CAIRO - The euphoria that followed a change of power in Tunisia in the aftermath of the flight from the country by its President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali seems to be echoing in Egypt. Local analysts look with joy at the ability of the Tunisian people to impose their will and get rid of their authoritarian ruler who has been in power for 23 years. Some of these analysts, however, warn against a repetition of the Tunisian scenario in many other Arab countries. They say Arab people suffer from the same bad conditions, which makes it easy for the Tunisian scenario to take place yet again in other Arab countries. “The Tunisian case can spread like wildfire in other Arab countries,” said Emad Gad, a researcher from the State-run Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. “All Arab countries suffer from stagnant political conditions that led to political corruption and suppression,” he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Protest movements like the 6 April group and Kefaya (Enough) had applauded what they called the victory of the Tunisian people over despotism. These groups had even organised protests of support outside the Tunisian Embassy in Cairo and the Egyptian Press Syndicate and chanted slogans, reflecting on the situation in Egypt and other Arab countries. “From Egypt, we announce our support to the revolution of the Tunisian people,” read a statement distributed by the protest movement 6 April. “We express our respect for the Tunisian youth who wrote this chapter in their struggle for freedom with their own blood,” the statement added. On Egypt's streets, the political earthquake that rocked Tunisia after the escape of the President from the country seemed to keep Egyptians busy on Sunday. As they discussed price hikes, bad transportation, congested traffic and rumours about political corruption in their country, Egyptians also found time to talk about what was happening in Tunisia. Some people were even wondering about whether the political conditions in other Arab countries were ripe for equal change. For intellectuals following the news of the political transformations taking place in Tunisia, "revolutions are contagious too", given the breathtaking of today's new media. “I expect the mass protests that swept the whole of Tunisia for a month, culminating in the flight of the President to inspire similar actions in other Arab countries,” said Amar Ali Hassan, a leading Egyptian researcher and writer. “All Arab people have the same complaints,” he added. Gad of Al-Ahram Centre thinks countries like Egypt, Libya and Algeria are equally vulnerable. He says they are countries were the regimes have been ruling for too long now, the thing that led them all down a slippery slope of deteriorating political and economic conditions. “The problem is that the regimes in these countries think that they can depend on their armies and security men to intimidate their peoples for too long,” he said. “But they never realise that if there is not a satisfactory political solution, these armies and security men will take sides with the people against the rulers,” he added.
