• Yemeni police armed with sticks and daggers on Sunday beat back thousands of protesters marching through the capital in a third straight day of demonstrations calling for political reforms and the resignation of the country’s U.S.-allied president.

• On Saturday, Algerian authorities detained 400 people during a peaceful sit-in in the capital inspired by pro-democracy protests in Egypt and Tunisia.

• From state-owned financial institutions in Cairo to Alexandria’s seaport, workers went on strike on Sunday, disrupting operations and forcing the central bank to declare an unscheduled bank holiday on Monday.

• On Friday, 200 or 300 people protested in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to demand change on multiple fronts, from specifics such as the provision of electricity and jobs to more general issues such as good governance and accountability.

• Bahrain’s security forces clashed with marchers in at least one village Sunday as opposition groups blanketed social media sites with calls to stage the first major anti-government protests in the Gulf since the uprising in Egypt.

• The staff of Pakistan’s national airlines on Friday ended a strike, which had grounded all flights, after their demands were met.

• Thousands of Thais held color-coded “red” and “yellow” protests in Bangkok on Sunday, underlining persistent anti-government sentiment and deep political divisions ahead of an election planned this year.

• Tens of thousands of Italian women took to the streets of Rome on Sunday to protest against the “sexual exploitation and negative feminine image” that in their view Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has contributed in spreading through his various sex scandals.

• More than 20 workers were arrested Thursday evening during a labor protest outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Francisco.

• More than 1,000 Nokia employees in Finland walked out of the company’s offices on Friday to protest a deal that was struck with Microsoft that will lead to the loss of potentially thousands of jobs in the country.

During the 1950s and 60s, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a Christian pacifist organization, was instrumental in introducing the American civil rights movement to the methods of nonviolent action, particularly those that Gandhi had practiced in India. As Martin Luther King, Jr., embraced these methods, the FOR helped to get the word out about his successes. One of the Fellowship’s most beloved efforts from that period is still bearing fruit, according to Comics Alliance—even in Egypt:

Originally published by the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1958, The Montgomery Story was a comic book that dealt explicitly with Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience, specifically with respect to the legendary Montgomery Bus Boycott. The book included a how-to section that demonstrated how the practice can actually yield results. According to FOR’s website, The Montgomery Story sold more than 250,000 copies.

Dalia Ziada is Egypt Director of the American Islamic Congress, a non-profit group founded in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to confront intolerance against Muslims, and later to promote peace and civil rights throughout the Arabic world. The AIC’s HAMSA initiative—designed to link civil rights groups throughout the Middle East—undertook in 2008 a project to translate The Montgomery Story into Arabic (and later Farsi). With the endorsement of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Ziada distributed 2,000 copies of the comic throughout the Middle East.

According to Ziada herself, the book has had an is having a direct impact on the streets of Cairo. She says:

The comic book has been credited with inspiring young activists in Egypt and the larger region (we have a Farsi version as well). Last week I distributed copies in Tahrir Square. Seeing the scene in the square firsthand is amazing. Despite violent attacks and tanks in the street, young people from all walks of life are coming together, organizing food and medical care, and offering a living model of free civil society in action.

The people of Egypt have achieved a tremendous victory, one that has inspired the whole world to celebrate. The possibilities it raises for peace and democracy not only give hope to a region beset by authoritarian rule and Western intervention, but prove that nonviolent action is alive and well in the Muslim world.

Unfortunately, this latter point is often lost or overlooked by our major media outlets, whose experts and analysts have so little knowledge of the history and dynamics of nonviolence that they typically don’t know how to interpret what they’ve just seen. To counter this shortcoming, Waging Nonviolence has asked a wide range of eminent thinkers to discuss their initial thoughts on this historic moment, the challenges ahead and what it all means for the future of nonviolent action.

We are presenting their responses as a series over the next couple days. Here is the second installment. To read the first part, click here.

What does this movement mean for the future of nonviolent action around the world?

