From Tunisia to Egypt to ???: The Demise of the Dictators

The revolts in the Middle East remind me of a beautiful Pashto poem from the lands that are now plagued by the Taliban: "Zay zay, abazo la ba ra-zay" --- "No matter where you go or are, you’ll show your true nature eventually.

Such is the case of the dictators of the Middle East. No matter what they call themselves ---, President, king, sheikh, emir, sultan or even the preposterous Guide of the Revolution --- at heart, they’re just cowardly, greedy, heartless tyrants. They are dictators who try to hide behind different guises, but in the end, they all show their true coloirs no matter how much they try to glorify their actions on their way to their demise.

And what’s a dictator if he doesn’t try to hang on to pretty much absolute power until he is forced out by the will of the people? 

The game was played first in Tunisia.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali clung for almost a month to power --- brutally, desperately and ultimately, pathetically. He first tried to ignore the uprising. He then tried to portray himself as the legal President facing a revolt backed by foreign elements. He then tried to brutalise the masses to kill their thirst for freedom. Finally, when all else failed, he promised to reform his Government and the system. In the end, though, he realised that he couldn’t lie a nation into submission and stepped down.

Then, like a virus, the uprising spread to Egypt.

Hosni Mubarak played the same game: after all, he was the strongest dictator in the region. But after jumping through all the hoops that Ben Ali had navigated before him, he too realised that it was all for naught. But he did not conclude that quickly; instead, he had to explore every option that Ben Ali had consider. The two greedy men could not let go that easily of the countries they had been running like their personal piggy banks.

And that same greed is the reason why the tyrants of Algeria, Yemen, Morocco, Bahrain, and Libya will not quit. They are not brave enough to admit the truth that their time might be up or kind enough to spare the lives of their people. After all, they are tyrants.

So for the next few weeks, watch the drama unfold in those countries.

Remember how Yemen and Bahrain tried to ignore the protests first? Then, after the other steps, didn’t do anything, they used brutal force? Expect that force to be used for some more time. If the protesters don’t give up,soon, they’ll vacate their Presidential palaces and kingly residences and head for Jeddah or some other tyrant’s tent. 

What matters in the meantime is to realise that these men and the men who’re awaiting protests elsewhere in the Middle East have no intention of giving up power or reforming their systems on their own. They will make false promises; they will try to show their people that they are in control. They will not even spare their people’s blood.

But all tyrants have one final shared characteristic –-- when the going gets tough, they’ll run. They don not have the courage that men with dignity, honour, and some sense of humanity do. When the time comes, they will be gone like they were never there.

Ben Ali had to run and so did Mubarak. If the anger keeps spilling on the streets of the Middle East, the rest will, too.