2011 has taken a surprisingly turn for the worst with regards to old African dictatorships. Alright maybe not 'dictatorships' as such but the oligarchs who ran Tunisia and Egypt since the height of the Cold War have been overrun by enthusiastic and revolutionary people, reminiscent of Europe at the fall of the Soviet Empire. I presume they have been known all this time by those in charge as the 'rabble', the 'peasants', the 'unwashed masses'. Well, take that old corrupt statesmen, democracy just kicked your arse!
Leaving aside the fact that the term democracy has evolved every day since antiquity, it is a breath of fresh air coming from an otherwise tormented continent. With Sudan in the middle of a divorce, the 'White Revolution' that has swept (or is sweeping) through the Arab world has suddenly made the Middle-East more exciting than the usual 'Iran hates Israel's guts' story. Let's not forget Iraq, if they play their cards right we could have Iraquis dictating (democratically!) the terms of a serious peace deal in the area if Egypt goes tits up.
On the subject of 'White Revolution', I disagree with the term. 'White' is historically the colour of royalty, the French flag has white in the middle to symbolise power is flanked (controlled) by the blue Assembly and the red People (or something to that effect). In the UK we had a 'Golden Revolution' which saw a swift and successful transition of power to the people (somewhat) with very little blood spilt (again... somewhat).
I think Egypt is experiencing it's own Golden Revolution, but that's just my opinion...