“The real impact of Tunisia on Egyptians may have been the sense among them that if the Tunisians could do it, why couldn’t they do it?  Iranians may respond similarly.  Civil resistance requires courage as well as strategy, but the threshold is lowered when you know that others have felt summoned by history.  At the same time, it’s wise not to get too cosmic about what has happened.  The effect of external influence or promotion of people power is exaggerated by its proponents as well as by the regimes and purveyors of disinformation who attack it. But successful cases like the one in Egypt do yield lessons to serious students, and right now the Middle East is one huge classroom.

On a global level, I’m concerned that the utility of Facebook and other social media in mobilizing protesters in Egypt may deceive protest groups into believing that they’ve formed a movement when they haven’t.  For several years in Egypt, political dissidents, labor organizers, lawyers interested in human rights, women’s rights groups, Copts, Bedouins and Islamists were all quietly organizing, developing their discourse of grievance and protest, and becoming known to one another. The Egyptian revolution was not a flash mob, and would not have been successful without this broad albeit unevenly distributed coalition of interests, who had studied and planned. Ultimately kids didn’t do this; all Egyptians did.  It’s incumbent on those of us who study and speak about civil resistance to focus on the real requirements of organizing, mobilizing and strategic thinking, so that the euphoria of Egypt doesn’t make people elsewhere think that some new people power epoch will carry everyone along with it. The American politician Tip O’Neill once famously said, “all politics is local.” That applies especially to putting together the building blocks of nonviolent struggle.” – Jack DuVall, President, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict

“It means that the paradigm set by the Green Movement in Iran and worked to perfection in Tunisia and Egypt will become the primary means of social protest in the rest of the Middle East.” – Reza Aslan, Associate Professor, University of California, Riverside

“In truth the post-revolution will determine whether Egypt is seem as an example for others to emulate, but at this point it is a shining example of how peaceful people power can win out against terrible tyranny.” – Mary Joyce, Founder and Executive Director, Meta-Activism Project

“I was reminded of the triumph of the Filipino people over the Marcos regime, the independence movement in India, and the civil rights struggle in the United States. But I also thought of the failed revolutions—Tienanmen Square, and the Green Revolution in Iran. Triumph, like the one in Tahrir Square, is certainly sweet and makes you believe, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, that the arc of history bends towards justice. But when the nonviolent movements fail, I think that they never really fail, in that they build up resolve and resources for later struggles to come. I believe that the proponents of human rights and political freedom in Iran and China will still have their day.” – Mark Juergensmeyer, Director, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

“The events very effectively and dramatically dispel some of the common misconceptions that many hold about this technique of action and it’s relevance for groups worldwide who are struggling for a variety of objectives.  These misconceptions include:

1.  The supposed unshakable grip that dictatorships and authoritarian regimes have over power in a society, and

2.  The perceived helplessness of opposition groups and those striving for change when confronted with the seemingly invulnerable power of authoritarian rulers.

3.  The false belief in violence as the most powerful tool available to people struggling for change, despite a multitude of historical examples that disprove this assumption.

4.  The incorrect view of nonviolent forms of resistance as being weak and ineffective, or that nonviolent action depends on “melting of the heart of the opponent” (a phrase Gene often uses).

5.  And finally, other harmful and untrue assumptions people hold about Muslims and Arabs and their supposed inherent violent nature.” – Jamila Raqib, Executive Director, Albert Einstein Institution

“Egypt has historically played a crucial role in the Middle East. It is by far the largest Arab country. However, it has essentially been a frozen entity since the Cold War. What we are witnessing is the change in Egypt and that will have massive implications on the rest of the Middle East. From how Israel assesses its security, to Arab-Iranian relations. Cairo is again becoming a dynamic — rather than a static — player, and people power. Even more, people power in Egypt already mobilizes opressed people throughout Arab world, and I expect we will witness many troubles for those who attempt to maintain a firm grip over young, bright and educated people from Algeria, Yemen or Tehran.” – Srdja Popovic, Founder, Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS)

