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Mubarak steps down

The roar of jubilation from Tahrir Square is flooding the world as Hosni Mubarak announces he is stepping down. One of the grandest of non-violent revolutions is playing out before our eyes. An uprising, with its origins in the April 6 Movement, a clandestine org tutored in non-violent tactics by Otpor (the group that overthrew the Milosevic dictatorship) turned into a mass historic force.

The young people who overcame the psychological burdens of dictatorship, built their tent city, shared food, overcame their religious differences and held the square despite vicious attacks by pro-Mubarak forces, who refused to be terrorized, bought off or distracted by the regime’s attempt to appease have scored a mindblowing coup for democracy and justice.

What will happen after? There is now a stream of reports of disappearances and torture. Nothing predictable about revolutions – they shake up the innards of a society and turn up the beauty along with the ugliness. Commentators worry about the tenacity of the old order and whether military rule will truly be temporary awaiting a transition to parliamentary rule, or whether we’re witnessing an opportunistic coup.

There is much to be said – but this moment belongs to the folks in the square and all they taught us aboutbravery, tolerance, tenacity – and above all, what it is to hope when all is dark.

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