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Bye Bye Mubarak

Last week, Hosni Mubarak finally packed his bags and headed for the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh: a sunny retreat still within the country’s borders, sure, but nonetheless an empty echo of the president’s earlier promise to live, rule and die on Egyptian soil.

So the bad guy jumped ship. Now what?

After 18 days of civilian protest against Mubarak, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces have taken power of Egypt. They’ve promised the Egyptian people a new constitution, the dissolution of the current parliament and free elections in six months time.

How soon Egypt will see democracy is dependent on how fluidly these plans – as led by the council’s Chairman, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi – will manifest real changes.

Tantawi is definitely a friendlier-looking dude than Mubarak. So that bodes well. But let’s remember that revolutions are never tidy. History is littered with cases proving that Egypt’s transition in the next year may not be a smooth one. So it’s up to the world to keep on watching.

A few times over the last three weeks, I’ve heard the media draw parallels between the recent events in Egypt and the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

It was 30 years ago when Iranian protestors mobilized by the tens of thousands against the Shah, a dictatorial monarch. He was eventually ousted and replaced by a new Islamic republic. To this day, critics inside and outside Iran still doubt whether freedom was ever really achieved in the aftermath of the revolution.

More protests in Iran broke out as recently as 2009 after claims that the presidential election that year had been rigged. The Islamist government is also famous for being culturally oppressive, often to ridiculous lengths.

(In a recent move to protect Iranian way of life, the government put a ban on TV cooking shows that promote foreign cuisine. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before a very pissed-off Gordon Ramsay launches himself on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.)

All that being said, Egypt’s revolution differed from the Iranian counterpart in a lot of important ways. It was swifter, less violent and entirely secular. Both Christians and Muslims protested alongside each other in an attempt to improve their lives.

That’s powerful, inspiring stuff. And it’s why the global community should keep a watchful eye on the continuing situation. By staying tuned, we can ensure that the Supreme Council is accountable to its promises and to its people.