“The Tunisian and Egyptian models are a game changer for the Muslim world, if they want it. For some time, the perception has been violence or nothing, and nonviolence is a western or Far Eastern notion that doesn’t apply. Well, they just applied it and the tools are available and with two more US allies down and out from nonviolence, I think this is actually the best advertisement for nonviolence in a long time.” – Tom Hastings, Director of Peace and Nonviolence, Portland State University

“Well, it’s obviously very inspiring and I think many folks in places such as Iran, Burma, Belarus, Tibet, and elsewhere are feeling emboldened by the successes of the people of Egypt. But perhaps even more significantly, the victory of mass nonviolent action in Egypt has implications for terrorist organizations around the world. As nonviolent methods succeed, they de-legitimize violence as a method of pushing grievances and creating change. Nonviolent action offers a realistic alternative (and powerful) form of struggle. So today’s victory has the potential to seriously damage the recruitment campaigns of terrorist organizations. And in that sense, the people of Egypt have done all of us great favor. By demonstrating that mass nonviolent action by the people can be more effective than violent insurrection, they have probably made the world a little safer for all of us.” – Cynthia Boaz, Assistant Professor, Sonoma State University

“The Egyptian activists gave us another powerful example to counter the power and realist paradigm. Our culture of nonviolence is getting stronger and stronger with every event like this. It means that Arab societies and Middle Eastern communities have another sign of hope that can inspire them to revolt peacefully and nonviolently against their oppressive regimes.” – Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute, American University

The people of Egypt have achieved a tremendous victory, one that has inspired the whole world to celebrate. The possibilities it raises for peace and democracy not only give hope to a region beset by authoritarian rule and Western intervention, but prove that nonviolent action is alive and well in the Muslim world.

Unfortunately, this latter point is often lost or overlooked by our major media outlets, whose experts and analysts have so little knowledge of the history and dynamics of nonviolence that they typically don’t know how to interpret what they’ve just seen. To counter this shortcoming, Waging Nonviolence has asked a wide range of eminent thinkers to discuss their initial thoughts on this historic moment, the challenges ahead and what it all means for the future of nonviolent action.

We are presenting their responses as a series over the next few days. Here is the first installment.

What first came into your mind when you saw the announcement that Mubarak had stepped down?

“I was thrilled when I heard that the dictator Mubarak had left Egypt this morning, and said to myself ‘Thank God!’ I truly believe this was the work of the God of peace and justice, moving among the people, leading them to nonviolent social change for justice and peace. From Moses to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the millions of nonviolent movements in between, the God of peace is trying to wake us up, empower us through active nonviolence, and push us to confront tyranny, dictatorship, and empire and welcome the gift of nonviolent democracy. I’m grateful to the hundreds who gave their lives and the thousands who suffered for this breakthrough. And I hope and pray that Egypt does not start a new military dictatorship, that Vice President Suleiman, director of all Egyptian torture practices will step down, that all political prisoners will be freed, that the billions Mubarak stole will be put back into the economy to feed, house and heal the poor, that the border to Gaza will be opened freely, that free elections and free media will happen soon, and that all U.S. military aid will be turned down. More, I hope and pray that the people of the world will catch the spirit of nonviolent revolution that was present in those crowds in Tahrir Square, and do what they can to end tyranny, injustice, dictatorship, torture and empire everywhere. Thank you, people of Egypt, for your courage and daring nonviolent resistance. You give us all hope.” – John Dear, author of “Living Peace” and “A Persistent Peace”

“That the new wave of nonviolent revolutions which may liberate millions and inspire tens of millions may be underway. The situation currently evolving in Egypt may very well be the most significant geopolitical event since September 11th, as within less than 2 months almost 100 million people from Tunisia and Egypt have won their opportunity to expand their freedom and build democracy. This may well result in a huge wave of nonviolent social change on the scale of which it occurred in the 1980s in Eastern Europe.” – Srdja Popovic, Founder, Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).

