In those heady days of January and February 2011, it seemed as though the whole world was changing for the better. Now, ten months later, when not much has changed in the lives of ordinary Egyptians, many feel that it is time to re-claim the revolution and drive off those men of yesterday who would hijack it. It was perhaps inevitable that anger at such a slow pace of change would eventually break out once more in the kind of spontaneous protests we have seen all across Egypt this week. The citizens have shown that there is no more time for delay. In any republic, power derives from the people. It is not something given to them by their rulers. And the voice of the people must be listened to. The people of Egypt are not just a nuisance to be put up with or given concessions from time to time to keep them quiet. It is their country and they will decide its future. Ten months ago, it was obvious to all serious commentators that real change was going to take time. After thirty years of corruption and theft it would not be easy to change things overnight. How do you change in a few months a judicial and police system that has existed purely for the sake of the Head of State? How do you repair thirty years of decline in public services, when the public funds to do so have been syphoned off into foreign bank accounts? How do you provide a system of education in Egypt's schools and universities that has existed for decades to keep people under-educated and docile? The shock of sudden change led many to think that their lives would also change just as quickly, giving them the jobs, the housing and the opportunities for an ordinary way of life that had been denied them for years. No, such sweeping changes take years to achieve. It took Portugal eight years to move from dictatorship to democracy. It took Brazil fifteen years. How could Egypt expect to advance at so much faster a pace? Ordinary Egyptian men and women, especially the young, were so desperate in their belief that things shouldn't be the way they are that they took to the streets. In just eighteen days, the regime fell, but it left behind it an Egypt crippled with poor infrastructure, with poverty and unemployment. For thirty years, the whole machinery of the State had been used to support the President and his family. Little wonder, then, that the fabric of society would fall apart when that system of tyranny was gone. The strongest card used against change in February was that lawlessness and chaos would result if there was not a firm hand to control the country. How could it be otherwise, when the whole security apparatus was meant to prop up the regime, rather than protect the citizens? When the police were taken from the streets and gangs of thugs were allowed to roam free in those terrifying first few days in February, it seemed as though the whole country would be torn apart by lawlessness and crime. It didn't happen. In fact, Egyptians rose to the challenge and grouped together to protect their families and their neighbourhoods. The fear tactic failed. And once the people overcame the fear barrier they were able to overcome the regime and bring it down. Ten months on there has not been much change in the lives of the people. The President was toppled and then brought to court. Some of his ministers and cronies were jailed for corruption. But the system remains pretty much the same as it always has been. When the people of Egypt do eventually go to the polls it will be a new experience for most of them. In Egypt, there is no educated electorate as in Tunisia. Most Egyptians have no experience of politics or voting because it was denied them for so long. Politicians and political parties don't seem to offer much that is new, because for so long it was illegal for them even to speak, let alone gain experience of what democracy is. But the people of Egypt are not stupid. For thirty years they were not blind to what was going on. They could see with their own eyes that they lived in towns and villages with no proper roads, piled high with rubbish. They could see that their sons and daughters had no prospects for the future, other than to bribe some official to give them what was their right. They could see young students beaten to death in prison cells, Egypt's resources sold off at a pittance to her enemies, and all the time their leader and his cronies living in luxury, surrounded by guards lest anyone should get near to them. No, the people of Egypt are not stupid. When elections do take place for a post-revolution parliament and a civilian government accountable to it,they won't be perfect and won't give the country everything it needs, but at least Egypt will have a freely elected parliament free of thieves and liars and a government accountable to the people. In these coming days, Egyptians can re-claim their revolution by first of all not allowing themselves to forget what things used to be like. No one wants that for their children. Never again can the people of Egypt be servants in their own land, bowing and touching their forelocks at any minor official who chooses to make life difficult for them. And Egyptians can re-claim their revolution by honouring the memories of those who have died as martyrs for love of Egypt. In January and February 2011, our sons taught us how to be men. By refusing to put up any longer with tyranny and oppression they taught us to walk tall once more. This week's events teach us that now is the time to silence the voices of those who would take us back to the dark days, and look instead to a bright future owned by all of Egypt's people. All of us have been disillusioned that things didn't happen fast enough. But ten months is a long time. It is time now to move forward and there is no need for any further delay.The caretaker phase is now over. Its job is done. It is time for the guardians of that transition phase to pass on their duty to others and to outline the calendar for the future. The new phase will eventually lead to a new parliament and then a speedy election for a President, elected freely by the will of the people. In future years, when Egypt returns to her role as leader of the Arab world, her own people will decide the course she will follow by electing people to speak in their name. Unelected leaders will have no role to play, nor will foreign governments, who have been complicit in much of the wrongdoing that has gone on in the past. What does it matter what foreign governments think, when Egypt's own people are ignored? In re-claiming the revolution the people of Egypt need to hold firm, to keep their nerve and never forget what they escaped from on January 25, 2011. If they do this, their revolution will be secure, inshallah, and no one will be able to take it from them. And if it takes Tahrir Square and the cities of Egypt full of protesters from time to time to remind people of this, then so be it. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, is a lecturer at Al-Azhar University. The author of eight books about Islam, he divides his time between Egypt and the UK as a speaker, writer and broadcaster. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com.
