The protesters made full use of social networks Twitter, Facebook and the media. Nothing could better illustrate the maxim that knowledge is power, but now this power has worked its way down to the grassroots whose activists are able to make the news themselves while simultaneously reporting it to the rest of the world, engaging in consciousness raising and effective public relations.

The crowd of protesters functioned as an organism for carrying out all the necessary tasks of revolution.The people thus empowered have become a new kind of force acting in political affairs and ought to change many calculations and to some extent fears about Egypt’s future. The masses have come of age and can now look after themselves much better than before and with less fear of their being manipulated or fobbed off.

What this means for the future is that the people can now break the logjams of repression and inertia to build a free society much more quickly and effectively than before. This, of course, is necessary in Egypt because Mubarak’s removal is only a first step on the road to democracy and many major hurdles remain ahead. The modern empowered masses seem to be increasingly aware of the dangers and able to intervene to make sure that the drive to democracy is not hijacked along the way. The fact that the revolution took place in the way that it did is now likely to make it more difficult for the country’s would-be tyrants and extremists to seize power. Fears that this could happen are to be taken seriously but are, to some degree, based on what conditions were like in the old rather than the new Egypt.

Unity of the protesters was another factor responsible for their empowerment and was created in part through the open attitude of the crowd which meant that old prejudices did not prevent cooperation in Tahrir Square and other parts of the country. Christians and other minorities stood beside Muslims to bring down the dictator. This is not likely to be forgotten and will make it harder for intolerance to make gains in the future.Today’s empowered people can ill afford the luxury of religious bigotry if they wish to be successful in building democracy, and it is likely they know it.

There are, of course, no guarantees about the future. Unity around the people’s demands will have to be maintained and divisions may emerge about what democracy means and how to build it. The way ahead may come about only through trial and error, but the people have taken a giant leap forward, have shaken off some of their chains and are unlikely to want to take on new ones.

People power is a tool which so far appears to work best in opposition to authoritarianism. It may not be as well suited, at least in its present form, for dealing with the nuances of party politics but the organism of people power which is raising awareness at an incredible rate through discussion and contact with the outside world can now also contribute to its metamorphosis into a new stage, liberation politics through the political process, and conditions now appear to be ripe for it. The greatest dangers may lie in party politics in the months ahead. Under the guise of democracy, interests may try to extend undemocratic ways and these tendencies may not come to light for a long time. There are clearly urgent tasks ahead.

At the moment the Muslim Brotherhood have the strongest political party. While their reformist members proclaim respect for democracy, others seem to show a disregard for it. If the Brotherhood were to get elected and, in a worst case scenario, the extremists within it were to prevail many more citizens after Tahrir Square are likely to be engaged and to resist than in the past but need to be well organised and savvy to do so. Perhaps the main task is creating a democratic culture to support democratic politics. All these tasks seem daunting but the promise of Tahrir Square is that a people committed to democracy will find a way to build it.

Photo: Sierra Goddess