A Very Fine Thing: The Egyptian Revolution

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/gary-leupp/33981/a-very-fine-thing-the-egyptian-revolution

I'm watching live coverage of the Egyptian revolution on Al-Jazeera TV. Cairo is swarming with hundreds of thousands, defying the curfew, hurling stones at the police. The images recall the Palestinian youth waging their Intifadas. The National Democratic Party headquarters is in flames. Downtown Suez has been taken over by the people, two police stations torched. The security forces are out in strength and shooting into crowds. But the people have lost their fear.

Reporters and commentators on Al-Jazeera and other channels have no choice but to note that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is widely hated, and that those in the street are seeking freedom from a dictatorship. But they also keep saying "The situation is getting worse."

Worse?

I think of Mao Zedong's response to critics of peasant rebellion in China in 1927. He noted that "even progressive people" saw uprisings as "terrible." "But it's not terrible," he declared. "It is anything but 'terrible.' It's fine!"

More at the link --