This week, in The Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash draws notable comparison to the precarious events in Cairo's Tahrir Square with the pivotal moments of the Velvet Revolution.
Ash notes: "The Arab arc of crisis, from Morocco to Jordan, is Europe's near abroad." The migrated relatives of Egypt's revolutionaries have spent recent decades settling in Spain and France and England. If a revolution brings down Egyptian autocracy, a newly freed population can more easily mingle among the European lands and feed those economies and cultures.
However, Ash cautions that if the uprising fails, "then tens of millions of these young men and women will carry their pathologies of frustration across the sea, shaking Europe to its foundations."
Modernization and reform stand in opposition of autocratic and theocratic rule. An irate people stand in the streets, defy the curfew, and seek to shape the future of their nation. Meanwhile, I'm fretting over long-delayed yardwork, how to secure the latest personal technology, and whether I should go out for lunch or heat up that microwavable dinner.
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