Democracy is not a ripe fruit that you can pick off a tree; democracy is a seed that you need to plant and nurture.
There are lessons here that future organizing cadre of the more than 10,000,000 prisoners and “felons” throughout the American gulag should be examining for potential application to our own struggle for justice, reconciliation, and democracy.
More of the same?
The opportunity in the current Egyptian example will be in observing the role of the wealthy civilian elite and military forces in charge at the moment, and the emerging role of oppositional democratic elements, in particular, Mohamed Elbaradei.
The watchword on Al Jazeera—easily the most consistent on-site and factual news reporting team–when the news came down of Mubarak’s resignation was, “This is not the end, but the beginning.” The real work of the revolution, the struggle for democracy, begins now. more…
