, yet the economy of Egypt was only getting worse year after year. It seems Mubarak wanted to try a new thing this time.
To understand the dynamics of the situation in Egypt it should be made clear that in Egypt it is the President who dictates the vision and sets the policies of the state. Mubarak was always one who chose to be cautious and safe rather than risk being sorry. Maybe it was the spilled blood of the assassinated Anwar Sadat, which he saw with his own eyes on October 6, 1981, that made him chose this or maybe he was always like that, but whatever the reason, passivity, was the general theme of his thirty year presidency. People may differ in their evaluation of Nasser and Sadat, but no one argues that they were both visionaries who did not shy away from vigorously implementing their vision.
Mubarak's passivity did bring some stability to Egypt over the first years of his rule, and it was somewhat appreciated after the fear of chaos following Sadat's assassination. The economy did slightly improve but it was consumerism not production or industry that fuelled it. By the mid-nineties and despite the nearly two decades of peace with Israel, the drop in military expenditure and the billions of foreign aid Egypt was receiving, the Egyptian population was badly suffering.
And it wasn't only economic difficulties. Values, human rights and social stability were also taking a dip downwards. The economic hardships resulted in a “dog eat dog” environment where noting had any meaning other than how much you can make.
Over the last ten years of Mubarak’s presidency another problematic and disastrous element was introduced into the picture: The entrance of business tycoons into politics through the ruling National Democratic Party (Mubarak's party). During this era Gamal Mubarak, the president's younger son, was also brought into the picture and to centre stage, in many cases. Gamal’s older brother Alaa focused on business and became one of Egypt’s top business tycoons, but did not assume any political role, while Gamal became a politician who, of course, also had many business deals on the side, to the extent that his fortune now is estimated to be larger than his brother’s.
Meanwhile, Egypt became a brutal police state where no one is safe. All ministers of Interior, one after the other, would have won the “most despised person in Egypt” prize, hands down.
As the years passed and the picture became crystal clear to the vast majority of the Egyptian people they lost any hope that this regime could be reformed. The question on all minds, within Egypt and on the outside, like myself, was, But what can the people do?
Other than a limited demonstrations over the last five years, the largest of which was on April 6, 2009, no dissent seemed possible.
It is clear now that most observers underestimated the determination of the Egyptian youth and the inspiration that came from a successful revolt such as what happened in Tunisia. It also is clear now that most under estimated how the Internet could spark and sustain a true revolution. Well, it did.
If McGill alumni Ahmed Nazif wouldn't have lived and studied in Montreal, and obtained his Ph.D. from McGill's Electrical Engineering department he probably would have never been inspired to expand Internet access in Egypt the way he did. If he hadn't he probably wouldn't have become Prime Minister of Egypt, but neither would the "Facebook" revolution --which brought an end to the Mubarak regime-- have happened.
Ehab Lotayef is an Egyptian Montrealer. He is a poet, writer, activist and an IT engineer at McGill University. He is also a founding member of Canadian Egyptians for Democracy.
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