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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/feb/10/egypt-miracle-tahrir-square?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/feb/10/egypt-miracle-tahrir-square?CMP=twt_gu</a><br>
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For Egypt, this is the miracle of Tahrir Square<br>
<br>
There is no room for compromise. Either the entire Mubarak edifice<br>
falls, or the uprising is betrayed<br>
<br>
Slavoj Zizek<br>
<br>
One cannot but note the "miraculous" nature of the events in Egypt:<br>
something has happened that few predicted, violating the experts'<br>
opinions, as if the uprising was not simply the result of social<br>
causes but the intervention of a mysterious agency that we can call,<br>
in a Platonic way, the eternal idea of freedom, justice and dignity.<br>
<br>
The uprising was universal: it was immediately possible for all of us<br>
around the world to identify with it, to recognise what it was about,<br>
without any need for cultural analysis of the features of Egyptian<br>
society. In contrast to Iran's Khomeini revolution (where leftists had<br>
to smuggle their message into the predominantly Islamist frame), here<br>
the frame is clearly that of a universal secular call for freedom and<br>
justice, so that the Muslim Brotherhood had to adopt the language of<br>
secular demands.<br>
<br>
The most sublime moment occurred when Muslims and Coptic Christians<br>
engaged in common prayer on Cairo's Tahrir Square, chanting "We<br>
are one!" – providing the best answer to the sectarian religious<br>
violence. Those neocons who criticise multiculturalism on behalf of<br>
the universal values of freedom and democracy are now confronting<br>
their moment of truth: you want universal freedom and democracy? This<br>
is what people demand in Egypt, so why are the neocons uneasy? Is it<br>
because the protesters in Egypt mention freedom and dignity in the<br>
same breath as social and economic justice?<br>
<br>
>From the start, the violence of the protesters has been purely<br>
symbolic, an act of radical and collective civil disobedience. They<br>
suspended the authority of the state – it was not just an inner<br>
liberation, but a social act of breaking chains of servitude. The<br>
physical violence was done by the hired Mubarak thugs entering Tahrir<br>
Square on horses and camels and beating people; the most protesters<br>
did was defend themselves.<br>
<br>
Although combative, the message of the protesters has not been one<br>
of killing. The demand was for Mubarak to go, and thus open up the<br>
space for freedom in Egypt, a freedom from which no one is excluded –<br>
the protesters' call to the army, and even the hated police, was not<br>
"Death to you!", but "We are brothers! Join us!". This feature clearly<br>
distinguishes an emancipatory demonstration from a rightwing populist<br>
one: although the right's mobilisation proclaims the organic unity<br>
of the people, it is a unity sustained by a call to annihilate the<br>
designated enemy (Jews, traitors).<br>
<br>
So where are we now? When an authoritarian regime approaches the final<br>
crisis, its dissolution tends to follow two steps. Before its actual<br>
collapse, a rupture takes place: all of a sudden people know that<br>
the game is over, they are simply no longer afraid. It is not only<br>
that the regime loses its legitimacy; its exercise of power itself<br>
is perceived as an impotent panic reaction. We all know the classic<br>
scene from cartoons: the cat reaches a precipice but goes on walking,<br>
ignoring the fact that there is no ground under its feet; it starts to<br>
fall only when it looks down and notices the abyss. When it loses its<br>
authority, the regime is like a cat above the precipice: in order to<br>
fall, it only has to be reminded to look down …<br>
<br>
In Shah of Shahs, a classic account of the Khomeini revolution,<br>
Ryszard Kapuscinski located the precise moment of this rupture: at<br>
a Tehran crossroads, a single demonstrator refused to budge when<br>
a policeman shouted at him to move, and the embarrassed policeman<br>
withdrew; within hours, all Tehran knew about this incident, and<br>
although street fights went on for weeks, everyone somehow knew the<br>
game was over.<br>
<br>
Is something similar going on in Egypt? For a couple of days at<br>
the beginning, it looked like Mubarak was already in the situation<br>
of the proverbial cat. Then we saw a well-planned operation to<br>
kidnap the revolution. The obscenity of this was breathtaking: the<br>
new vice-president, Omar Suleiman, a former secret police chief<br>
responsible for mass tortures, presented himself as the "human face"<br>
of the regime, the person to oversee the transition to democracy.<br>
<br>
Egypt's struggle of endurance is not a conflict of visions, it is the<br>
conflict between a vision of freedom and a blind clinging to power<br>
that uses all means possible – terror, lack of food, simple tiredness,<br>
bribery with raised salaries – to squash the will to freedom.<br>
<br>
When President Obama welcomed the uprising as a legitimate expression<br>
of opinion that needs to be acknowledged by the government, the<br>
confusion was total: the crowds in Cairo and Alexandria did not want<br>
their demands to be acknowledged by the government, they denied the<br>
very legitimacy of the government. They didn't want the Mubarak regime<br>
as a partner in a dialogue, they wanted Mubarak to go. They didn't<br>
simply want a new government that would listen to their opinion, they<br>
wanted to reshape the entire state. They don't have an opinion, they<br>
are the truth of the situation in Egypt. Mubarak understands this much<br>
better than Obama: there is no room for compromise here, as there was<br>
none when the Communist regimes were challenged in the late 1980s.<br>
Either the entire Mubarak power edifice falls down, or the uprising is<br>
co-opted and betrayed.<br>
<br>
And what about the fear that, after the fall of Mubarak, the new<br>
government will be hostile towards Israel? If the new government<br>
is genuinely the expression of a people that proudly enjoys its<br>
freedom, then there is nothing to fear: antisemitism can only grow in<br>
conditions of despair and oppression. (A CNN report from an Egyptian<br>
province showed how the government is spreading rumours there that the<br>
organisers of the protests and foreign journalists were sent by the<br>
Jews to weaken Egypt – so much for Mubarak as a friend of the Jews.)<br>
<br>
One of the cruellest ironies of the current situation is the west's<br>
concern that the transition should proceed in a "lawful" way – as if<br>
Egypt had the rule of law until now. Are we already forgetting that,<br>
for many long years, Egypt was in a permanent state of emergency?<br>
Mubarak suspended the rule of law, keeping the entire country in<br>
a state of political immobility, stifling genuine political life.<br>
It makes sense that so many people on the streets of Cairo claim<br>
that they now feel alive for the first time in their lives. Whatever<br>
happens next, what is crucial is that this sense of "feeling alive" is<br>
not buried by cynical realpolitik.<br>
<br>
• Slavoj Žižek is co-editor of The Idea of Communism, published by<br>
Verso Books.<br>
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