Who cannot be moved by the images coming out of Egypt and especially Tahrir Square in Cairo over the past 3 weeks.
Who can fail to be impressed by the dignity and self-control, the patriotism and the aspiration. after all, don’t we all want democracy everywhere?
What we have witnessed is a new type of revolution. The precursors of this revolution have been the Iranian protests about the allegedly rigged re-election of President Ahmadinejad, the popular protests in Tunisia which ousted the incumbent president and even the student protests in the UK over student fees.
Copycat uprisings have also sprung up in Jordan and Algeria with little impact so far.
Is this a new dawn of democracy for the Middle East?
As many commentators have observed, these popular uprisings and protests have been co-ordinated by young people using social media and mobile devices.
This is seismic because in the Brave New World of cyber- protest and revolt, political agitation and organising, it is the youth of the world (and the Arab world is a particularly young demographic) who are setting the pace, upsetting old norms and paradigms and leveraging their knowledge of social media and the World Wide Web to attempt to sweep away the former centres of power.
This new-found power is bad news for dictators and tyrants. Democracies can absorb it and even use it. Authoritarian societies which try to suppress the freedom of information and control the press are finding it increasingly difficult to outwit those members of their societies who find on the Internet an outlet for grievance and an access to the truth.
The media has presented us with well-spoken, western-dressed, young, savvy Egyptians who give us hope that Egypt can find its way to true democracy and provide inspiration for other oppressed people in the Middle East and beyond.
Yet, all this could still go wrong. The new military government has confirmed the existing treaty with Israel but has now suspended the Constitution. What will that mean?
If democracy is established, can it be sustained? Will Egypt become a second Iraq where its very freedom will, ironically, allow dark forces, those of fundamentalism, to infiltrate from home and abroad and pitch the country into turmoil? Will the spirit of settling old scores, now apparent, throw the country in an internecine struggle.
Can Egypt divest itself of the antisemitism that is so pervasive?
And finally, those sophisticated representatives of Egyptian society who spoke so well in front of the world’s cameras are the educated minority of Egypt’s middle classes and ruling elite.
On the street there are millions of impoverished and disinherited Egyptians whose leanings and inclinations may be more in the direction of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially if there aspirations and expectations are not met in good order.
Will Egyptian democracy be good for Israel? I would say ‘yes’ were it not for the clear underlying and sometimes overt demonstrations of anti-Israel sentiment and the known dislike of Israel and the Jews that is so endemic in Egyptian society.
If the miracle does happen, an Israel-Egypt alliance would be a powerful force for peace and democracy in the region.
Somehow, I feel it will be more complex and dangerous than the euphoric media now expect.