Amazing video at the Guardian site, of an Egyptian army major who left the army to join the popular uprising. Here you can glimpse the great political intelligence and depth of the Egyptian revolution, the ways that a people throwing off tyranny have had to originate creative ways to assert their will. Inspiring.
I am in solidarity with this revolution and iI do not belong to the military institution at the moment, I feel that now I am among my people, my family, unlike before. Before when i was with the army and not the protestors i felt like i was abandoning my people. so I handed in my weapons, put on my civilian clothes…. I am sure there are many officers among these people who are joining them like I am.. I want the people to know there are army officers who are with them. … If I die, I will die with a clean conscience.
An Army, a police are an extreme important part of any country’s structure.
They can make or break governments, cease protests and revolutions, kill or jail if that’s an order.
During times of tumults governments rely on army to protect them and a current order. Armies, police function on the Unconditional Obedience, an absolute compliance/submission. They are meant to follow the orders.
That’s all. No thinking, no reflection, no remorse, no second thoughts.
Just follow the orders. You are trained and paid to listen to those ,who are above you. Hierarchical order that starts with those on the very top.
If there is a right, decent government that follows the law, an army/police act as means of keeping the order, making sure that anarchy, lawlessness does not take place.
If there is a totalitarian government ,then an army/police act as means of making sure that this government stays in power, and the disregard for the law and common people, exhibited by the government is protected and enforced by military “helpers”.
That’why so much brain washing propaganda is thrown upon all those army/police forces. They have to operate in a very precise and orderly fashion. Independent thinking is not something encouraged there, especially if you are just a pawn.
It is great that this man understood clearly ,who is who in the events that took place in Egypt, and had a courage to break out of the nest that his “army’s law of an absolute obedience”put him.
We are not humanoids meant to follow the orders , trained to hate, hurt, kill innocent, powerless people, just because those, who are “on top “, said so.
“If I die , I will die with a clean conscience”.
What a beautiful, courageous sentence, followed by actions.
Welcome to the totalitarian state of America
“Senate Moves To Allow Military To Intern Americans Without Trial .
The Senate is set to vote on a bill NEXT WEEK that would define the whole of the United States as a “battlefield” and allow the U.S. Military to ARREST American citizens in their own back yard WITHOUT CHARGE OR TRIAL.
“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the POWER TO ORDER THE MILITARY to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world.
The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself,” writes Chris Anders of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
Under the ‘worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial’ provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is set to be up for a vote on the Senate floor Monday, the legislation will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), WHO supports the bill.
The bill was drafted IN SECRET by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) AND John McCain (R-Ariz.), before being passed in a closed-door committee meeting without any kind of hearing. The language appears in sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA bill.”
http://www.infowars.com/senate-moves-to-allow-military-to-intern-americans-without-trial/
That’s called a TREASON. They should be called TRAITORS.
There are countless examples of natives’ army acting on behalf of a colonial power in order to suppress self-determination and sovereignty.
In 1884, the major colonial powers of the West convened in Berlin to divide Africa; these included the US, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Austria-Hungary and Denmark.
Belgium got the Congo and after an eight-decades-long colonial rule, the Congolese decided that enough was enough. They organized political parties and appointed a president and prime minister.
However, Belgian authorities had no intention of allowing the Congo to become an independent nation. So in order to avoid a confrontation, they decided to co-opt the newly appointed local leadership, much like Israel’s co-optation of the Palestinian Authority. Instead of granting the Congo independence and leaving, Belgium merely outsourced colonial rule.
In 1961 when the natives became ‘uppity’ and demanded true independence, Brussels sent in armed guards to arrest the prime minister, Patrice Émery Lumumba.
At the same time, the Kennedy administration sent in representatives to interfere in the Congolese army’s affairs. They bribed the commanding general and promised him a political appointment if he cooperated with Washington.
The Belgians meanwhile, drove Lumumba to a remote location, stood him in front of a firing squad and murdered him. They then hacked his body into pieces, threw it into a steel drum and burnt it along with his clothes.
It was clear last winter that there were fissures in the military regarding their attitude towards the Egyptian uprising. That is why Mubarak and Suleiman had to go. The division line seemed to be between the senior officers and the middle officers (captains, majors, colonels). Hopefully this major represents an important trend. One of the scenarios for a successful revolution includes a mutiny within the military. The precedent has been set — it was Colonel (not General) Nasser that led the first nationalist revolution. Nasser had to get rid of the Generals that served the colonial powers before taking power.
What a brave and thoughtful person. More of his sort!