It is very disheartening. But the Iranian Revolution did succeed, no matter how it has been framed by the West (nor how Khomeini was used by Reagan/Bush to make sure Carter had no chance of a second term, unfortunately). They used the mosque to win that Revolution. It was against the law for 3 people or more to gather at the time. Khomeini's people smuggled in cassette tapes that were played in the mosques. There's more political background re mosque vs. bazaar (business) class that's specifically Iranian and goes back to Reza Shah. But it can be done. The "Arab Spring" was too easy in Egypt. You have to kick the Americans out entirely. Even though there are well-meaning Americans, you have to get rid of all of them. You have to take back your country.
This is not to denigrate what ordinary Egyptian citizens accomplished. The CIA has grown into a hydra that no branch of the U.S. government oversees, monitors, controls, etc. And the billionaire class allows this to happen. Economic inequality is a threat to everyone--not just the poor and not just the billionaires. It is inevitable that we have social and political unrest. The CIA is in social media. I'm sure they're monitoring this conversation. Zippity doo da.
Israel has way too much power in the U.S. government. It's not all-knowing, all-powerful. It has lost a lot of support in the U.S., which I think is a miracle. If that can happen, anything is possible. It is now showing its hand and the general population in the U.S. is repulsed by what they're seeing. Israelis aren't reproducing their population so their days are numbered. Either they change or they die out. They say they are 9 million. They're actually around 6.8 million. People are leaving that country every day, for good.
The CIA cannot accomplish anything without bodies. They are very big on psychological manipulation.
Don't despair. Each generation moves forward a little bit on the efforts of their parents and grandparents. Look at what Egypt managed to do to the British Empire in 1956! Amazing. The U.S. is fighting to survive. The ruling class doesn't want everyone to know how close it is to imploding financially. That's what its hostility towards Russia and China is about; it's what its hostility to Iran and Iraq and Venezuela was about. When the US dollar is no longer the reserve currency, we're going to see the emperor is butt naked. The dollar will lose most of its value and Americans are going to have to learn how to work for a living. Forget Starbucks. And forget the 900 bases in foreign countries. They're trying to pass another bill with huge amounts of funding for the military. I'm sure a lot of hidden funding is in that bill which will go to the CIA.
You cannot undo history. Egyptian culture has changed. Have faith in the future.
Thanks for your very thoughtful, insightful and balanced reply. Your last words are what sustains me in fact. And I think on some level Egyptians realize they were duped, but that people power can actually be a thing that works; they have to work differently.
Are you old enough to have been alive when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait over their theft of Iraqi oil? The American public was split on the issue of attacking Iraq. So President Bush (Sr.) hired a PR firm (I think it was Hill Knowlton) to make up a story about Iraqi soldiers throwing babies in their incubators out of hospital windows. The "eye witness" was the teenage daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador who lived in D.C. (and was not honestly identified). Americans do not acknowledge their racism against Middle Easterners. They would be far more skeptical if the same thing was said about American soldiers. Bottom line, I tell people if they cannot imagine themselves doing the same thing that is being attributed to a group they don't know much about, it's probably a lie. Even Amnesty International bought the incubator story. I haven't given them a penny since.
Don't take it personally. look at what happened to the enormous change the Baby Boomers effected in the 60's and 70's in the West. By the 1980's Reagan was installed as President and all those changes were turned into commodities by corporations. Same thing has happened to the ecological movement. Now electric cars are the "answer"? I think not. Global warming is primarily a problem of American "culture" of over-consumption and rabid exploitation of natural resources. What is their solution? Create technological answers that pollute the earth even more. It's a pathological culture but most Americans are not willing to go there. Nature, or reality, has a way of taking care of things. Egyptians need to focus on becoming as self-sufficient as possible, to rely as little as possible on Western powers. I know Egypt, like most Middle Eastern countries, has many religions and sects, but I do think the core Islamic values of brother- and sisterhood are what we need for the future. Unfortunately, sibling rivalry is part of our nature. People power does work but the people need to educate each other and refuse top-down solutions.
