The Mubarak dictatorship is over! The military dictatorship lives on! The events in Tunisia and Egypt make it clear that change is coming to the Arab world. But is this change we can believe in? Unfortunately, it is increasingly evident that, although the demonstrators have won some concessions, authoritarianism remains in place.
Protesters in Martyr’s Square chanted “yesterday Egypt, today Algeria” during demonstrations in the Algerian capital Algiers on February 12. The Algerian government’s response to the protesters was reminiscent of Egypt’s ex-President Hosni Mubarak during the last five days of the 18-day protest in Cairo. Armed riot police and pro-government thugs attacked pro-democracy protesters to provoke violent clashes. The same aggressive approach to the protesters was seen again on February 19 when military-style armored police vehicles deployed throughout Algiers to prevent the protests from even forming.
In the midst of cries for freedom in the Middle East and Africa, novelist Ian McEwan claimed the Jerusalem Prize for Literature. Although I acknowledge McEwan’s accurate listing of major Israeli crimes, and admire his courage in enumerating them to such an audience, I found the speech on the whole to be intellectually, and perhaps psychologically, dishonest.
Freedom is to conservatives what a scabbard is to a swordsman: a means to protect and conceal the implement of choice.
“We have to learn to think and move in sync, without leader, without party, without manual. Swarm Intelligence Now!”
Rage is an important energy source. It fueled the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, and is powering the ongoing protests in Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain. People in the Arab world have directed their anti-government anger at corruption, economic mismanagement, and human rights abuses. There’s no shortage of things to be angry about. The regimes may control the oil. But the people have access to the renewable resource of rage.
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the peace group Code Pink and the founding director of Global Exchange. For over 20 years, she has supported human rights and social justice struggles around the world. With a delegation of nine activists, she was in Egypt during the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. Here she talks with FPIF’s Hope Kwiatkowski about the reception of Americans in Tahrir Square, the future of revolution in the region, and how the U.S. government should react.
The demonstrators in Algeria have been modest in number, but they are the first signs of deep unrest in a major oil- and natural gas-producing country in the region.
The United States is claiming diplomatic immunity for a man who’s obviously no diplomat.
While Israel is undecided about attacking Iran, its drum beating has made Iran hesitant about developing nuclear weapons.