Why a Democratic Egypt Should Trump all Fears

While the roadmap to democracy is still being fought over, it would be in the international community’s interests to remove the hesitancy that paralysed Western policy for decades. The Egyptians are not burning any flags. They rose as a nation to take ownership of a revolution, with the discovery of a new self-empowerment that each one of their voices can count.

Peter Hallward, from the Guardian, noted that “Egypt's mobilisation will remain a revolution of world-historical significance because its actors have repeatedly demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to defy the bounds of political possibility, and to do this on the basis of their own enthusiasm and commitment.”

Only time will tell if the young actors can still defy the bounds of political possibility and achieve a democratic Egypt.

An Egyptian joke from the 1990s went like this: “Impressed with Mubarak winning elections each time with 90 percent of the vote, Bill Clinton asked to borrow his advisors to help with his second term elections. Mubarak's men went to Washington and supervised the elections. When the votes results came out, the advisors announced: Mubarak had won with 90 percent of the vote.”

Let us hope the next punch line will be a free and transparent electoral system for Egypt.