"The Revolution Will Be Televised!"

It's time to Break It Down!

With apologies to Gil Scott-Heron, by all appearances, in the 21st Century, “The Revolution Will Be Televised,” and re-aired on a frequent basis…in different locations. Tunisia and Egypt are headliners for this discussion of course, since their leaders, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and Hosni Mubarak, respectively, have actually been deposed. Libya and strongman dictator Muammar Gaddafi are on deck, having experienced several days of unrest. For his part, Gaddafi has announced, defiantly, he is not leaving, and also ominously, that he will be a martyr. In issuing a statement clarifying his intentions, he said:

“I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end,' he said, vowing to fight 'to my last drop of blood.”

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358972/Libya-protests-Gaddafi-blames-world-leaders-violence-rambling-TV-address.html#ixzz1El80uIaW

But while these three nations may be front and center on the Revolution Watch Meter, at least 10 other Middle Eastern countries are experiencing significant unrest, including:

• Algeria

• Bahrain

• Iran

• Iraq

• Jordan

• Morocco

• Saudi Arabia

• Sudan

• Syria

• Yemen

There is a clear and present connect-the-dots chain reaction afoot in the Middle East. Civil unrest is both palpable and spreading through the region. This new Middle East Democratization Movement has caught the United States flat-footed, and directly relates to a number of pre-existing and strategically important relationships. Many observers put forth negative critiques on President Obama’s responses to the crisis in Egypt. The POTUS seemed to vacillate in the early stages of the confrontation, first assuming a stance supportive of Mr. Mubarak, a long-time U.S. ally. He would later pivot, and reframe his message to offer support for the protesters, while encouraging President Mubarak to resign.

Did he realign his position quickly and seamlessly enough to maintain a high-level alliance with what will be a new Egyptian Regime? Or was his adaptation slow; too little, too late?

The Middle East is the home of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, familiarly known as OPEC. Given our reliance on fossil fuels, America is deeply invested in the stability of the Region. As a nation, we are committed to taking whatever steps may be necessary to ensure that key oil producing and exporting nations work collaboratively with the United States keep the price of oil from skyrocketing.

In that regard, the U.S. sits in a precarious position. With a great deal at stake, America must discern how to artfully circumnavigate the discord gripping the Middle East, which includes Western Asia and Northern Africa, while neither abandoning historic allies, nor appearing to influence the outcome of the numerous nationalistic internal debates.

Briefly, in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi has ruled for 41 years, since a 1969 coup. He is the longest serving of all current non-royal leaders, and the longest–serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli (which would become known as Libya) became a member of the Ottoman Empire in 1551. His rein may be in jeopardy however. There have been reports of widespread carnage and killing of protesters. As the violence against citizens continues to escalate, several top-level government aides have resigned, at least two fighter pilots have sought asylum in Malta, and one cleric has urged someone to shoot Gaddafi, and end the scourge.

Conflicting reports have emerged regarding whether Gaddafi has fled Tripoli, Currently the name of the Libyan Capital. In response to reports that he had, The Colonel issued a statement of denial, saying, “I have not fled Libya.” The Libyan leader, who has been accorded honorifics, “Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" and ironically, "Leader and Guide of the Revolution," castigated international news channels for telecasting inaccurate news about Libya.

Presumably, Gaddafi never met Gil Scott-Heron, though he may very well pine for the TV-free revolution Scott-Heron described just a year after Gaddafi took over in Libya. Mr. Scott-Heron’s 1970 advisory, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," applied to the Black Liberation Movement of the ‘60’s. As he has described it, in that period, the seeds of revolution were born in the minds of the patriots who conceived the pathway to freedom for a group of people from whom that precious commodity had been systematically denied. In that light, their ruminations avoided the white-hot glare of the Klieg lights.

But let’s just say things are different in the 21st Century. Forty-plus years since Scott-Heron's famous admonition, in the here and now, we are in the age of the WorldWideWeb, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other Social Networking portals. In the texting era, the world of CNN, and the epoch of the explosion of global media outlets, Gaddafi and the rest of us can count on it: the revolution will be trending and tweeted on Twitter, posted on Facebook and MySpace, texted on BlackBerry and iPhones, captured on the WorldWideWeb and the Blogosphere, and yes America, “The Revolution Will Be Televised!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZvWt29OG0s&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGaoXAwl9kw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGaRtqrlGy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaD-FKIfYgk

http://www.truth-out.org/unrest-algeria-put-down-police67691

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/feb/17/arab-world-protests-bahrain-map

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/world/middleeast/16diplomacy.html

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/2011/02/unrest-in-iraq.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/middleeast/05jordan.html

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/114344/20110220/morocco.htm

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2665220/posts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12320534

http://signalfire.org/?p=6844

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012702082.html

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-15/ben-ali-s-tunisian-ouster-reverberates-through-middle-east.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klieg_light

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_al-Gaddafi

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110221/twl-libya-violent-protests-paralyse-trip-3fd0ae9.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak