After a week of protests, Egypt's President Mubarak seems to have got the message, and has announced he will not run for re-election in September. Its a small victory for the protestors, but at the same time, its not enough. They want him gone now. They want corruption and dictatorship to end now. Not in seven months' time.
Allowing Mubarak to go quietly in September means he has seven months to beat and torture and terrorise those who spoke out against him - and seven months to fix the elections to ensure the "election" of his chosen successor and the perpetuation of his entire rotten system. And that is precisely what the protestors want to stop. So, the protests are likely to go on. And with the army refusing to murder its own citizens, its only a matter of time before Mubarak is toppled.
Meanwhile, the protests have caused change - in Jordan. In an effort to pre-empt a similar movement there, the country's absolute monarch (again a good friend of the US; they do love their dictators) has sacked his Prime Minister and appointed a new one to carry out "reform". It may work. But I hope it doesn't. Tunisia and Egypt have shown that change is possible - that if people stand up and scream loudly enough, they can topple their hated dictators and claim back power and rights for themselves. And that needs to happen all over the Arab world (and in lots of other places besides).
