Revolution in the Arab World - Observation of a lost soul Blog

foreign policy • revolution in the arab world • revolution makers
suggested that they carry signs reading “Police and People Together Against
the Regime.”
The protests were a model of unity, tolerance, and nonviolent discipline.
The different groups put aside their individual flags and symbols to show
only the Egyptian flag and to speak, as much as possible, with one voice.
Protesters swept the square clean and protected shops, detaining looters
and making them give back the stolen goods. Coptic Christians in Tahrir
Square formed ranks to protect the Muslims while they prayed; when the
Christians celebrated Mass, the Muslims formed a ring around them. Together
they embraced soldiers and faced the police with roses. They sang
songs and wore silly hats. It had an authenticity that was uniquely Egyptian,
but it was also textbook CANVAS.
CANVAS has worked with dissidents from almost every country in
the Middle East; the region contains one of CANVAS’s biggest successes,
Lebanon, and one of its most disappointing failures, Iran. Popovic wonders
whether Iran could turn out differently next time: What would happen if
the Green Movement were to organize not around election fraud, but staged
a Salt March instead, focusing on unemployment, low wages, and corruption
Iran is like Tunisia and Egypt were: a young, relatively well-educated
population and a corrupt authoritarian government dependent on fear to
keep people in line. “Governments that rely for decades on fear become very
inflexible,” said Popovic. “The pillars of the regime support it out of fear. The
moment the fear factor disappears and people are fearless with the police
and hugging the military, you have lost your main pillars.” Hosni Mubarak
no doubt would have ruefully observed the same thing.
In Burma, it is hard to imagine what can vanquish that fear—what can
turn people from passive victims into daring heroes—unless people like
Pink Shirt do it themselves. In the Middle East, however, the fear is already
crumbling, and the heroism is infecting country after country. This is a huge
advantage. But for dictatorship to fall throughout the region, the protesters
must catch more from Egypt than audacity.
Tina Rosenberg is the author of the forthcoming Join the Club: How Peer Pressure
Can Transform the World, from which parts of this article are adapted.
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