1.27.2011

Fear Falls Flat on the Arab Streets

Tunisians showed the way last week, they turned and faced the fear mongers that had controlled them for the last 30 years. They rode the wave of emotion, they chose fight over flight, they've shown millions of young, literate, social media savvy Arabs the road to a new Damascus. The streets of Tunisia are still full of protesters demanding a total end to the US backed dictatorship. Folks in Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria and especially Egypt are too.

Today is Thursday here, tomorrow will be a historic day. Millions will leave Friday prayers tomorrow and march against the fear they've been terrorized by all these years. It's all happening so fast because of social networking. Wikileaks started the ball rolling by publishing secret documents about the closed door deals that have impoverished the many while enriching the few. First a brave few protested, then they text messaged, tweeted and facebooked their friends, then it exploded. It's a Wikileaks revolution.

Tahrir Square, in the middle of Cairo, will be the big showdown tomorrow. Egypt's dictators, America's allies, have shut down the Internet as of a few hours ago in an attempt to regain control, but Egypt's young, who are leading the protests here, as they are across the region, immediately went low-tech. They are printing and distributing leaflets throughout the country calling on the army to join them in the streets after prayers. i sure hope they do. Egypt has called in the army to crush protests before but none have been this big, none have had the widespread international support and solidarity of millions before.

Control through fear works until it doesn't then all hell breaks loose. Fear and political repression simply act as a dam to heighten the energy potential of the river of change. We are on the eve of great change in the Middle East, i can only hope it continues to roll around the globe, if it does, i'll be there in the streets of Vancouver demanding an end to our little fascists' follies, a redistribution of wealth-an end to the enrichment of the few-and the end of fear for the many. As FDR said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself".