He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Tahrir.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is January 25th:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had Tahrir Square.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And the 25th of January shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in Egypt now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us in Tahrir Square.
Half the protesters are women and don't "hold their manhoods" :-) and the other half are mostly college stoners, fruit vendors and intellectual-type nerds. More Woodstock than Braveheart, imo.
The problem is that they don't actually have a braveheart type there. They don't have a leader, and they will reach no progress. Eventually the military will take power and that torture guy Suleiman will become the leading figure. He will choose a couple of opposition 'leaders' to talk to, implement some fake democracy simulation and carry on the game.
It's really nice to believe that something is going to change, but there is no reality to it. Believing in symbols of western democracy like mass demonstrations - fine. Those people need a ruthless leader and a march against the current government though. And they won't have it.
In my opinion this sort of leaderless organisation based upon rapid electronic communication is an early precursor to automated governance. Recent tax evasion protests in the UK have also drawn similar complaints about being leaderless, but as software mediated collective organisation becomes more sophisticated this may be the direction of the future.
This electronic communication thing seems to be a western myth, the protests took place throughout a week of cut down internet. It's just how we currently observe it, but that doesn't mean it's how it works on the ground.
[+] [-] mycroftiv|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mahmud|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xsltuser2010|15 years ago|reply
It's really nice to believe that something is going to change, but there is no reality to it. Believing in symbols of western democracy like mass demonstrations - fine. Those people need a ruthless leader and a march against the current government though. And they won't have it.
[+] [-] motters|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hermanthegerman|15 years ago|reply