Friday, February 18, 2011

Gandhi's influence with Egyptian and Tunisian revolts

Friday, February 18, 2011 I am inserting here information due to yesterdays New York Times front page article about Gene Sharp’s influence on the Egyptian revolt, “Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution.” Sharp studied Gandhi’s methods along with those used in several nonviolent protests and revolutions. He has published several volumes considered prime resources to movements fighting for human rights, oppression, and democracy. The Times article describes how the April 6th Movement, 2006 in Egypt, found Sharp while seeking help, how Peter Ackerman trained Egyptian’s in 2007 using Sharp’s methods, and how the trainees learned the strategy and actions helped both the recent Egyptian and Tunisian revolts. Sharp comments about the Egyptian lack of fear, “That is straight out of Gandhi.” “If people are not afraid of dictatorship, that dictatorship is in big trouble.”

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