It is very disheartening. But the Iranian Revolution did succeed, no matter how it has been framed by the West (nor how Khomeini was used by Reagan/Bush to make sure Carter had no chance of a second term, unfortunately). They used the mosque to win that Revolution. It was against the law for 3 people or more to gather at the time. Khomeini's people smuggled in cassette tapes that were played in the mosques. There's more political background re mosque vs. bazaar (business) class that's specifically Iranian and goes back to Reza Shah. But it can be done. The "Arab Spring" was too easy in Egypt. You have to kick the Americans out entirely. Even though there are well-meaning Americans, you have to get rid of all of them. You have to take back your country.
This is not to denigrate what ordinary Egyptian citizens accomplished. The CIA has grown into a hydra that no branch of the U.S. government oversees, monitors, controls, etc. And the billionaire class allows this to happen. Economic inequality is a threat to everyone--not just the poor and not just the billionaires. It is inevitable that we have social and political unrest. The CIA is in social media. I'm sure they're monitoring this conversation. Zippity doo da.
Israel has way too much power in the U.S. government. It's not all-knowing, all-powerful. It has lost a lot of support in the U.S., which I think is a miracle. If that can happen, anything is possible. It is now showing its hand and the general population in the U.S. is repulsed by what they're seeing. Israelis aren't reproducing their population so their days are numbered. Either they change or they die out. They say they are 9 million. They're actually around 6.8 million. People are leaving that country every day, for good.
The CIA cannot accomplish anything without bodies. They are very big on psychological manipulation.
Don't despair. Each generation moves forward a little bit on the efforts of their parents and grandparents. Look at what Egypt managed to do to the British Empire in 1956! Amazing. The U.S. is fighting to survive. The ruling class doesn't want everyone to know how close it is to imploding financially. That's what its hostility towards Russia and China is about; it's what its hostility to Iran and Iraq and Venezuela was about. When the US dollar is no longer the reserve currency, we're going to see the emperor is butt naked. The dollar will lose most of its value and Americans are going to have to learn how to work for a living. Forget Starbucks. And forget the 900 bases in foreign countries. They're trying to pass another bill with huge amounts of funding for the military. I'm sure a lot of hidden funding is in that bill which will go to the CIA.
You cannot undo history. Egyptian culture has changed. Have faith in the future.
Thanks for your very thoughtful, insightful and balanced reply. Your last words are what sustains me in fact. And I think on some level Egyptians realize they were duped, but that people power can actually be a thing that works; they have to work differently.
Are you old enough to have been alive when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait over their theft of Iraqi oil? The American public was split on the issue of attacking Iraq. So President Bush (Sr.) hired a PR firm (I think it was Hill Knowlton) to make up a story about Iraqi soldiers throwing babies in their incubators out of hospital windows. The "eye witness" was the teenage daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador who lived in D.C. (and was not honestly identified). Americans do not acknowledge their racism against Middle Easterners. They would be far more skeptical if the same thing was said about American soldiers. Bottom line, I tell people if they cannot imagine themselves doing the same thing that is being attributed to a group they don't know much about, it's probably a lie. Even Amnesty International bought the incubator story. I haven't given them a penny since.
Don't take it personally. look at what happened to the enormous change the Baby Boomers effected in the 60's and 70's in the West. By the 1980's Reagan was installed as President and all those changes were turned into commodities by corporations. Same thing has happened to the ecological movement. Now electric cars are the "answer"? I think not. Global warming is primarily a problem of American "culture" of over-consumption and rabid exploitation of natural resources. What is their solution? Create technological answers that pollute the earth even more. It's a pathological culture but most Americans are not willing to go there. Nature, or reality, has a way of taking care of things. Egyptians need to focus on becoming as self-sufficient as possible, to rely as little as possible on Western powers. I know Egypt, like most Middle Eastern countries, has many religions and sects, but I do think the core Islamic values of brother- and sisterhood are what we need for the future. Unfortunately, sibling rivalry is part of our nature. People power does work but the people need to educate each other and refuse top-down solutions.