This is a crucial moment for the success of the Arab Spring

Today's trial of President Mubarak represents the most dramatic point in the progress of the Arab Spring and the people's rejection of authoritarian rulers.

The revolts have usually been portrayed as uprisings against oppressive regimes. A more historically accurate reading would see it as tens of millions of Arabs, especially the youth, rejecting the failures they inherited and attempting to forge new futures for themselves and their societies.

Mubarak is accused of ordering the use of violence against demonstrators and embezzlement of public funds.

However, the main charge that wide segments of Egyptians accuse him of transcends the criminal to the political and strategic.

During his 30-year reign, Egyptian political life descended into shocking levels of lethargy and coercion, the society regressed, and the country lost its pre-eminent leadership role in the Arab world.

The dilution of Egypt's traditionally progressive role across the Middle East weakened Arab liberalism and Arab nationalism, and left the regional landscape open for radicalism and rejectionist socio-political narratives.

Regardless of the outcome of Mubarak's trial, today will prove to be a watershed moment in the history of Egypt and the Arab world.

Not only is he the first Arab head of state to face such a moment of reckoning; more importantly, the trial will be a cathartic process through which Egypt's society confronts the many ills that have afflicted it for decades.

It's a healthy step towards resuscitating Egypt. Moreover, the future of the country is
the litmus test of the Arab Spring.

Tarek Osman is the author of Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak (Yale University Press, 2010)