Dual Uprisings Show Potent New Threats to Arab States

An article about a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubarak’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.

Mubarak ordered Tiananmen-style massacre of demonstrators, Army refused

The Arab uprisings of 2011 are like the European revolutions of 1848

There seems to be a big discussion if Gene Sharp was really instrumental in the Egyptian uprising:

see:

• Orientalising the Egyptian Uprising
• The Americans Are Trying Hard To Take Credit For The Arab Spring
• Gene Sharp: the New York Times story of the origins of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings
• Why would you expect Nicholas Kristof to be any different: it is Gene Sharp again