All of us in the West took a ring-side seat to watch in jubilation as Tunisia and Egyptian protesters recently managed the unthinkable: the non-violent overthrow of their countries’ repressive, corrupt political regimes.
As other countries in the Middle East — Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Morocco, Jordan — follow suit, we cheer them on with the tacit thought that it’s about time they all embraced our political and economic values, became open and fair democracies – became, in effect, just like us.
It’s clear that Egyptians as a people want an open and democratic society. According to Time magazine, a majority of Egyptians believe democracy is the most preferable style of government; 90 per cent of Egyptians support freedom of religion, 80 per cent support free speech and 75 per cent are opposed to censorship.
Much of the press about Egypt has focused on its ‘backward,’ ‘corrupt’ and ‘repressive’ regime, which cracked down on political parties, and silenced newspaper criticism or open intellectual forum.
