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Public protests in Egypt, directed at Hosni Mubarak against bad governance and corruption, is eliciting responses not only from the octogenarian leader, who promised to step down after elections in September, but also from various governments the world over. Globalisation seems to be actively at work.

Former Minister arrested in India on allegations of corruption

The protests in Tunisia and Egypt are having reverberations across the globe. On Wednesday, the Central Government in India finally allowed one of its former Ministers, A. Raja, belonging to the ruling coalition, to be arrested by its agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, on charges of corruption. Along with Raja, the bureaucrats who served along with them were also arrested, including one who had already retired. All of them have been accused of indulging in major irregularities by the Auditor General while allocating the telecom spectrums to private companies, and inaction on part of Government was adding fuel to public discontent arising from inflation and slowing economy.

Governments shiver around the globe as protests grow louder in Egypt

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Ever since the protests in Tunisia lead to the exile of its despotic President, Ben Ali, the Governments all over the world have been wary of the power of public outcry and direct action. The contagion has already grown and affected Egypt in a matter of weeks. There are many other countries, where the public opinions seem to be ripe for a similar chain of events. In many developing countries, public awareness and increasing discontent with inefficient governance has already been getting manifested in different manners. People today are less tolerant of misuse of public authority than they were a generation back. Better incomes, information revolution and greater connectivity can be credited for this turnaround.

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Western governments first to change their stance

The Governments have already begin to react in their own ways to the crisis in Tunisia and Egypt. The first turnaround has been that of the Western governments. The Western alliance has followed the policy of staunchly supporting most undemocratic rulers throughout the Middle East during the last several decades, in spite of providing lip service in favour of democracy. With the recent international events escalating the prospects of being openly castigated by the global civil society for their double standards seem to have made all of them dissociate with Hosni Mubarak. President Obama has aired his support for public outcry against Mubarak, and other Governments seemed to be following suit, in spite of their three decade long alliance.

Middle East despot rulers trying to save their skin

Reactions are also evident in many Middle East countries. The Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, another close ally of the United States, went on air on Wednesday stating that he would not try to seek any extension of his tenure as President after 2013. If that actually happens, it will mark end to another veteran ruler – Abdullah Saleh has been the ruler for nearly three decades now. In Jordan, King Abdullah has already replaced the Prime Minister after protests began to break out there.

China brings down censorship – search engines blocked

Meanwhile, another country which is getting very wary of the contagion of public protests is China, where the one party Government has placed a Censor and is closely filtering all news related to these events. In all major search engines on the internet in China, nothing is available for the term ‘Egypt’ – a result of general ban on searches related with Egypt. If the protests in Egypt can create concerns for the most authoritarian Government of the largest country with biggest rate of economic growth, then one message is clear – no government can afford to feel immune.

A new face of globalisation

In one way, these events reflect a new and positive phase of globalisation.  In another, they are signals of a new era that may just be beginning to unfold – an era, where people of different nationalities draw strength from each other to face the tyrannical authorities that try to suppress them. Whether such reactions will grow on to take a form of global civil consciousness or not is something that only the future will tell.

The early signs, though, are clearly very encouraging.