Saudi Gazette History tells us that almost all revolutions in the world from the revolution of the slaves against the Roman Empire to the French Revolution, to the Iranian Revolution, and to those of the Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans and Yemenis have been ignited by two major factors: Poverty and injustice. People cannot decade after decade tolerate poverty and injustice. These two factors are called “preconditions”. What is needed to start a revolt is the so-called “accelerator”, which could be an internal factor or an external one. World media and the expansion of Internet activities among the younger generation are the accelerators that have played a major role in triggering Arab revolutions, which are no different from previous revolutions in history. During my visits to Cairo's Tahrir (Liberty) Square in April and on July 8, everyone I talked to and all the speeches that I listened to had one common message: No more corruption, no more social injustice. The Egyptians have been clear in these demands after suffering for decades from poverty and a lack of economic opportunities. This is obvious everywhere in Egypt. I have seen it and felt it in Tahrir, with the majority of the people there talking and even singing about it. When poverty and injustice are coupled with corruption, unemployment, illiteracy and sickness, revolution is imminent whether in Egypt or anywhere in the world. That is why many young Egyptians in Tahrir Square are demanding the trial of ex-President Hosni Mubarak and all of the ruling political and economic elite in his government. They view them as the major source of their misery and sufferings, because they were corrupt and controlled almost all sources of economic and political power. Moreover, the members of the old Egyptian government and economic elite controlled the judicial system which led to deepening injustice, which in turn led to a further deterioration of the social conditions of the majority of Egyptians. One young educated Egyptian told me: “My favorite quotation in Western literature is Shakespeare's: ‘To be or not to be that is the question'”. The young man continued by saying: “Now in the 21st century that sentence is still true, at least here in Egypt! We still do not know for sure if we will ever be.” __
