Nonviolence works . Except for the actions of Mubharak's thugs, the Egyptian democratic revolution was nonviolent. It was another reminder that nonviolence is the most effect method for producing lasting social change.
During the sixties, Martin Luther King Jr. was a powerful advocate of nonviolence and his leadership caused the Civil Rights movement to both accomplish its short-term objectives and produce lasting change in American society. Just before his untimely death, Dr. King shifted his focus from the problem of racial injustice to economic injustice; he was convinced the US democracy would not flourish if workers did not have good jobs and benefits. Sadly, the problem of economic injustice remains and should become the focus of a new nonviolent American social movement.
T hese weren't the people we were warned us about . Mohamed Atta, a key leader of the 9/11 attacks was an Egyptian citizen, as was the Al Qaeda second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri . As a consequence, some commentators lumped Egyptians with "Arabs" and "Muslims" and branded them as terrorists. We were told that they hated Americans, hated our freedoms.
There may have been terrorists participating in the Egyptian revolution but, in general, the protestors didn't look like the folks we have been warned about. The protestors seemed a remarkably diverse group: old and young, men and women, religious and secular, urban and rural. For the most part, they looked remarkably like Americans taking to the streets in the defense of their liberties.
We didn't hear a lot of "we hate America" rhetoric from the protestors. To the contrary, the general impression Americans got was that Egyptians would like to be more like us, they would like to have the democracy that we so often take for granted.
The Egyptian revolution was incredibly heartening. Hopefully, it will remind Americans that we live in a country that serves as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. And, that we need to take steps to clean up our own act, to ensure that democracy remains a reality for everyone in the United States.
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