If you’ve seen the Mises blog lately, you will see that the Egyptian protestors have formed their own private neighborhood defense organizations and other private services in the last six days. Will these events have consequences for the freedom movement as they demonstrate perfectly that the state is unnecessary and only exists as a parasite off of the population?
Yes and their impact is being felt as I was watching a major news agency say that it was bad that property owners grouped together to stop looters and rioters from destroying their property. They called the group of concerned citizens vigilantes and said they had used FIREARMS in the defense of their property.
How far we have come. I guess the major media thinks that these folks can just call the Fed and get some building money. Or maybe the police are only hours away when you have seconds to spare.
Too bad this “revolution” was contructed by the U.S. Government…
[quoteuser=“Gipper”]
Too bad this “revolution” was contructed by the U.S. Government…
[/quote]
I came across this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USdMUWbIdo (How do you embed a video on here?)
His comments on economics are obviously false but is he on to something here?
I’m more skeptical of this being a top-down revolution paid for by the CIA. In the past when they attempted revolutions (such as Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Iran, etc.), the US media and state officials typically expressed sympathy with the protesters. However, now it seems that they are trying to scare the public into thinking that Mubarak is the only thing seperating Egypt from becoming an Islamist theocracy. They didn’t try to paint Milosevic or Ahmadinejad or Yanukuvych as necessary evils like they are doing to Mubarak now.
Events in Egypt are not really a protest against government, but a protest over who should be the next ruler to run the government.
While it does demonstrate how lack of consent results in collapse (even though this has yet to be fulfilled), the movement we’re seeing is gearing toward submission to yet another regime, one possibly more onerous than what exists today.
You do get glimpses of what things would be like without government during these situations, but all too typically the people gravitate back to submission to one form of government or another.
Some speculate that Egypt is heading toward a government similar to Iran.
I believe if Egypt turned to true liberty without restraint of government that they would see the dawn of a new age, even greater than ancient times. Instead, I fear they’ll let their religion rule them and go to war with Israel.
I would be surprised if minds in Egypt are ready for a stateless society. They’ll likely take a chance with a Nobel price winner or Imam somewhere.
I’d be very impressed with Egypt if I am proven wrong.
The state is obviously obsolete as those self organized militias should easily repel the Egyptian military and any foreign aggressors! Brilliant analysis.
I think detractors may point out that without the State there is even more rampant looting, and even though private defense is being engineered, the looting and lawless nature has taken over and the criminals have gone out of hiding. I would say that has more to do with there being a power vacuum. This type of argument is always brought up against a collapsing state, but the State monopolized the service in the first place so you can’t expect there to be any stability in the defense/protection market. If a PDA goes under, theoretically there will be others to take up the market share. With a State, all the services they provide come to a halt.
Keep in mind that less than a week had transpired before the militias formed. Some observers have even commented that areas with the militias provide better internal security that state police forces had.
The statists have attempted to censor me in this thread,
Yes of course and if given more time they should easy be able to repel the Egyptian military and foreign aggressors because militias are the most advanced form of security forces the world has ever seen.
Lol.
Having watched events unfold thus far, here’s my analysis of the situation:
First off, the protests are against the current regime, not the Egyptian state per se. However, neighborhood militias being formed to protect against looters is heartening. Also note that there has been an ongoing “state of emergency” during Hosni Mubarak’s reign, which was due to the assassination of the previous Egyptian President, Anwar El Sadat.
Now with that said, I think it’s clear that Mubarak allowed the protests to continue for so long because he was busy formulating his counter-attack. We’re seeing it in action now. The police seemed to retreat, replaced by the military which has more respect among the Egyptian people (including many or most of the protesters). Mubarak subsequently made a public address where he promised not to run for re-election in September. However, this promise seems to have been largely meaningless – apparently he wasn’t going to run for re-election to begin with. Immediately after his announcement, mobs of Mubarak supporters literally charged into Tahrir Square and began attacking the protesters. There have been reports that some of the Mubarak supporters are Egyptian police officers; I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them are. It makes sense, after all – the military is now keeping the protests relatively confined, freeing up the police force to crack down on the protesters. Of course, by wearing civilian clothes, they hope to prevent the attacks from looking like official repression. The military, by refusing to engage either side, actually enhances this strategy.
In his public address, Mubarak told the Egyptian people that they had a choice between stability and chaos. Apparently what he meant was that his regime would create chaos until the protesters gave up, at which point the stability would return because he would have won. Heads, Mubarak wins; tails, Egyptian people lose. Let’s hope some of them see through this charade, if only to make the Egyptian state less repressive.
How exactly do the protestors fight back against such a catch-22? Would you just recommend perseverence to expose the charade for the scam it really is?
Perseverance is exactly what I’d recommend, along with good (read: libertarian) ideas and educational outreach. Unfortunately, all too many of the protesters have shot themselves in the feet due to their great respect for the military. Maybe now they see that the military isn’t their friend, but it might be too late.
[quoteuser=“shazam”]
I’m more skeptical of this being a top-down revolution paid for by the CIA. In the past when they attempted revolutions (such as Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Iran, etc.), the US media and state officials typically expressed sympathy with the protesters. However, now it seems that they are trying to scare the public into thinking that Mubarak is the only thing seperating Egypt from becoming an Islamist theocracy. They didn’t try to paint Milosevic or Ahmadinejad or Yanukuvych as necessary evils like they are doing to Mubarak now.
[/quote]
That is a good point. I have a friend who lives in the UK and he mentioned to me that their media is predominately in support of protestors. I couldn’t even comment on the news here (US) I haven’t paid it much mind to be honest.
What is your opinion on Omar Suleiman?
Isn’t Suleiman the Egyptian “intelligence” head that was appointed VP? He strikes me as being as bad as Mubarak, if not worse.
It speaks to Autolykos’ charade theory. If the people carry respect for the military, who better than to appoint an military elite to the VP seat and has been a CIA puppet in his career.
Wayne Allyn Root’s commentary.
I thought it was interesting, although I disagree with the gist of his post. We aren’t hearing much from the Mubarak side of things. Of course he is technically a dictator, but I was reading that he was trying to shift Egypt’s economy towards a more decentralized approach. I was reading that the demographics allowed for extremely high unemployment and that Mubarak halted further economic progress because of the global meltdown. What I’m afraid of is that Egyptians will blame this on capitalism. Who knows. What I do know is that right-wing fear mongers need to realize that the Muslim Brotherhood, in all likelihood, is a) not behind the majority of these protests or b) wouldn’t turn Egypt into a terrorist supporting theocracy (although it would be similar to a theocracy ).
I should also say that it’s very interesting to see how a State like Egypt collapsed / is collapsing. The majority of Egyptians aren’t even involved in these protests, just a significant enough portion of them are standing firm against the State. Tunisia did the same thing. These states are being pressured by their citizens, all because they’re “mad as hell and don’t want to take it anymore.” This will send shockwaves throughout the Middle East, and possibly Africa, and we’ll probably see a couple states see reform from within.