Gloss over the momentous falls of walls, toppling of statues and a few grisly wars to the present and you find a similar fire raging just East of the Atlantic...what started by the self immolation of a fruit seller has gripped asbestos nations in its contagion....gone are the rock songs the free sex and psychedelics, gone are the celebrities and the rush to milk the phenomenon....and gone are the days of Flower Power....what remains are the long lip-serviced ideas of Liberty-Equality-Fraternity, what remains is a deep rooted anger frustration and cynicism for The Man..what remains are chants, social network activity, sarcasm and general vitriol aimed at The Man...what remains is a leaderless mob that is not afraid of shedding blood of its own as well as the enemy...what remains is a beast in a fragile, weary cage...
At the risk of being labelled Naive, what has instilled a sense of Optimism in the recent developments of the Arab Spring is the absolute leaderless protest of its people. Their is no "Leader of the Opposition" for the establishment to talk to, to Bribe, to Entice or to Coerce...the Angry Mob is as individualistic in the same way that they are in the social network sphere..Each profile disseminating its own idea but creating a social network which more and more people are free to join. The Objectives are pretty clear, the means engaged are improvised and the determination resolute as ever....but with only one difference: if "the beasts of England" are able to chase out the Farmer, it is pretty clear that even Napoleon and his ilk will not have their say for a long time if they keep doing their shenanigans
In less Animal Farm terms :- Even if in Egypt and Tunisia and the other states where the overthrow and the process of democratization gets underway & western fears of a hardline Islamist government taking charge becomes a reality, one should be rest assured that the hardliners would probably fail and be deposed in a similar manner by a big angry mob if they fail to serve the mandate of the people....as now the powers that be are face to face with the people..because the Big Angry mob is leaderless...they are driven by hunger of their bellies, knowledge of their intellect and the countless binary signals emitting out of wall sockets and towers..the nervous geek, the blue collared construction worker & the kindergarten teacher has teamed up..no mullah or ummah or priest or pontiff can fool them....demands of roti, kapda and makaan is followed by bandwidth and good governance.
As the winds of Inquilab move over the Maghreb, it blows north, it blows east, no Himalayas, Urals or Alps to check it.....Discontent and Disgruntlement is rife...and it does not have a face...
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