“In 2011, Egyptian activists arose, mightily, setting an example for the world to celebrate in their ground breaking campaign to topple the dictator, Hosni Mubarak.  Crucial comparisons must be made between the United States/NATO campaigns that ostensibly aim at delivering democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and the means used by overwhelmingly nonviolent Egyptian activists.  Egypt’s public squares were filled by people who faced a menacing dictatorship backed up by The United States arsenals and the demands of Israel as a so-called ally.  Using multiple nonviolent means to swell their numbers, the Egyptian activists and, eventually, throngs of people brought the police state to a halt.  In contrast, invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, to name but two of the countries to which the U.S. was determined to bring democracy, have cost hundreds of thousands of lives.  Savage U.S. attacks have destroyed neighborhoods, infrastructure, lives and livelihoods, all in the name of spreading U.S. democratic values.  The Egyptian activists who poured zeal, intelligence and careful organizing into their campaigns for a truly democratic future are rooted in ideals that are, today,emblematic of dazzling realism.  Let us savor solidarity with humility and hope.” – Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

“I was surprised.  After his statement of utter intransigence the night before I was expecting more of the same.” – Mary Joyce, Founder and Executive Director, Meta-Activism Project

“Before joining the celebration about the overthrow of Mubarak, the United States government needs to apologize to the people of Egypt for its 30 years of propping up this vile dictator with tens of billions of dollars. The U.S. did it shamelessly, well aware of Mubarak’s violence to dissenters and well aware, too, that he took our money and then used it buy weapons from U.S. military contractors.

For 30 years, one administration after another—Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama–were major accomplices to the crimes Mubarak was committing against the Egyptian people. For Obama to join the applause for the Cairo protestors—and no doubt Clinton and the Bushes will also be clapping their bloodstained hands—suggests that he is intellectually numb to the nasty realities of U.S. foreign policies. This should be a time when his administration would come clean and tell us what companies were profiting in arms sales to Mubarak, as well as make public all the types of oppression Mubarak visited upon his people while we kept sending him money to do it.” – Colman McCarthy, Director, Center for Teaching Peace

“It is remarkable how the world is joining in this celebration of a victory of nonviolent struggle. I am now in the midst of a lecture tour on Gandhi around New Zealand, and when Mubarak announced that he is leaving, there was an immediate reaction of joy in Wellington, especiallly, of course, among the strong contingent of peace activists here. When was the last time that people around the globe expressed such jubilation over a political event? It is a classic case of the relevance of nonviolent power. I am in awe of the determination and courage of the protesters and want to add to those of millions,  my earnest best wishes for their continuing success. They deserve the democracy that may finally be born in Egypt precisely because they have adhered to nonviolent action.” – Dennis Dalton, Professor Emeritus, Barnard College

“I was not surprised (but very pleased!). It was very clear from the first day that the movement in Egypt had planned their actions carefully and had been effective in conveying the need for both sustained pressure on the regime and strict nonviolent discipline. Despite media portrayals to the contrary, the uprising in Egypt was not spontaneous and by and large, the movement was better at strategy, discipline, adaptation, and reading the opponent than the regime. The most telling moment was how, after the first big round of repression, the resistance got even more galvanized and determined.” – Cynthia Boaz, Assistant Professor, Sonoma State University

“I thought of the tears of my friend Dr. Emad Siyam, who has been sitting in Tahrir Square since the 25th. He has been in jail 18 times, by this regime and the previous one too.” – Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute, American University

“We are poised on the cusp of a new wave of active nonviolence to effect positive social change in the world. We should expect and facilitate the energy growing out of Tunisia and Egypt to echo around the world, not only in the conventionally viewed emergent democracies but in the purportedly long standing democracies which are only more nefarious in the ways they disguise the continuing violence and costs of militarism, materialism, and racism. As 1,400 of us from 42 different nations celebrated New Year’s Eve in Tahrir Square in January of 2010 at the conclusion of that iteration of the Gaza Freedom March knew after eight days in Eqypt, this pot was on the stove and the feast was stewing. May the banquet of nonviolence continuing to nourish the world.” – Mark C. Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliaton

The movement that ended President Hosni Mubarak’s thirty year autocratic rule not only has created a spectacular breakthrough for Egyptian democracy, it has bequeathed a priceless gift to the rest of us in every part of the planet.

