Fear of Government Completely Shattered for Egyptians As Protests Continue

For the past twenty fours, many in the world have had the privilege of viewing the uprising through a live stream on Al Jazeera's website. The stream has made it possible for anyone interested in the Egyptian uprising to get a sense of what the people are feeling and what they are demanding and why they are so angry with their government.

At 10:15 AM, the live stream continues to broadcast images of revolution. Egypt is seven hours ahead. The streets in the major cities of Alexandria, Cairo and Suez continue to be filled with tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Egyptians.

Correspondents with Al Jazeera have noted the economic poverty and suppression Egyptians experienced has driven them to this moment. And, more importantly, fear of government Egyptians used to feel has fallen away completely because of the overwhelming amount of people who are defying government orders. Peasants and farmers are making their demands visible.

One correspondent made clear that what he had seen being written, chanted, shouted, etc have been slogans or statements he never would have imagined Egyptians would feel emboldened to express openly. Prior to now, the amount of freedom of expression had been limited preventing dissident voices largely from exercising freedom of speech.

Voter apathy in prior elections has been high. Egyptians have not felt like they have ownership in the processes of government. They are now making demands visible, demands which stem from private problems that Egyptians traditionally would have tried to deal with privately among family or friends without taking to the streets and mobilizing behind demands for their president to step down.

The Egyptian military, a conscript army, has been overwhelmed. The protesters have moved many military members who are deployed at the street level.

Reports have been shared on Al Jazeera of military members being overtaken by protesters--disarmed and even sometimes stripped of clothing and told to walk away.

Individuals within the military are reporting the tanks are not armed with shells. They have small munitions for crowd control, for the dispersal of protesters.

But, the protesters understand they must win the military over if they are going to topple Mubarak and they are giving flowers and blessings to soldiers. The protesters are being allowed to climb on tanks and take pictures with members of the military. They are getting indications from the military that there are many members who do not want to shoot on protesters. And, as the sun sets in Cairo at 10 AM ET, even though Egypt has been under curfew for one hour, the military is taking little action to get protesters off the streets.

In terms of the U.S. response, Robert Malley, a former U.S. presidential advisor to Bill Clinton, appeared on Al Jazeera and summed up the prime dilemma for the U.S.: American leaders cannot get past the implications that this will have on power politics.