we are not beggars nor thieves

"Egyptians are sick and tired of being corrupted, and when you live on 300 pounds a month [about $51], you have one of two options, you either become a beggar or a thief," said Ghada Shabandar, a longtime human-rights activist. "The people sent a message: 'We are not beggars, and we do not want to become thieves.' "

Elections are rigged. Corruption is rampant. Life gets more difficult for the masses, as the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer. That is Mubarak's Egypt, where about half the population lives on $2 a day or less, and walled compounds with green lawns and swimming pools and names like Swan Lake spring up outside cities. It is a place where those with money have built a parallel world of private schools and exclusive clubs, leaving the rundown cities to the poor.

"The whole system is seen as being his fault," said Anne Mariel Peters, an assistant professor at Wesleyan University, who follows events in Egypt.