For eighteen days the Egyptian people carried out an unarmed revolution with determination, creativity, and a daring willingness to risk.  They marched, they improvised, they prayed, they connected with one another.  Most of all, they stayed put—and invited the nation to join them.

Faced with a corrupt and dictatorial police state, such a movement might have been tempted to wage armed struggle. Instead, they reached for, experimented with, and remained largely steadfast about another way: nonviolent people power.

Hence the tactics they chose: Massive demonstrations, brazen and ubiquitous use of social media, befriending the army, work stoppages, and eventually the call for a general strike.

Nonviolent people power operates on the assumption that systems of violence and injustice are not absolute and implacable.  Rather, they are kept in place by pillars of support.  These props include the police and army; the media; economic forces; cultural and ideological structures; and the general population.  The job of a nonviolent resistance movement is to remove this support.  Key to this process is alerting, educating, and mobilizing a growing number of people throughout the nation or society to withdraw their consent – and to overcome their fear of the consequences for doing so.

By staying this challenging course over the past three weeks – in the face of jailings, torture, organized thugs, demonization by state media, as well as a series of government half-measures designed to prevent real change – the Egyptian pro-democracy movement pulled down these pillars of citizen consent, economic viability, a number of elites, and even state media.  (According to an Egyptian blogger who writes as Zeinobia, one of the state television news readers today said, “We apologize, we read lies against our own will.”)

As each of these supports gave way, the Mubarak presidency, despite its hubris and long-time projection of invincibility, was rendered powerless.

Read the rest of this article »

Today let us celebrate and applaud the courageous Egyptians who struggled to bring down another dictator and set a new course for their ancient and accomplished civilization.

That is about all we should say today—thank you and congratulations, sisters and brothers of Egypt. You have shown not only individual courage, but also a cultural strength that draws from deep rivers of resources, flowing from the stories of resistance for millennia in ancient Egypt (e.g., Shiprah and Puah), from the deep waters of Islam (including such giants as Abdul Gaffar Khan and Maulana Azad, Chaiwat Satha Anand and other heroes of nonviolent resistance), from the twentieth century torrents of nonviolent resistance. You have become models for a new generation that takes up not the gun but the computer, the demonstration, the fearlessness of struggle.

Tomorrow or next week we can talk about the pitfalls of transition, about how to prevent another military dictatorship or another theft from the people by those wishing to take advantage of a power vacuum. There will be time later to ponder the shallowness of what Julius Nyerere called “flag independence” when colonialism was conquered but the revolution was only state-deep, rather than shaking up the economic, cultural and social structures ossified by decades of tyranny.

But for now, let’s shout and dance and thank God and the people of Egypt for their light shining through the darkness of yet another tyranny now conquered by courage.

Celebrations are rocking Tahrir Square following the announcement that President Mubarak is stepping down after 30 years of dictatorial rule. 18 days of Egyptian protest and occupation of Tahrir Square forced his resignation and the transfer of power to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It remains unclear what role Vice President Omar Suleiman, who made the announcement of Mubarak’s departure after a confusing 24 hours, will have in the immediate future. The pro-democracy movement is ecstatic during this incredible, historic moment that no one could have predicted just a month ago. Not only is this an opening for a New Egpyt, but the future of the political and religious landscape for the entire region of the Middle East and North Africa.

February 11th is a day of milestones; today marks the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, and 21 years ago, Nelson Mandela was freed by the Aparteid regime in South Africa. But those past examples also remind us that this is a beginning, not the end.

