Mubarak Resigns: The Egyptian People Have Spoken

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On Friday, February 11, against all odds and most predictions, the unthinkable happened: after more than two weeks of peaceful protests, the Egyptian people forced the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, the country's president for over 30 years (though as one tweep, @imPalestine, put it, “He did not step down, he was stepped upon”).

The announcement, made by his one-time security chief and short-lived vice president, Omar Suleiman, was unexpected, even to the CIA: iIntelligence and word from those close to Mubarak’s inner circle had said he was resigning the night before in a much-anticipated speech.

Instead he shocked his nation, and indeed the world (both the virtual and real ones) by saying, for the third time in as many speeches, he had no intention of relinquishing power (speaking to this confusion, a website was created following his true resignation with the url ismubarakstillpresident.com. The one-word answer on the blank page simply says: NO).

It wasn’t long after his resignation was tendered on his behalf that Switzerland announced its intention to freeze his family’s assets and the Egyptian military dissolved the parliament, suspending the constitution and installed a caretaker government. They also praised his service, giving him a “dignified exit," and then saluted those who gave their lives on the road to freedom. He is now said to be holed up in a mansion in Egypt’s tourist haven, Sharm El-Sheikh.

Obama, who for days has been treading on careful waters, uncertain what the outcome of the protesters tireless efforts would be, came out with a strongly worded statement in their support, saying Egyptians “had inspired us." According to the Washington Post, Obama said in a speech on Feb. 11: "Today belongs to the people of Egypt. And the entire world has taken note. We saw the power of human dignity and it can never be denied."

Reaction on social media was giddy, with no shortage of uprising-inspired jokes:

On Facebook, this little commentary which was widely shared said it all:

Uninstalling dictator ... 100% complete!! ██████████████████████████
Dictator Uninstalled!
Do you wish to Restart Your Political System?

And on Twitter:

But Ghonim, the young Google Middle East region Google executive who is credited with jumpstarting the uprising, was not all laughs. There was serious nation-re-building work to be done, and he wanted to get started right away: "Let's work on raising 100 Billion EGP from Egyptians to rebuild Egypt. Talked to one business man and he is ready to put the first 1B" he tweeted. Others added their two cents: "to raise money we could try to identify assets of the corrupted regime members and pay some of Egypt's debts" responded Seif Lotfy.

The celebrations were not limited to Cairo -- all across the Arab world, people were out on the streets, honking horns, passing out candy, crying, laughing, and waving Egyptian flags. The mood was simply euphoric.

"It's like Eid" (the Muslim holiday in which it is customary to pass out sweets), I joked with my friends, "But without 'Mubarak'"