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Democracy's Tribune, Natan Sharansky, on the Arab Awakening

(Wall Street Journal) David Feith - In his book, The Case for Democracy, Natan Sharansky argues that all people, in all cultures, want to live in freedom. In an interview last week, Sharansky offered his view of the current revolutionary movement. "The reason people are going to the streets and making revolution is their desire not to live in a fear society." In Tunisia and Egypt, as in the former Soviet bloc countries, people were not free to stand in their town square and express their opinions without fear of arrest or physical harm. "Why is there such a big danger that if now there will be free choice for Egyptians, then the Muslim Brotherhood can rise to power? Because they are the only organized force which exists in addition to Mubarak's regime." By Sharansky's calculus, simply propping up Mubarak's fear society made it more likely, not less, that radicals would gradually become the only viable opposition and be best-positioned to gain power when the regime inevitably fell. Sharansky points out that Mubarak is no great man of peace. Indeed, since 1979, Egyptians' "hatred toward Israel only grew....Egypt became one of the world centers of anti-Semitism." That's because all dictators must cultivate external enemies in order to maintain their grip on power. So even when Mubarak "lost Israel as an enemy, he continued to need Jews as the enemy."
2011-02-07 09:19:10
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