In this moment of ecstasy, jubilation is the only response. Victories for justice, freedom, and democracy are few and far between these days. But it must be remembered, as so many protesters are saying so eloquently about on Al Jazeera, building a meaningfully democratic society will require people to continually stand up for their rights. (Let’s hope, for instance, that there isn’t need for another revolution against the military.) It has been difficult to keep up with all the interviews and who to attribute the statements to, but here is a small sampling from a mature, committed revolutionary: “This battle is only the beginning. We’ve gotten rid of Mubarak, now it’s time to get rid of the Mubarak dictatorship.” “We must continue the struggle to topple the whole, corrupt system.” “Unity is crucial at this stage. We need a democratic society based on social justice.”

Today is a beautiful affirmation of the power of ordinary people who, with courage, tenacity, and a commitment to nonviolence, are capable of changing the world. The world will look back on these past three weeks (and longer) to understand the organizing, the risks, and the context that made the Egyptian revolution happen. A price was paid, but Egypt is now free. There is much work ahead and many concerns swirling around, but the sun will rise tomorrow on a different Egypt. To the Gift of the Nile, Good Night!

Throughout the coverage of the uprising in Egypt, we’ve been repeatedly told that Egyptians trust their military more than any other part of the government, that it is a revered institution in the country. When military vehicles first appeared on the streets, after the police had been disbursed, the protesters greeted them with celebration. Now, while Hosni Mubarak’s power slips away even as he recklessly clings to it, the future of the country seems to be increasingly in the hands of the military. Is this a good thing? And if it’s true that the military is so trusted, is this trust well placed?

Mubarak himself rose to power through the ranks of the military, and we saw once again in his defiant speech last night how much he feels his authority rests on tales of military heroism. (The national Military Museum is similarly rife with propaganda that prefers silly glory over accuracy.) He became president after the assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat—a military man himself, part of the military coup that overthrew the monarchy in 1952—by Khalid Islambouli, also a soldier. Mubarak immediately began a brutal crackdown on dissent in the country, using torture and secret prisons. The choice of his recently-appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman, is an indication that Mubarak might have something similar in mind right now. Suleiman—a Soviet-trained soldier—headed the Egyptian intelligence services from 1993 to the end of last month (though his position only became public in 2000). During that time he was a notorious torturer and worked closely with three US administrations to do the war-on-terror’s dirty work in Egypt. Already there’s evidence that the Egyptian military is torturing protesters now.

Which brings us to the US connections more generally. Throughout this crisis, Mubarak has been insisting that the uprisings are being driven by foreigners. In fact, it is only thanks to massive US aid—and military aid in particular—that he has managed to remain in office all these decades. (This was particularly evident when we saw that the tear-gas canisters police used against the protesters said “Made in USA” on them.) Since Sadat’s 1978 peace treaty with Israel, the US has funneled almost $40 billion to the Egyptian military; last year, $1.3 billion went to the military, compared to only $250 million in economic aid. For decades, Egyptian soldiers have trained at US bases and military colleges, forging close ties with the US military at the highest levels on both sides. The legacy of this friendship is perfectly evident in the equipment on the streets of Cairo, where M1A1 Abrams tanks mingle with the protesters and F-16 Fighting Falcons are flying overhead. It’s hard to imagine, really, any institution in the Egyptian government more vulnerable to foreign influence.

Militaries are organizations designed to get what they want at the barrel of a gun, and putting them in charge of a country can’t help but be dangerous. Martial law is always a bad thing. But the Egyptian military in particular, with its history of torture and deep dependence on foreign aid, hardly seems like a player likely to have the best interests of Egyptians at heart. The Egyptian people should resist the temptation to trust their military. They should trust themselves, and win the military over. The power, as they’ve shown the world so spectacularly over the last three weeks, is really theirs.

Last December at Slate, Kathryn Schulz interviewed 22-year-old Josh Stieber on his choice to become a conscientious objector. (We’ve mentioned him previously on the site here and here.) Stieber grew up a devout evangelical Christian, and says that, at the school he went to,

Bush was presented as an example of what a strong Christian man should look like, and the global war on terror was presented as an opportunity to rescue an oppressed people and spread democracy through the Middle East, along with Christian and Western values.

