Global Voices Online remains an essential source for the ideas and real-time testimony of citizens and others on the inside of political change around the world.
We recommend a visit to http://globalvoicesonline.org
Today the site features stories of protests in China, Iran and Pakistan, all tied to the profound victories won by protesters in Egypt.
What Egypt now means for these countries and their leaders is an open question, but it is being rapidly answered.
What it means for the U.S. is less clear though also vital.
Our sense: less power for the extremes and the polarizers, more for the thoughtful middle.
Note that the events in Egypt were driven by a citizen-body of democratic centrists, friendly to the military and successful at keeping religious and revolutionary extremes out of the mainstream of their protests.
Bobby Rush, the former Black Panther party leader in Chicago, upon being elected to the U.S. Congress in the early 1990’s notably said that “the only difference between my views then and my views now is that back then I thought that the number one thing the average black man wanted was revolution, while now I realize that all along what the average black man has wanted most is decent work and a quiet home.” In some places this may well require a revolution, but revolution itself is never the point – something we may all come to understand more deeply in coming weeks and months.
The.American.Word. 