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International reactions to the Egyptian revolution of 2011 refer to external responses to the events that took place in Egypt between 25 January and 10 February 2011, as well as some of the events after the collapse of the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, such as Mubarak's trial. The reactions have generally been either measured or supportive of the Egyptian people, with most governments and organizations calling for non-violent responses on both sides and peaceful moves towards reform. Whilst the protesters called for Mubarak to step down immediately, [1] most foreign governments stopped short of this demand, at least during the early phases of the protests, due to realpolitik concerns about the consequences of a power vacuum on Egyptian stability in particular and to the wider Middle East as a whole. Some Middle Eastern leaders expressed support for Mubarak. Many governments issued travel advisories and evacuated foreign citizens from the country.
The protests captured worldwide attention in part due to the increasing use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social-media platforms, which empowered activists and onlookers to communicate, coordinate, and document the events as they occur. Many countries experienced their own solidarity protests in support of the Egyptians. As the levels of meta-publicity increased, the Egyptian government stepped up efforts to limit Internet access, especially to social media. In response there has been hacktivism, with global groups attempting to provide alternative communication methods for the Egyptians.
"Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people, and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.... Around the world governments have an obligation to respond to their citizens.... All governments must maintain power through consent, not coercion. That is the single standard by which the people of Egypt will achieve the future they deserve."
"He is finished as Egypt's leader. The only matter for discussion is how quickly that materialises ... We are not electing a new Egyptian leader. That is something the Egyptians themselves have to do. But what we need is that before Hosni Mubarak leaves the presidential palace he has to provide a roadmap for democracy."
A joint statement by British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel read:
"We are deeply concerned about the events that we are witnessing in Egypt. We recognise the moderating role President Mubarak has played over many years in the Middle East. We now urge him to show the same moderation in addressing the current situation in Egypt...It is essential that the further political, economic and social reforms President Mubarak has promised are implemented fully and quickly and meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people.The Egyptian people have legitimate grievances and a longing for a just and better future. We urge President Mubarak to embark on a process of transformation which should be reflected in a broad-based government and in free and fair elections" [115]
On 3 February the three were joined by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero in issuing another statement: "Only a quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government will make it possible to overcome the challenges Egypt is now facing. That transition process must start now." [116]
Protests were held at the Egyptian embassy in Tunis in solidarity and in hope that the two countries' "revolutions" would spark a chain of events around the Arab world. Tunisia's Progressive Democratic Party said that Egypt had "called in the hour of change for an end to injustice and dictatorship. The Egyptian people supported the Tunisian people's revolution. Our heart is with you and our voices never cease to pray for victory." There was a demonstration outside the Egyptian embassy in Doha, Qatar. [119] There were protests in Lebanon warning of the spread of the protests. [120] On 25 January a march held in Gaza in solidarity with the protests was suppressed by Hamas. Police officers dressed in civilian clothing arrested six women and detained some 20 others, according to Human Rights Watch. [121]
In Syria a peaceful demonstration was held on 29 January in front of the Egyptian embassy in Damascus to protest against the killing of protesters by Egyptian police. Syrian security forces were deployed around the embassy and blocked demonstrators from reaching it. [122] Arab Israelis held rallies in solidarity with the Egyptian protesters. [123]
On 28 January between 200 and 400 protesters held demonstrations outside the Fatih Mosque (where political activism has become more common since the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid) after the Friday prayer in Istanbul. A small leftist group gathered outside the Egyptian embassy in Ankara, Turkey. [119] [124] Iranian students gathered in front of the Egypt's Interest Section in Tehran on 30 January to support the uprisings in Egypt. According to IRNA, the students, shouting slogans such as "Down with US, Down with Israel, Down with UK and down with Hosni Mubarak," condemned the Egyptian government's measures to confront protesters. The students demanded that the Iranian government shut down Egypt's Interest Section in Iran. [125]
On 28 January Egyptians living in Canada and others gathered at the embassy in Ottawa as well as the consulate in Montreal. The next day, Canadians in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and other cities peacefully demonstrated in support of the uprising, criticising the Canadian government's cautious and generic response. [126] On 29 January in Dearborn, Michigan, 300 people expressed their solidarity for the Egyptian people. [127] Around 150 protesters demonstrated in solidarity with the Egyptian people in Nashville, Tennessee. [128]
The Egyptian embassy in Venezuela was temporarily taken over by Venezuelans of Egyptian descent, [129] an action which was condemned by President Hugo Chavez. [130]
Egyptians in Ireland and members of the Irish Anti-War Movement held a protest outside the embassy in Dublin on 28 January to "show solidarity for the people in Egypt to say to them that we are behind you and we support you." [131]
