Finally, the Arab Spring produced its 'victory photo': the ailing, long-time president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, lying on a stretcher in a cage facing charges of murder, treason and corruption, together with his sons, Ala and Jamal, who surround his bed in an attempt to shield him from the humiliating eyes of the cameras. Those were exhilarating moments for too many in Egypt who believed that the real meaning of the revolution was to avenge the 'Pharaoh' and establish a precedent declaring that no-one was immune to justice, no matter how strong or how long he has ruled over a country.
It is too early to tell whether such a precedent will indeed emerge in Egypt. However, the scenes broadcast from the cage in Cairo project a different message. Mubarak's humiliation serves as a death certificate for the legitimacy of the 'national authority' of the regimes in the Arab world. Instead, a new kind of legitimacy has emerged, that of the 'Square' and, in the Egyptian case, the 'Tahrir Square'. These days, Tahrir Square is the real Egyptian parliament, representing the true spirit of what 'the people want'. And the real 'debate' in Tahrir Square today, which is a kind of precursor to all the other Squares across the Middle East, is whether the country will finally become 'civic' or 'Islamic'.
Only a week before the trial was launched, the Square was overtaken by the Muslim Brothers and the Salafists who united in a huge demonstration shouting "Islamiyya! Islamiyya!". The 'Revolution Youngsters' who started it all and whom President Obama so eloquently linked to Martin Luther King's legacy during his February 2011 speech at the White House, could not catch up with them in any way, leaving the 'vote' wide open in favor of Islam.
Mubarak's fading face reflects that of Field Marshall Tantawi, the head of the Egyptian military, who currently rules the country and simultaneously obeys what 'the people want' in the Square. Beyond the practical problem of what might be revealed during the trial that may embarrass the military brass, the de-legitimation of Mubarak does not end with the cage, but has spread to the entire regime and has even penetrated the 'Free Officers' revolution of the past that deposed King Faruq in 1952.
Corrupt rulers should be brought to justice. However, this should be done only once there exists a possibility of a proper trial, based on proper legitimacy, rather than on the legitimacy of the Square and the angry mob. Thus far, Egypt has avoided the bloodshed that has engulfed Syria, largely due to the personalities of the two countries' leaders. However, if Egypt's military comes to the conclusion that it cannot let the country's legitimacy transform from the revolution of the 'Free Officers' to the Islamizing Tahrir Square, bloodshed, regretfully, might well become Egypt's fate.
