The extraordinary and completely heroic actions of the Egyptian people have driven Mubarak from power. After thirty years of brutalism and torture, the US and Israeli backed dictator has been ousted. At a cost of hundreds of martyrs who gave their lives, after last week's defeat of Mubarak’s thugs in two days of street fighting, after the movement began to spread to working class strikes, after a final attempt by Mubarak at defiance yesterday night, after the gigantic outpouring of the people in answer today, the dictator has been driven out.

By Alan Davis

The outpouring of popular rebellion in Egypt has inspired progressive people throughout the world. Literally millions were on the streets. The mass mobilisations are continuing despite the killing of hundreds of people by the security services and then the assaults on the protestors by state security thugs.

But in the last few days the various manoeuvrings at the top in Egypt and internationally have intensified.

The Egyptian regime is attempting to suppress Al Jazeera’s reporting from the country. It has already closed down the Al Jazeera Arabic service in Egypt. Now it is attacking the English language service as well. On 31 January it arrested six Al Jazeera journalists. It was forced to release them after international protests but it detained all their equipment – TV cameras, recording equipment, laptops.

By Andrew Brown

The uprising of the people of Egypt, following the revolution in Tunisia, is one of those truly inspiring political events. For several decades US administrations believed they could trample on the Arab peoples with impunity. Buttressed by its client state in Israel, US imperialism believed that while peoples in other parts of the world might revolt, a series of quisling regimes, such as the Saudi and Egyptian dictatorships, together with the increasingly compliant Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, would be sufficient to prevent this happening in the Arab world.

By Andrew Williams

 
The uprising

The mass uprising in Tunisia which overthrew the hated Ben Ali regime has inspired protests across the Arab world. The struggle now unfolding in Tunisia turns around whether the ruling class can reimpose the old regime, with a few very limited concessions to the masses, or whether the mass movement is able to push things further and impose more radical changes.

Whatever the outcome of this struggle, the mass movement in Tunisia has showed a truly tenacious willingness to mobilise and fight, despite armed repression. This demonstrates the continuing capacity for struggle across the semicolonial world, and has sent shock waves through right-wing regimes world-wide, especially in the Maghreb and Middle East.