 Published
February 15th, 2011
Revolution as defined in Dictionary.com
is “an overthrow or
repudiation and
the thorough
replacement of an established government or political system
by the
people governed”.
Revolution, by one other
account on the web, is defined as “a drastic and
far-reaching change in the ways of thinking and behaving”.
It could come in the form of industrial, cultural, social or
political movement. Yet, in another account – also from web
definition, it was coined from the Latin word revolutio – a
turn around – to mean “…
a fundamental change in
power or organizational structures that takes place in a
relatively short period of time…”.
A half backed
revolution, from the forgoing, is worse than none. Even
though most of the protesters at the Tahir square in Egypt
have one concept in common and that is that the ship of the
Egyptian state - as piloted by ousted captain Mubarak - is
not headed in the right direction, none of them have an
alternative direction. Or at least, no one amongst them was
bold enough to handle the rudder and start the redirection
that will take not less than 36 months to finally dismantle
the vertices of dictator they are combating.
The circular nature of
the modern Egyptian state did not give the touted “more
organized Islamic Brotherhood” the opportunity to key into
the window provided by the protest to try and claim
leadership of the country. And this is also informed by the
knowledge or belief that the world Watchdog will not accept
their ascendancy to the leadership of Egypt after Mubarak.
Even Mohamed ElBaradei
who is one of the key opposition figures is only talking
from CNN and is no where close home in Egypt to try to
galvanize the various agitating groups into one formidable
force that will sustain the upheaval long enough to finally
demolish the dictatorial psyche from the populace.
The implication is that
the very people whose actions and inactions made the
revolution necessary in the first place are still the very
people on whose hands and shoulders, squarely, rests the
mantle of leadership. This is already the situation because
the army, which is ex President Mubarak’s constituency, has
taken over - without any opposition group in collaboration -
and within a few hours has abrogated whatever was a
constitution in Egypt and has dissolved the Egyptian
parliament. They are free to promulgate edicts as they
choose. And who says it is a coincidence that they have
spread out their stay over six months which, somehow, has
dove-tailed into the September Mubarak has insisted that he
would stay in office.
And following the ouster
of President Mubarak is the demand by the police and bank
workers for an increased wages. This, in the least, is just
a window offered the army to continue with a little modified
version of Mubarak’s regime. When the army accedes to this
demand, the rank of already uncoordinated protesters will be
further widened and that will spell doom for the struggle.
If you liken what is
going on now in Egypt with an ailment that is half way
treated, you will see a likelihood of a cancerous growth
which will become more malignant and unyielding to
medication.
This brings one to the
point of comparing what is happening now in Egypt with what
happened in Nigeria a few years ago when Gen. Babangida
decided to step aside - due to pressure - while leaving part
of the apogee (Gen. Abacha of blessed memory) of his
dictatorial establishment as the chief of Army Staff. It
did not take more than six months before Gen. Abacha stifled
the life out of the Ernest Shonekan led contraption called
interim government. When Gen. Abacha died, another
contraption husbanded by Gen. Abdusalami cooked up yet
another gimmick and handed over power to Gen. Obansanjo who
finally erected the bastion upon which the upheaval - that
would have heralded a true revolution in the greatest black
nation of the world – was quashed.
Nigeria’s situation has
become more precarious up till this time. Corruption has
taken official garment in a situation where the national
assembly goes home with a pay packet that is eye-bulging and
more than 80 percent of Nigerians are impoverished.
A thorough revolution,
as we see from history and from definitions of it, comes not
just to make a monarch or a dictator flee his country or
abdicate his reign, but with strong and sustained radical
social or political quake that demolished the structures
that had sustained the monarch or the dictator. The
dictator should not be given the opportunity to flee his
country but should be brought back to answer for every one
penny fraudulently acquired and numerous human rights abuses
during his reign.
We now run an inverted
democracy in Nigeria where the (s)elected becomes
richer and richer and the electorate becomes poorer and
poorer and any attempt to address this anomaly falls on deaf
ears. The assembly men and women are busy sharing money
amongst themselves and they find it inexpedient to pass a
“freedom of information” bill. This is all because a
revolution was botched half way. Egyptians must not allow
this to happen in their land as they may - inadvertently
-just be ushering in another half a century of worse
situations than Mubarak’s three decades of dictatorship.
There will still be a period of resistance from the
establishment people who have benefited from the three
decade old oppressive government. This group will use all
manner of divide and rule to want to thwart the reforms.
It is on this note that
I am not comfortable when people insinuate that what is
happening in Egypt now is a revolution. I call it mere
protest. If it must be a revolution, Egyptians must insist
that the army should go back to barracks while from among
the protester should a group of assembly be raised to
oversee a general election that will usher in a democratic
government that will not have the coloration and smell of
Mubarak’s dictatorial establishment.
A segment of the
population should not be calling for increased wages at this
period. This is far from what a thorough revolution should
be. There must be a structural and psychological change in
the way thins are done. It will take some little time and
sacrifices have to be made. The people who make this
revolution a reality may not, necessarily, be the people who
will enjoy the full benefits of it. But it seems that some
segments of the Egyptian society are in a haste to begin to
enjoy the benefit of a revolution that has no direction as
of now.
Maybe when Egypt
achieves a thorough revolution, then other African nations
may follow suite. Who knows?
Chris Onyishi
ctekchris@yahoo.com
Nsukka, Enugu State
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