{"id":5826,"date":"2014-10-07T21:45:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T01:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5826"},"modified":"2018-08-24T15:24:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T19:24:34","slug":"5826","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5826","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday, October 7, 2014 \u2014 An Egyptian\u2019s Wise Words for Hong Kong\u2019s Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mah\u00admoud Salem, one of the Egypt\u00adian vet\u00ader\u00adans of the 18 days in Tahrir Square, has some use\u00adful advise<\/span><\/a><\/span> for pro-democ\u00adra\u00adcy pro\u00adtest\u00aders in Hong Kong, and it is very good advice. \u201cLearn from our fail\u00adure,\u201d he says, and lists eight points that match my own impres\u00adsions and (some) pub\u00adlished points. I list them here, with a few quotes. Go to the arti\u00adcle to read the full text.<\/span><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Do not count on the inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty\u2019s sup\u00adport. <\/b>\u201cThe inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty espous\u00ades many plat\u00adi\u00adtudes it nev\u00ader actu\u00adal\u00adly enforces or backs for all sorts of real\u00adist con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions \u2014 and being on Chi\u00adna\u2019s bad side is some\u00adthing no Amer\u00adi\u00adcan leader can countenance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The world\u2019s atten\u00adtion span is very lim\u00adit\u00aded. <\/b><\/strong>\u201cYou have the world\u2019s atten\u00adtion now. Soon very few peo\u00adple will care. Now is the time to com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate your message.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Do not allow the gov\u00adern\u00adment to manip\u00adu\u00adlate you.<\/b> \u201cIf you can\u2019t define who you are, the gov\u00adern\u00adment will define it for you.<\/span> They will try and turn the most obnox\u00adious and rad\u00adi\u00adcal of pro\u00adtes\u00adtors into the face of your move\u00adment. This becomes espe\u00adcial\u00adly true if your protest drags on, incon\u00adve\u00adnienc\u00ading the same peo\u00adple whose sup\u00adport you des\u00adper\u00adate\u00adly need. You then lose con\u00adtrol of the mes\u00adsage \u2014 and it\u2019s sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly easy for the gov\u00adern\u00adment to shift focus to a side issue the gov\u00adern\u00adment cre\u00adat\u00aded or is hap\u00adpy to exploit.\u201d \u201cAnoth\u00ader favorite gov\u00adern\u00adment tac\u00adtic is pub\u00adlicly call\u00ading for dia\u00adlogue, while simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly arrang\u00ading for mobs to phys\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly attack pro\u00adtes\u00adtors \u2014 thus forc\u00ading demon\u00adstra\u00adtors to refuse dia\u00adlogue and appear unrea\u00adson\u00adable, as seemed to hap\u00adpen on Oct. 3 in Hong Kong. The gov\u00adern\u00adment looks rea\u00adson\u00adable, and you look unrea\u00adson\u00adable and thuggish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Know who is with you on the local lev\u00adel<\/b>. \u201cOne of the prob\u00adlems of the Jan. 25 move\u00adment was that its lead\u00aders did\u00adn\u2019t both\u00ader to find out which locals \u2014 peo\u00adple liv\u00ading in the same build\u00ading, or on the same street \u2014 sup\u00adport\u00aded their cause.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Do not allow inter\u00adnal or exter\u00adnal forces to sep\u00ada\u00adrate you from the peo\u00adple.<\/b> \u201cWhile you may be fight\u00ading for the rights of Hong Kong cit\u00adi\u00adzens, many of your fel\u00adlow cit\u00adi\u00adzens might not want to fight. The gov\u00adern\u00adment will use that to paint you as \u2018dif\u00adfer\u00adent,\u2019 \u2018for\u00adeign-fund\u00aded,\u2019 or \u2018extrem\u00adist,\u2019 to cre\u00adate a divide between you and the rest of the people.\u201d 
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

6. Do not count on your oppo\u00adnent to think ratio\u00adnal\u00adly.<\/b> \u201cSure, mas\u00adsacring you in the streets may mean that they could lose face and tar\u00adnish their rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion, but Bei\u00adjing will do what\u00adev\u00ader it needs to main\u00adtain pow\u00ader in Hong Kong\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Aban\u00addon all hope<\/b>. \u201cHope is fleet\u00ading and going into bat\u00adtle with a height\u00adened sense of expec\u00adta\u00adtion is a sure\u00adfire path to defeat. Deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion wins wars, not hope. And whether you like it or not, yours may end in a week, a month, even a decade.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Aim for more, but know what to set\u00adtle for.<\/b> \u201cDon\u2019t be ashamed by set\u00adtling; it\u2019s bet\u00adter than los\u00ading everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Salem\u2019s points are all cogent. Much as arm\u00adchair activists are charmed by the romance of rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion in the streets, it rarely results in lib\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion. It works, as it did in Prague in 1989, when con\u00addi\u00adtions are exact\u00adly right and there are years of intel\u00adli\u00adgent prepa\u00adra\u00adtion behind it. But most of the time it fails, or ush\u00aders in either new bru\u00adtal mas\u00adters or re-invig\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded old ones. Poor\u00adly orga\u00adnized pro\u00adtest\u00aders who suc\u00adceed in over\u00adthrow\u00ading a regime will quick\u00adly find them\u00adselves under the thumb of some total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan move\u00adment that is<\/em> well orga\u00adnized. Those who don\u2019t suc\u00adceed will be quick\u00adly for\u00adgot\u00adten by a world that actu\u00adal\u00adly does\u00adn\u2019t give a fuck about any\u00adbody\u2019s free\u00addom \u2014 includ\u00ading their own \u2014 <\/span>as long as the fuel keeps pour\u00ading into their cars and they can get cheap tube socks at Wal\u00admart. Those who imag\u00adined that \u201csocial media\u201d would change the game were over-opti\u00admistic. It was a tem\u00adpo\u00adrary advan\u00adtage that repres\u00adsive regimes soon met with effec\u00adtive counter-strate\u00adgies. No pro\u00adtest\u00aders could have been more ide\u00adal\u00adis\u00adtic or sin\u00adcere than the ones who met in Tianan\u00admen Square in 1989. But min\u00adutes after they were mas\u00adsa\u00adcred, their mur\u00adder\u00aders were clink\u00ading cham\u00adpagne glass\u00ades with emis\u00adsaries from George H. W. Bush. Now the bru\u00adtal butch\u00aders are wel\u00adcome in every glam\u00adour joint in the world, their bums are kissed and licked by every gov\u00adern\u00adment on the plan\u00adet (most dis\u00adgust\u00ading\u00adly, and with the most craven cow\u00adardice, by our Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter in Cana\u00adda), and they have suc\u00adceed\u00aded in effec\u00adtive\u00adly eras\u00ading the event from history. <\/span><\/p>\n

It takes more than protests to win freedom. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mah\u00admoud Salem, one of the Egypt\u00adian vet\u00ader\u00adans of the 18 days in Tahrir Square, has some use\u00adful advise for pro-democ\u00adra\u00ad\u00adcy pro\u00adtest\u00aders in Hong Kong, and it is very good advice. \u201cLearn from our fail\u00adure,\u201d he says, and lists eight points that \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,940],"tags":[1378,1375,1377,1376],"class_list":["post-5826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-am-blog-2014","tag-demonstrations","tag-mahmoud-salem","tag-political-protests","tag-tahrir-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5826"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7458,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5826\/revisions\/7458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}