I can't tell you guys - I am obviously not Egyptian and many foreigners have a sort of precariously cordial relationship will the locals but this is a momentous occasion for a people that have been oppressed and repressed for decades. The people have decided - you cannot get much more democratic than a revolution like this. If there was some silent majority hiding behind the curtains who are worried about the fact that they are going to have to give up their dollars so that a nation of financially poor people can get some sort of life back then they are either imaginary or cowards - they did not make their voice heard.
Look at what is happening in Tahrier Square!!! Mubarak has, to his credit, done a great deal for the peace and stability region, and also he has pocketed billions and billions of dollars in the process. As per the old saying: Power corrupts - Absolute power corrupts absolutely. He started with a dream for a troubled nation, and in the end he gave it a nightmare.
It took me a year to "make friends" with the boat crews I work with, and now they insist on kissing me when they haven't seen me for a while - traditional Egyptian greeting for a good friend is a kiss on both cheeks (between men). There are some cynical people who say that Egyptians can't make anything out of this and we will end up with a Muslim state or military dictatorship. These are, it has to be said, possibilities. But now we've seen what people can achieve. I am going out to celebrate with the locals - and I am also going out to say goodbye to one of my closest friends, who has to leave because she's run out of money. I am on the point of leaving because my funds are also dwindling rapidly.
Tonight - we have hope. It has been an very emotional few days for me, and I am not ashamed to admit that a few days ago I broke down in tears of sadness and today my eyes are filling again with tears of joy. I didn't know where to go, what to do, when I would see my friend again. Now, at least, I have some hope. Please, Egypt, don't let yourselves down. Keep the peace, elect your government and maybe, for a time, Egypt will return to the sort of status it enjoyed in the days of the Pharaohs.
This revolution has not been religious, it has not been armed, it has been conducted by the ordinary people of a great nation. They have beaten the corrupt security forces, giving their lives to do so, and they have frightened their "glorious leader" out of Cairo. Go and look at the butchery of the first few days, and then the co-ordinated peace of the last two weeks.
Yes, historically, popular revolts have deteriorated, eventually, into some sort of fascist/communist/totalitarian regime, but in a day and age where we can organise ourselves with a few clicks of a mouse and discover exactly what our governments are doing to us, one has to ask if a similarly oppressive government with a different political agenda can even get themselves into power.
The rest of the world needs to shut up and stop telling each other what's best for their own agendas, and start helping the Egyptian PEOPLE - even the really, really annoying taxi drivers in Sharm!
I might be naive saying this, but this is a great day for Egypt - I hope it continues to be so.
Right now I am going to celebrate the fact that Mubarak has gone, and in a couple of months my friend and I will be re-united, guiding dives and teaching new divers in one of the most spectacular destinations on the planet.
Yalla Misr!
Crowley