TUNISIA. EGYPT. NOW LIBYA AND BAHRAIN. IT SEEMS LIKE 1986 WHEN PEOPLE POWER SWEPT AWAY THE REGIME OF FERDINAND MARCOS IN PHILIPPINES AND BROUGHT CORAZON AQUINO TO POWER. OR 1989 WHEN SPONTANEOUS UPRISINGS THREW AWAY THE COMMUNIST REGIMES IN MANY EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. IT IS AS IF SUDDENLY THE ARAB WORLD IS HAVING ITS MOMENT OF EPIPHANY AND SEEING WHAT HAS BEEN FED TO THEM BY THEIR DICTATORIAL RULERS FOR THE NONSENSE IT IS.
THE REPRESSION – JUNE 1989
THE TUMULTUOUS EVENTS IN MIDDLE EAST CAN BE UTTERLY HEART-WARMING IF YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THOSE ENAMORED WITH RUTHLESS STRONGMEN. ON THE OTHER HAND, THEY MUST BE CHILLING FOR THOSE STILL WANTING TO RUN THEIR COUNTRIES WITH NO RESPECT FOR THE WISH OF THEIR PEOPLE. ONE CAN BE SURE THE RULING FAMILY IN SAUDI ARABIA, THE JUNTA IN MYANMAR, AND THE KIMS OF NORTH KOREA ARE SLEEPING UNEASY AT THIS MOMENT. BUT NOWHERE MUST THE EVENTS BE CREATING GREATER UNEASE THAN IN CHINA, THE BIGGEST SURVIVING DICTATORSHIP OF OUR TIMES. ITS SILENCE ON DEVELOPMENTS IN EGYPT WAS DEAFENING.
JUNE 2ND – MILITARY VEHICLE KILLS THREE BICYCLISTS
INJURED CIVILIAN
ALREADY THERE HAVE BEEN RIPPLES OF A “JASMINE REVOLUTION” APPEARING IN BEIJING. WHETHER IT WAS REAL OR ENGINEERED BY THE REGIME ITSELF TO SEND OUT A MESSAGE TO POTENTIAL TROUBLEMAKERS, THE FACT THAT IT HAPPENED AT ALL INDICATES WINDS OF CHANGE HAVE REACHED CHINA. AS CHINA GROWS INTO POTENTIALLY THE WORLD’S BIGGEST ECONOMY, ITS POSITION AS A NATION RUN BY ONE-PARTY WITH CLOSE TO 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE DEVOID OF ORDINARY POLITICAL RIGHTS IS INCREASINGLY AN ODDITY.
PLA SOLDIERS BEATING UP PEDESTRIANS -
CHINA HAS EMBRACED CHANGE AS FAR AS ECONOMY AND TECHNOLOGY ARE CONCERNED. INDEED, THESE FACTORS HAVE DRIVEN ITS MIRACULOUS RISE AS AN ECONOMIC POWER. THEY WILL FORCE THE DESIRE FOR POLITICAL CHANGE TOO. THE LAST TIME SUCH A DESIRE WAS FORCEFULLY EXPRESSED AND RUTHLESSLY CRUSHED WAS IN 1989. AT THAT TIME, FAX AND PHONE LINES GOT THE WORD OF TIANANMEN SQUARE UNREST AND MASSACRE OUT TO THE WIDER WORLD. COMPARED TO TODAY’S COMMUNICATION CAPABILITY, IT WAS PRIMITIVE. YET, IT ENSURED THAT NEITHER THE UPRISING NOR ITS SUPPRESSION COULD BE SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET
BURNT BODY OF A VICTIM
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TODAY’S WORLD IS FAR DIFFERENT. VIRTUALLY EVERY POCKET TODAY HAS A CAMERA AND A PHONE CONNECTION THAT NOT ONLY CAN GET THE WORD OF EVENTS OUT BUT ALSO PICTURES AND SOUNDS. THEN THERE IS FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE WHOSE POWER TO SUBVERT AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES IS ONLY JUST BEING DISCOVERED. WITHIN SPACE OF A MONTH, THEY HAVE GONE ON FROM BEING A TEEN DISTRACTION TO TOOLS THAT CAN UNLEASH TIDAL WAVES OF CHANGE. OF COURSE, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR CHINA TO SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET AND CELL PHONE NETWORKS AS EGYPT DID. BUT THERE ARE GOOD REASONS WHY THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS WOULD BE VERY SCARED TO DO SO.READMORE When China the Biggest Surviving Dictatorship Government doesn’t Help, but Harms it’s CITIZENS
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