by L.B. Woodgate

Created on: January 31, 2011

What can other nations take from corruptive and repressive government actions similar to Egypt’s to prevent civil unrest that could lead to chaos?

Seeing the pictures of Egyptians protestors fire-bombing buildings and police vehicles is anathema to what civilized people refer to as peaceful protests and there is a tendency to condemn such actions by some before fulling grasping the historical conditions that have brought the people out into the streets in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.  

For years there have been routine police, judicial and human rights abuses by Egyptian authorities that many around the world never see.  Thus when police were sent out to address the swelling crowds of protestors the worst thing they could have done was to exhibit some of this repressive behavior under these very public circumstances.  This attitude was displayed by Interior Minister Habib Adly who warned that "the security agencies are able to stop any attempt to attend" the demonstrations and called the efforts of the "youth staging street protests ineffective", according to an interview released Tuesday with state-run al-Ahram newspaper. (3 dead after thousands protest in rare Egypt outpouring, by Ben Wedeman and Amir Ahmed, CNN, 1/26/11)

The reactionary steps by those who are supposed to “serve and protect” alienated them from the people.  Water-hosing and tear-gassing crowds of boisterous protestors was a big mis-step on the part of the Mubarak administration.  Once this course of action is taken violence on the part of protestors who are familiar with the police’s record of brutality is destined to escalate.

No doubt Mubarak felt justified to take action against these crowds because it was perhaps suspected by him that radical elements like the Muslim Brotherhood were inciting these protests.  But this over-reaction is the fault of a government that has stayed out of touch with its legitimate citizenry and seems more concerned about staying in power.  

The minor reforms that the Egyptian government have provided over the years have done little to break the pattern of corruption within their ranks.  Faced with growing unrest from economic conditions in Egypt, it is no wonder that what seemed like a contained scenario in one of the more U.S.-friendly nations in the middle east blew apart shortly following similar unrest in nearby Tunisia.

When non-violent protests occurred in parts of the U.S. in 2009 by a rising

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