And so it continues.
Could it be that over the last three weeks, all of us have had a front row seat to the wiki-fication of political power on a global scale?
Whether they go by the title king, pharaoh, czar, or emperor; history has been one long string of brutal dictators who arrogate themselves to a position of power over the people. Sadly, the twentieth-century has been no exception.
But then . . . then in Tunisia, a lone protestor -Mohamed Bouazizi- set himself on fire and a revolution is ignited. Before a fortnight had passed, Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine is out of power.
And then Egypt happens. After thirty years of maintaining an iron grip on Egypt, Hosni Mubarak tumbles.
As we learned from The Wall coming down in Berlin in 1989, this is how change comes about. Stasis. Stasis. Stasis. And then . . . BOOM. Things hit a tipping point, the stars align, and sweeping, cataclysmic change happens.
Now the possibility of a post-dictator world has gone viral.
Don’t misunderstand; it could all go horrible wrong. When the dust settles, the Muslim Brotherhood could co-op the revolution and Egypt could go from bad to worse. Libya could be the new Afghanistan before this is all done.
But dare we hope that these unprecedented events will be Tiananmen Square with a happy ending? Could this be The Berlin Wall times ten? Hope springs eternal.
I think that we are all witnessing something new. History is filled with would-be leaders in search of a following; but now we are seeing not one -but a dozen simultaneous, popular movements which are essentially leaderless.
Unprecedented.
How very totally wiki.
-Jack
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