Not one to give you a moment's rest from news of the Egyptian Revolution, nor to pass up an opportunity to trumpet the Egyptians' awesomeness . . .
Here are Egyptian folks self-organising to clean up Tahrir Square (not to mention provide medical care, and feed people). These guys make me proud just to be a human being.
We can't even manage to pick up our rubbish in Trafalgar Square. (And that's without several hundred thousand people camped out for a week, plus doing battle with government thugs.)
Here's the Egyptian Geek Corps on the job.
I could have sworn it was Orwell who said something to the effect that freedom anywhere is a threat to dictators everywhere. (For once I can't find the darned quote, if it was him.) Anyway, the assertion seems to be bearing up:
Iran seems a little nervous about giving its own reputedly Twitter-powered dissidents in the Green Movement too much inspiration from the anti-government protests in Egypt. Since Monday, Iranians’ access to outside political news from Yahoo, Google and Reuters, some of the few remaining such outlets available in Iran, has been cut off without explanation.
China has blocked internet searches for "Egypt" and reportedly ordered Chinese media to follow the state-run news service Xinhua’s line on the protest movements, which has emphasized the disturbance caused by the protests at the expense of explanations of their political grievances.
It probably doesn't help that the Western press keeps mentioning Tahrir Square in the same breath as the 1989 Tiananmen square protests and subsequent crackdown. It’s a chapter of history banned from discussion in China.
Look upon the power of the people, ye mighty despots – and tremble.
