Image via WikipediaNew York Times: Violent Clashes Mark Protests Against Mubarak’s Rule: Tens of thousands of people demanding an end to the nearly 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak filled the streets of several Egyptian cities on Tuesday, in an unusually large and sometimes violent burst of civil unrest .... Protests also flared in Alexandria, Suez, Mansura and Beni Suef. ..... the protests represented the largest display of popular dissatisfaction in recent memory, perhaps since 1977 ..... opposition to Mr. Mubarak’s rule spreads across ideological lines and includes average people angered by corruption and economic hardship as well as secular and Islamist opponents. ..... a spreading unease with Mr. Mubarak on issues from extension of an emergency law that allows arrests without charge, to his presiding over a stagnant bureaucracy that citizens say is incapable of handling even basic responsibilities. Their size seemed to represent a breakthrough for opposition groups ..... Twitter, the social networking tool that helped spread news of the protests. .... The organizers framed the protest as a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment....... Asked about their political affiliation, Ms. Khalil’s mother, Mona, said, “We’re just Egyptians.”When the Soviet Union collapsed, it collapsed like a house of cards. Something similar is going to happen across the Arab world, and the world owes it to the Arab people to not betray. This is not the time to side with Arab dictators, be they in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. The masses deserve nothing less than liberation.
I thought it might start in Iran, but started in Tunisia. But once one house collapses, the domino effect takes over. Every successive collapse gets easier. The masses will rise. The world has to not betray. People and governments across the world have to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rising masses. That is the only way to genuine peace in the Middle East. Only liberated peoples are capable of governments that are capable of peace.
