At least from the 30-year reign of 'President' Hosni Mubarak. I've had CNN on all morning and it's beyond compelling to watch. Wolf Blitzo [sic] did an interview with Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian Google executive (married to an American) who has played such important role initiating the protests and pushing them for the last barely two weeks. The two best quotes from the interview, already flashing across the world were: "If you want to liberate a country, give them the internet" and, when Blitzer asked Ghonim if other Middle-Eastern countries would follow Egypt down the same road, Ghonim replied (based on my memory), "ask Facebook." The whole interview is here. The quotes are on fire online.
The New York Times ran an article a couple of days ago about how a small group of people, including Wael Ghonim, got this whole party started. (Their action plan is here for any Tea Party members reading this.) Most of them lean to the Left but say they want a "Western-style constitutional democracy." The article is interesting. Good quote:
"they also acknowledge deep divides, especially over the role of Islam in public life...On the question of alcohol — forbidden by Islam — he suggested that drinking was a private matter but that perhaps it should be forbidden in public...Asked if he could imagine an Egyptian president who was a Christian woman, he paused. “If it is a government of institutions,” he said, “I don’t care if the president is a monkey.”
The Economist published an article about what course the future of Egypt might and should take: whatever Egyptians believe it should be. It's quite derogatory about the West's attempt to prop up Hosni Mubarak in order to maintain stability in the region. It's interesting. Good quote:
"Egypt’s upheaval may make Westerners nervous, but when Egyptians demand freedom and self-determination, they are affirming values that the West lives by. There is no guarantee that Egypt’s revolution will turn out for the best. The only certainty is that autocracy leads to upheaval, and the best guarantor of stability is democracy.
The Middle-Eastern population is very young:
Middle-Eastern youth learned today that they hold some level of power to direct their own futures, even under oppressive governments. That can't be a bad thing. Let's hope that all the protesters...
will play a part in their future.
It's worth watching this video again. Listen to what the man says (at the 49 second mark) about why he is in Tahrir Square ~ twice. Gives me some hope.
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