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Hosni Mubarak’s unexpected departure after 30 years in power shocked the world and left protesters in Egypt jubilant. As events unfolded right as we went live on air last Friday, we heard the chants of hundreds of thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir Square, “We are Free, Egypt is Free.” The Supreme Military Council under Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi took charge of the country and has been busy issuing communiques to the public. Having met two key demands of the protesters: to suspend the constitution and dissolve the Parliament, the Army has the tentative and temporary trust of the people. Wael Ghonim, the Google Executive and one of the more prominent young Egyptians involved in the protests met yesterday with members of the military council and is satisfied with their announcement that there will be a referendum on a revised constitution in two months and elections in six months. Meanwhile the army has been busy clearing the central grounds of protest: Tahrir Square in Cairo, sometimes forcing out protesters who want to remain. The labor strikes that began late in the 18-day uprising have continued and are now gaining momentum but the Egyptian military has criticized them.

What unfolds in the next few months is just as important as what has been achieved in the past three weeks. The revolution in Tunisia that resulted in the overthrowing of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on January 14th may provide some direction. But post-revolution Tunisia has revealed the difficult task of rebuilding a democracy, with its security last week disintegrating into a state of chaos. Tunisia’s interim government has called on the military to secure the country and take immediate steps to prevent a general breakdown of law and order. Since President Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in mid-January, the country has been plagued by occasional flare-ups of violence and a battered economy on its path to stability. Last Tuesday, Farhat Rajhi, the new interior minister, stated that some members of the Tunisian armed forces are conspiring to undermine state security after gangs of youths terrorized students in the capital and destroyed government buildings in the town of Gassrine. And on Thursday, Tunisian officials arrested an armed group linked to the ousted president.

GUESTS: Nubar Hovsepian, teaches political science at Chapman University, his latest article is called “The Arab Pro-Democracy Movement: Struggles to Redefine Citizenship” published in the new journal Jadaliyya, Radia Daoussi, president of the Vineeta Foundation