1.

For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive… The resulting global political activism is generating a surge in the quest for personal dignity, cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world painfully scarred by memories of centuries-long alien colonial or imperial domination… The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening… That awakening is socially massive and politically radicalizing… The nearly universal access to radio, television and increasingly the Internet is creating a community of shared perceptions and envy that can be galvanized and channeled by demagogic political or religious passions. These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches… The youth of the Third World are particularly restless and resentful. The demographic revolution they embody is thus a political time-bomb, as well… Their potential revolutionary spearhead is likely to emerge from among the scores of millions of students concentrated in the often intellectually dubious “tertiary level” educational institutions of developing countries. Depending on the definition of the tertiary educational level, there are currently worldwide between 80 and 130 million “college” students. Typically originating from the socially insecure lower middle class and inflamed by a sense of social outrage, these millions of students are revolutionaries-in-waiting, already semi-mobilized in large congregations, connected by the Internet and pre-positioned for a replay on a larger scale of what transpired years earlier in Mexico City or in Tiananmen Square. Their physical energy and emotional frustration is just waiting to be triggered by a cause, or a faith, or a hatred… – Zbigniew Brzezinski

2.

This rising discontent will spread from the developing world to the comfort of our own homes in the West. Once the harsh realization sets in that the economy is not in ‘recovery,’ but rather in a Depression, and once our governments in the West continue on their path of closing down the democratic façade and continue dismantling rights and freedoms, increasing surveillance and ‘control,’ while pushing increasingly militaristic and war-mongering foreign policies around the world (mostly in an effort to quell or crush the global awakening being experienced around the world), we in the West will come to realize that ‘We are all Tunisians.’ – – Andrew Gavin Marshall

Excerpted from Jeremy Johnson:

“What we’re seeing in the Middle East is of unique importance, not only for the region, but for the emerging planetary culture.

The spirit of revolution emerges often when times are darkest — and what better place than the Middle East, an area of the world racked by endless violence and power struggle, pushed and pulled by hegemonic empires. Not long ago, it was the Soviet Union that lost their footing to the Western powers, now it’s the United States and the West itself that may be losing control over the region.

The spark was set in Tunisia, and it can be said that websites like Twitter and Wikileaks helped influence certain events (such as the exposure of corruption in Tunisia, helping fuel protestors). In the West, the internet helped resurrect the once-demonized news network, Al-Jazeera, which was all but shunned in America post 9-11. Both culturally and politically, certain holds the West has had on the world are breaking down.

What Andrew Marshall mentioned in his article holds a deeply significant and archetypal truth. Over a thousand years ago, the Viking invasions united the European people in fear, foreshadowing the eventual emergence of a European civilization.

In history, emergence is often heralded by darkness. So in our own age, the people of the world are again united in global strife; war, hegemony, industrialization, pollution and ecocide. We threaten to unite the entire world in a collective crisis, in which the only way out is up. Like previous civilizations before ours, the planetary human society is being born in the dark of the night. It’s also very interesting that Egypt was one of the birthplaces of civilization. As we turn again on the spiral of time, we intersect with the ancient past and Egypt once again becomes an important symbolic (and literal) expression of transformation.

It’s a good sign to hear that Muslim and Christian protestors have come together in a revolutionary spirit, protecting one another while they prayed.

This cultural revolution is also very similar to the cultural fires that swept across Europe in the push, first, for Constitutional Monarchies, and later on for complete revolutions in the form of democratic governments. In retrospect, we can understand that the advent of the printing press, and the subsequent literate society that emerged, helped fuel the cultural transformation at the time (as well as the scientific revolution).

It would be a mistake to ignore the impact the internet is having on our modern society. Like the printing press, it has radically altered the way we get information, and more so, the way we come together. The very structure of the web favors participation, transparency and collaboration. It has subsequently made it possible for websites like Wikileaks to ignite the protests in Tunisia.

If we were to pause for a moment and try to glimpse the larger picture at work in our society today, we might say we’re witnessing a transference of power from industrial nation states, based on hierarchy where the center controls the periphery–to decentralized and noetic polities of collaboration and participation. This shift is not just another revolution to add to the pages of history, it’s a very alteration in the structure of human society, not seen since the birthplace of civilization.”