In London, fifty protesters outside the Egyptian embassy called for Mubarak's regime to resign. [119] In Frankfurt, Germany, a small group protested on 29 January in the main pedestrian zone, the Zeil, to show their support for the Egyptian people. In Munich, Germans joined the Egyptians in a demonstration in Odeonsplatz asking Mubarak to leave.[ citation needed ] In The Hague, Netherlands, 200 people protested in front of the Peace Palace against the regime of Mubarak. [132]
On 31 January, students at India's Jawaharlal Nehru University's Egypt Solidarity Forum organised a solidarity march in which about 500 students and faculty members participated. [133] The convener of the forum, Omair Anas, said: "We believe that Egyptian people are victims of their own rulers as well as their Western masters. Hosni Mubarak has protected interests of capitalists, multinationals and his Western masters, mainly the United States." [134] The following day, the forum called for a mass demonstration at the Egyptian embassy where some protesters, including Anas, were detained by the Delhi Police. [135]
In South Africa, on 4 February, approximately 300 demonstrators blocked Bourke Street, the location of the Egyptian embassy in Pretoria, [136] in peaceful protests organised by South African trade unions, human rights groups, and Egyptians in South Africa. The demonstrators shouted slogans such as "out with Mubarak" in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, and Arabic. [137]
On 9 February in Ukraine, FEMEN activists organised a topless protest [138] in front of the Egyptian embassy in Kyiv. [139]
Multinational corporations [ which? ] said they would evacuate their employees. [186] Two Russian oil and gas companies, Lukoil and Novatek, evacuated their staff from Egypt on 30 January.[ citation needed ]
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Austria's Der Standard said that "the EU has failed to manage its response to the events in Egypt." [152] [187]
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof said that "it should be increasingly evident that Mr. Mubarak is not the remedy for instability in Egypt; he is its cause. The road to stability in Egypt requires Mr. Mubarak's departure, immediately." [188] On 7 February, during the first show after a return from Egypt, CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, who had twice been beaten by pro-Mubarak protesters, criticised the government on his nightly show. He said that Mubarak's regime has "blood on its hands" and is lying to the world about its actions. He called Egypt a police state and accused the government of saying "the direct opposite of what they have been doing." He cited the government's claim of reaching out to the opposition even though "his secret police were still arresting opposition figures." He further said that while the government has denied being involved in the violence directed at protesters, the military had been conspicuously slow to react to the targeting of demonstrators by pro-Mubarak forces. [189]
Writing for the Saturday Mirror on 6 August, former Nigerian head of state Olusegun Obasanjo criticised the handling of the Mubaraks' trial and defended the deposed president. "I am not saying that Mubarak has not made a mistake in his almost thirty years in running the affairs of Egypt or that he has not committed any misdemeanour or offence, but decency demands that in bringing him to judgment, the good he has done should be brought side by side with the mistakes he has made and if this is done objectively, I am of the mind that the good will outweigh the mistakes," Obasanjo wrote. [190]
MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky said that "[w]hat's happening is absolutely spectacular. The courage and determination and commitment of the demonstrators is remarkable, and whatever happens these are moments that won't be forgotten and are sure to have long-term consequences." [191] He later added in an article in The Guardian that: [192]
Observers compared it to the toppling of Russian domains in 1989, but there are important differences. Crucially, no Mikhail Gorbachev exists among the great powers that support the Arab dictators. Rather, Washington and its allies keep to the well-established principle that democracy is acceptable only insofar as it conforms to strategic and economic objectives: fine in enemy territory (up to a point), but not in our backyard, please, unless properly tamed. One 1989 comparison has some validity: Romania, where Washington maintained its support for Nicolae Ceaușescu, the most vicious of the east European dictators, until the allegiance became untenable. Then Washington hailed his overthrow while the past was erased. That is a standard pattern: Ferdinand Marcos, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Chun Doo-hwan, Suharto and many other useful gangsters. It may be under way in the case of Hosni Mubarak, along with routine efforts to try to ensure a successor regime will not veer far from the approved path.
Tariq Ali said the protests would be a "rude awakening for all those who imagined that the despots of the Arab world could be kept in place provided they continued to serve the needs of the West." He said that "while Western establishments lull themselves to sleep with fairy tales, ordinary citizens, who are defeated and demoralised, mull their revenge." He added that "If Tunisia was a tremor, the Egyptian uprising has become an earthquake that is spreading throughout the region. The generals in Cairo are still refusing to disperse the crowds with tanks and bullets. A full-scale Tiananmen Square option, which Mubarak and his friends would have appreciated, becomes difficult in these conditions." [59]
Ralph Nader said that Vice-President Omar Suleiman appeared to be making the decisions, if only to give the impression that Mubarak was relenting and would be willing to remain as a figurehead president until his term ends later in the year. He believes that Mubarak was very alert to what would be needed to maintain the loyalties of the police, the intelligence agencies, the security forces and the army and that when is forced out tens of thousands of those on his payroll would lose their patronage. Nader stated that "the government is striving to wait out the protesters, whose daily supplies and energies are being sapped by the overwhelming force arrayed against them to intimidate, weaken and keep their numbers down not just in [Tahrir] Square but also in other cities like Alexandria and Suez." [193]
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