Islamic Twitter and Facebook Revolutionaries Have Us Scratching Our Heads

With successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, do we realize how much of conventional wisdom and stereotypical thinking has been turned on its head?

Convention #1: It takes nothing less than violent force to remove dictators from power. Wrong! I used to believe that, because it proved true in Liberia, where it took all-out civil war to down Samuel Doe in 1990. Osama bin Laden with his Al Qada network has been proven wrong too; he said only bloody force would down Hosni Mubarak. If he's still alive, bin Laden is a confused man right now. Young tweeting Tunisians and Egyptians have proven that non-violent demonstrators can make dictators look like blood-thirsty fools, even if with all the guns, bombs, grenades and the killers to use them.

Convention #2: The defining event of contemporary Islam is the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil; terrorism is the Muslim's preferred way to bring about change. Wrong! On February 11, 2011, the Egyptian masses of Tahir Square in Cairo showed that Muslims can effect change through peaceful means. Now we have to accept the possibility that the vast majority of Muslims may be non-violent, peace-loving people after all. Indeed 211 forces us to rethink 911 as the Islamic thing to do.

Convention #3: Islamic societies are not ready for democracy, even if we entertain the thought that Muslims can understand or relate to democratic values. Wrong! Arab protestors have shown us that human rights and civil rights...like having decent jobs, choosing who leads a country, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, etc...are more than monopolies of the West. Just like the politicians, political activists and voters of North America, the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, and Bahrain, long to have a say-so in how they are governed.

Convention #4: America has little choice but to prop up authoritarian regimes, where necessary, so we maintain “stability in the Middle East”. Wrong! With the exception of Iran and Libya in recent memory, the United States have strengthened the regimes of Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, among others, even though the oppressive ways of those governments run counter to American democratic principles. The current ground swells of protests in the Arab world should alert America to revamp our foreign policy. Backing repressive regimes have probably become the prescription for instability, since it will rally the masses against those governments, and by extension, against America.

Convention #5: Where America dislikes a particular regime it is best to supply a militant opposition with weapons of warfare. Wrong! Instead of supplying or funding weapons for the opposition, the United States can simply provide tech support for a popular uprising, then back that up with a strong, consistent voice in favor of peaceful protestors. America should put into overdrive the need to fund technology that will circumvent tyrants who shut down Internet access when their people take to the streets to demand justice. The huge advantage here for Americans is a prescription for a cheaper foreign policy rooted in virtual tweets and walls. And with such low-cost path to spreading democracy, could America not afford to close several military bases around the world?

The monarchs, lifetime rulers and other leaders of non-democratic societies have much rethinking to do as well. We all have our hands full, our heads spinning...

The verdict is in: The virtual world has begun to drive the actual world. Who would have predicted that in less than 20 years the Internet would become the preferred tool for bringing about earthquake change in any spot of the globe? Wasn't it just moments ago that it would have taken boot camps, secret recruitment of rebels forces, and the launch of a protracted gorilla war to overthrow an entrenched authoritarian government? All it takes now is a computer and cell phone, actually quite a few of those gadgets, to get the same results. Fewer blasts, less blood, more clicks, great change! Welcome to the new wave of revolution. Meet the new revolutionaries: tweeters.  ~mogama~