Revolution as spectator sport

"Egypt from 5,000 Miles Away", a cartoon by Domitille Collardey and Sarah Glidden, encapsulates the feelings of many of us who watched events unfold in Egypt.  We could only cheer for our team, we couldn't bat or carry the ball.

Do you remember where you were when…

...you learned that Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt.

From http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/10/live-blog-feb-11-egypt-protests

6:03pm: He's gone. He's resigned. 30 years of Mubarak rule is over. Omar Suleiman says:
President Hosni Mubarak has waived the office of president.

6:01pm: Omar Suleiman addressing nation now.

6:01 pm Cairo is 4:01 pm GMT, 9:01 am Eastern, and 10:01 am Central.

At 10:35 Central during a break in a University for Seniors French class, I took out my iPod and connected to the UMD network.  Oh, wow!  I interrupted everybody else's conversation to let them know.
The question is did Mubarak "waive the office of the president" or was he pushed out by other ministers or the army.  Do we even know if he is alive?

Either we are for freedom and democracy or we are for realpolitik

The Guardian has an interesting opinion by Slavoj Žižek, "For Egypt, this is the miracle of Tahrir Square".

It was amazing that most of the comments were ad hominem attacks rather than a critique of his thoughts.

Culture of democracy? Who blocked it?

According to Aljazeer.net, Omar Suleiman, Vice-President of Egypt said on ABC that he wanted to see democracy, "But when will we do that?  When the people here have the culture of democracy."Suleiman was quoted in an 11:34 a.m. entry at http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/10/live-blog-feb-10-egypt-protests

My question is who has been blocking the development of that culture.

That leads me to make a challenge to the protesters, show him you have democracy.  Organize at the local level, say at Tahrir Square, wherever large number of people have gathered.  Determine the offices that are needed to govern yourselves in your immediate vicinity.  You might start with a rules committee.  Be sure to have more nominations than the members on the committee.  Have everybody in the area vote on the slate.  Let the committee work a day or two.  Vote on their suggestions.  Repeat.  If this process is not real democracy, I don't know what is.

Give Democracy a Chance

After reading of the popular uprising in Tunisia, I can't help but give this entry a parallel title to my previous entry.

The chance I hope for any democracies that arise in the Arab world by popular demand is that the U. S. stays out of the way.  Almost anything the U.S. does, be it some support for the existing rulers or some support to the people is bound to backfire in one way or another.

The only thing the U. S. should do is to listen to whoever is in power, but promise nothing.

But, I'm pessimistic.  Somewhere in the vast U.S. military-intelligence complex will be those who call for intervention in our national interest.  Our only national interest is to help any U. S. citizens who want to leave countries in turmoil.