I have watched the situation unfold in Egypt with mixed nervousness and excitement over the last days. The pages of history are full of uprisings that started in the name of freedom and were smashed with the iron fist of authoritarian might, or the revolutionary movement for freedom became something equally as horrible as the government it sought to replace. I am very impressed by the restraint of the protesters. They played their strategy perfectly. All allies of freedom must wish them well in finding their way forward, as they create a new country of free people and unmake the old machine.
We have been witness to a dramatic example of self organized networks of people move the direction of a nation. What we have witnessed and the further implications will likely not be fully understood by many of older generations, or those stuck in the old paradigms. John Robb has written extensively about this strategy which has toppled the dictator of Egypt, which has been made possible with ubiquitous, cheap technology and the Internet.
Many lessons can be learned by studying the actions and organization of the protesters, and actions of the regime's resistance to change. The regime's use of agent provocateur, sudden withdrawl and redeployment of police forces, as well as tactics to deploy government looters causing protesters to go protect their homes were innovative.
The coming days and weeks will be very interesting. One cannot help but feel that a chain reaction has begun and is beginning to accelerate.
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