Egyptians Against Democracy

Here’s more news from the Arab Spring.

Until yesterday, liberal pro-democracy advocates had been camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Last night they were forcibly ejected from their encampments, and beaten by the police. The police were helped out by Egyptian citizens.

Here’s a report from the Wall Street Journal: “Mobs of ordinary Egyptians joined with soldiers to drive pro-democracy protesters from their encampment in Tahrir Square here Monday, showing how far the uprising's early heroes have fallen in the eyes of the public.

“Six months after young, liberal activists helped lead the popular movement that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, the hard core of these protesters was forcibly dispersed by the troops. Some Egyptians lined the street to applaud the army. Others ganged up on the activists as they retreated from the square that has come to symbolize the Arab Spring.”

Here is another scene from the burgeoning Egyptian “democracy”: “On Monday afternoon, the first day of the Ramadan fast, hundreds of Egyptian army troops and central security police attacked the tent city on the square, shooting in the air and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ God is Great. Protesters' belongings were dumped into garbage trucks. The soldiers beat the activists with truncheons and arrested dozens. The protesters who ran into surrounding streets encountered a hostile mob that included local shopkeepers and business owners.”

The next time you go out to cheerlead a revolution, keep in mind what is happening in Egypt. Everyone loves the mythic moment when a dictator is overthrown. Few people, caught up in that moment, give enough serious reflection to the aftermath. Today Egypt is in the hands of a coalition of the military and Islamists. Is that the democracy our great pundits were expecting?