So to the compliance with one of the first and main objectives, as was the resignation of Mubarak, again we express our support and solidarity.
The Non-Violent Revolution, in which the call for peaceful action was for the protesters almost as important as the resignation of the president, is a true example of the new role that people may have, using the new communication networks, each time the cry of justice and freedom brings them together and gives them strength.
Nevertheless, there is still an arduous road ahead. A transition managed by vice-president Suleiman (chief torturer), by an army which although it refused to repress the demonstrators, has a leadership very much linked to Mubarak and the USA, and by some relatively representative opposition leaders. It will be a difficult transition if the people do not remain attentive.
Obama, who now skilfully supported the democratic demands in Egypt (after 30 years of the US maintaining the dictatorship as its principle ally in the region), will do what is possible so that the changes are not very profound, and especially that they do not end up affecting the Camp David agreements of 1979. Nothing is further from US interests than the hypothetical resurgence of a Nasser-style pan-Arabism, or even worse, of an increase in fundamentalism. It does not look like the Muslim Brotherhood, representing something more than 20% of the population, would want nor can tip Egypt towards fundamentalism; but there probably are violent elements who seek to establish themselves there, and probably the US and Egyptian conservatives would use them as a pretext for repression.
This is why the Egyptian people must remain alert, in order that the changes are real and profound and not mere cosmetic reforms in the political realm or crooked financial assistance in the economic realm. Therefore they must be attentive and mobilise for a new construction and for the strict compliance with each demand, without allowing the transition to become delayed and grow stale in order that nothing changes in the end.
The people in general, and the most dynamic sectors in this revolution in particular, the young people and the unions, must create a permanent articulation and demand a leading role in implementing the changes. So as the modern channels of communications served to mobilise, they also must be used to organise and to work permanently in the construction of a Real Democracy.
There is still much to be done from tomorrow, but today is a day of celebration for the Egyptian people and for all those of us who aspire to a Non-Violent Global Revolution.
Member of the International Humanist Party Coordination
*translated by Rhona Desmond*