{"id":34627,"date":"2011-02-19T17:30:01","date_gmt":"2011-02-19T22:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=34627"},"modified":"2011-02-20T09:22:09","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T14:22:09","slug":"a-tale-of-two-egypts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/a-tale-of-two-egypts\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Egypts"},"content":{"rendered":"

While events unfold in Wisconsin, Ohio, Bahrain and Yemen, we continue to monitor the revolutions tumbling like dominoes around the globe, with today’s emphasis on the one in Egypt. We found this diary from Daily Kos<\/strong><\/a>, originally published Feb. 13, a thought-provoking piece on the inner workings of a nation’s struggle to change, the individuals involved in making it happen, and the inevitable question faced as a successful revolution ends: What next? \u2014f.b. <\/em><\/p>\n

by Maxomai<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The cameras have, for the most part, turned away from the spectacle in Egypt. Mubarak is, of course, gone. The protests haven’t completely died down but most of them have faded away (and the ones that haven’t are being shooed away by the Army<\/a>). People are still celebrating and reporters are still savoring the chance to write “former President Mubarak” in their stories.<\/p>\n

\"Egypt<\/a>
Egyptian Revolution<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, much remains to be done. Friday was only the first, and perhaps most glorious, step in what is sure to be a painful evolution. Egypt is now under the control of a military junta that appears to have grudging respect for the revolutionaries.<\/p>\n

The revolutionaries, meanwhile, are busy cleaning up after themselves and arguing between themselves about what to do next.<\/p>\n

What will<\/em> happen next is impossible for me to guess. But, pay attention to these two people. Both of them had a lot to do with this revolution.<\/p>\n

The first is Wael Ghonim<\/a> (@Ghonim on Twitter), a Google executive and administrator of the FaceBook page of the movement. On Jan 27th he disappeared for twelve days, detained by state security forces until they could ascertain whether he and his movement were the result of foreign influence. He was released earlier last week, and his subsequent appearance on DreamTV<\/a> gave the revolution new life when it desperately needed it. By any measure, he’s a bona fide<\/em> part of the Revolution. (He’s also, btw, going to be on 60 Minutes tonight.)<\/p>\n

Since then, Mr. Ghonim has used his personal cache as a face of the Revolution to call for educated Egyptians to return and “build the New Egypt.” He has started a Google spreadsheet<\/a> where Egyptians can propose and vote on ideas for moving forward, called for people to go back to work<\/a>, has met with the junta<\/a> to develop plans for the way forward, and has their express permission<\/a> to for a campaign to raise \u00a3100B Egyptian<\/a> to build a new economy. His agenda, from what I can tell by reading his Twitter feed halfway around the world, appears to be one of cooperation, progress, boundless optimism, capitalism, and so on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The other person to pay attention to, IMO, is Hossam el-Hamalawy<\/a> (@3arabawy on Twitter). Mr. el-Hamalawy is a long-time labor and human rights activist, which in Egypt is not for the stupid or weak. He, also, was part of this revolution from the beginning, and while he’s not as famous as Mr. Ghonim at this point, he represents a large portion of the secular currents that made up the Revolution. He is deeply pessimistic about the controlling junta, and for good reason — a lot of the junta is made up of the old Generals who participated in the oppression and corruption of the Mubarak regime. He is also quick to point out Obama’s own failure<\/a> to stand against Mubarak. He advocates continuing the protests, most especially the various labor strikes taking place right now<\/a> (2<\/a>), despite the Army’s warnings about a crackdown<\/a>. He is, in fact, anticipating a general strike<\/a>. His agenda is unapologetically Marxist; his attitude can be best summed up as, “The Egyptian middle class and their Facebook buddies need to shut up and let the revolution continue.<\/a>” We should also point out that it is unapologetically pro-Palestinian. (Note: I don’t see Mr. el-Hamalawy as the leader of this movement, but he makes for a convenient public face because he is clear in his convictions and writes English.)<\/p>\n

A lot has been said by the pant-peeing right in America about their fears of an Islamic state run by the Muslim Brotherhood. Frankly, I don’t see much chance of that panning out; but I do see a conflict coming, and it’s going to be between the wired middle class that are relative newcomers to this whole revolution business, and the activists who are old hands.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I think the wired middle class is going to win the day on this. They have talent, brains, vision, energy, and I think they will soon have junta on their side. That, plus Egypt’s industrial infrastructure, location, oil reserves, and about $12.5 billion in capital if Mr. Ghonim can raise it, could turn Egypt into a major economic power in ten years. They may end up betraying a huge part of the Revolution in order to accomplish this goal, and that’s going to lead to a lot of bitter feelings in the years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While events unfold in Wisconsin, Ohio, Bahrain and Yemen, we continue to monitor the revolutions tumbling like dominoes around the globe, with today’s emphasis on the one in Egypt. We found this diary from Daily Kos, originally published Feb. 13, a thought-provoking piece on the inner workings of a nation’s struggle to change, the individuals … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}