Revolution by television. Today marks the end of eighteen days of public demonstrations in Egypt, culminating in the removal of President Hosni Mubarak from office.
Mubarak began his term in 1981, after the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Mubarak served his tenure without ever releasing Egypt from a strict Emergency Law. Among other things, this Law increased the powers of the Egyptian Army, allowed the police to imprison people without trials in a court of law, legalized censorship, and circumvented rules governing financial security.
Canada also flirted with martial law in a War Measures Act during the FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) Crisis in October of 1970. Imagine, then, what Canada would be like if that Act had not been repealed until now.
Should we worry about the fate of Mr. Mubarak? Even by most contemporary standards of self-serving politicians, Mubarak would be considered a superstar. Conservatively, he is valued at $20 billion, with the top estimate of his estate reaching $70 billion. According the the British newspaper The Guardian, the Mubarak clan should be worth $40 billion. Bill Gates, by comparison, is said to be worth $53 billion. At least we can choose not to buy Microsoft products; it's not so easy for the Egyptian people of the last 30 years or so.
And what of the Army that Mubarak has left behind? Certainly Hosni Mubarek will have supporters inside the Egyptian armed forces. Even a mere billion dollars will buy a lot of loyalty. But beyond that, the Army is heavily equipped with American guns, presenting a tricky situation for President Obama. Will Egypt continue to accept American foreign aid or foreign arms?
The image I have created is "take two" of Mr. Mubarek as a gilded pharoah. My first attempt is in JSVB Post #298 (please click here to see it). I decided to make a more detailed rendering to set up a cleaner image. I figure that today is as good a time as any to post this second try.
Today's image is a composition of a file photo of Mr. Mubarak and a file photo of Tutankhamun's iconic death mask. The gilding involved some work in Photoshop and some rotoscoping in Painter. I just scrubbed in a lot of the artwork, rather than trying to paint the whole thing by hand.
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