Sunday, February 13, 2011

Oppressive Regimes To People: If Everyone Else Was Overthrowing Their Governments, Would You?

To which Algeria and Yemen reply: Why, yes! At the moment, Algerian protests have been stifled by the police, but the desperation is just as palpable as it was in Egypt.

''They can't kill us because we are already dead,'' said jobless Bilal Boudamous, 29. ''At 30 we are unemployed, we live with our parents, and we have no future.''

Algerians didn't really buy the token concessions from their government, so the regime shut down Facebook and the Internet, and gave the hackneyed Ike Turner response: If things turn violent, it's all your fault. Damn it baby, you made me hurt you..

Meanwhile, in Yemen, the dynamic seems to be playing out a bit differently. For now, the protests are still smaller, but the clashes between pro and anti-government protesters are already marred by violence, as both sides(not counting the police) are fighting with sticks and knives.

Also, 23 million Yemenis are hooked on Qat, so demonstrations fizzle out by the afternoon so everyone can get high. It'll be interesting to see if The People can give up the HappyHappy for a few weeks in order to rid themselves of a soul crushing regime. We shall see.

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