A Revolution in Egypt, then we take Berlin?

Following the civil disobedience in Tunisia, the old American ally Egypt is about to fall. So far 8 people have been killed in demonstrations, more than 800 are imprisoned, an air plane is waiting to take Egypt’s dictator Mubarak and his unpopular son and successor out of the country. Some reports tell us that the police may be giving up soon, but the previous unrest in Iran shows us that patience is the only weapon that can take down the dictators.

Then Anonymous starts Operation Egypt: Operation Egypt press release.

According to Slashdot this morning, Egyptian authorities shut off all Internet access, leaving only HAM radio operators and direct satellite communication still standing. Al Jazeera’s posting video feeds, showing us terrible images like these.

This is what "history" looks like. We should stop teaching war and violence in our history classes, and begin to teach peace in its place. Intellectually, it is easy to say that these revolutions happen because a country needs a good cleaning out, or that it would have happened long before in this particular case, had it not been for American interests, and so on. It’s a utilitarian argument, and it cannot embrace the loss of eight human lives.

And I did read about the French Revolution. Do you know what I learned? Blood don’t wash away easily. The radicals of the French Revolution paved the way for Napoleon. If this is a successful revolution, it will take a century before you reach societal equilibrium. In the meantime, fascism spreads in Eastern-Europe and big brother society is the new norm in the USA and the UK. What kind of world will the children of Africa’s new democracy live to see and build upon?

It’s just a matter of time before police start rounding up political dissidents on opaque grounds, such as being a member of the "Anonymous terrorist group". Here, in our own back yards. But who is Anonymous? Or rather: Who is Not Anonymous? Given that Anonymous purports to be the stateless protector of the Human Rights charter, only dictators would be against it. A headless NGO. Sounds like a double-edged sword to me. We need transparency too in times of trouble, not just civil disobedience. Or the wars will never end.