But after going to Iraq, he quickly saw that the democratic values he went there to promote had no place in the training of soldiers or how they were expected to behave:

Pretty quickly after I got in, I started to see inconsistencies between how the military was talked about in such glorified ways [when I was] growing up, and then how it was acted out in training. Training was very desensitizing. We screamed slogans like, “Kill them all, let God sort them out.” We watched videos with bombs being dropped on Middle Eastern villages with rock and roll music in the background. People really started to celebrate death and destruction, and that definitely didn’t match up to what I’d expected. I’d told myself that I was willing to kill if necessary, but that wasn’t the same as celebrating it.

Stieber’s unit moved into an abandoned factory in Baghdad, and he watched as the populace staged a peaceful demonstration against them. Many of the residents were displaced by the soldiers’ presence. Before long, the protesters resorted to violent tactics.

They had tried telling us nonviolently that they didn’t want us in their neighborhood, and when that didn’t work, they tried telling us violently, by using snipers and roadside bombs and that kind of thing. And once they started to get violent, we started to get violent, too. It went back and forth and each attack seemed to be more severe than the last one. Eventually the escalation led to a kind of desperation on the part of a lot of soldiers.

It was then that Stieber refused orders to shoot an unarmed civilian. He began to see that he was part of a contradictory, useless, unwanted, and harmful effort.

Instead of standing by passively, Stieber opted to go to military prison after seeing a video about Gandhi. But his parents intervened and told him about conscientious objector status. His fellow soldiers were angry about his decision, but instead of returning their anger, Stieber tried to practice his newfound belief in nonviolence by listening and being empathetic; he found that it helped ease tensions.

Now Stieber is becoming a teacher and is reflecting on the shift in perspective he experienced in Iraq. The same beliefs in Christian morality and democracy that brought him into the military in the first place were the same ones that led him toward the realization that the violence in Iraq is unnecessary and wrong.

Data from the Governmental Accountability Office shows that the military processed 425 applicants for CO status from 2002 to 2006—a tiny portion of an organization with around 2.3 million people. (According to J.E. McNeil, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War, those statistics aren’t very accurate because they don’t account for applicants whose requests didn’t make it up the chain of command for a final decision.) Tellingly, it was Stieber’s parents, not his superiors in the Army, who informed him about the possibility of applying for CO status rather than going to a military prison. Perhaps if such information were more readily available to those in uniform, it would be opted for more frequently, and they would feel freer to voice their reservations about the policies they’re ordered to carry out.

As the protests in Egypt enter their eighteenth day, President Mubarak’s comments on Thursday clearly indicate his resolve to not leave his post until elections in September.  Egypt erupted in an anger reminiscent of the “day of rage” that marked the galvanizing of this anti-Mubarak resistance into a pro-democracy movement with considerable power to dislodge the current regime.  This is crucial stage, a turning point, in the movement. Mubarak’s steadfastness – stubbornness, rather – should not be surprising.  As a dictator who enjoyed 30 years of relatively unchallenged rule through a ruthless apparatus of state violence and repression against his people, the pro-democracy movement should indeed recoil in anger but not allow itself to be subsumed by it.  The distinctly Islamic symbol of taking off one’s shoes (which are ritually considered unclean) in protest of egregious wrongs is sweeping through Tahrir square tonight in response to Mubarak’s comments.

With the unions joining the protest, boycotts affecting the tourism income, and a general strike a coalescing, the people of Egypt are a force to be reckoned.  Thursday’s announcement of Mubarak “delegating” power to recently-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman are the last throes of an egotistical, desperate power holder seeking to save face.  The people of Egypt need to stay strong, utilize Mubarak’s anti-climatic announcement to strengthen the democratic movement by evangelizing the broader population by exposing the falsities of Mubarak and Suleiman.  The transition of power and a new government only begins once Mubarak, Suleiman, and the rest of his authoritarian cronies leave.  Use the time wisely.  Conscientize each other.  Pray with each other.  Continue to organize nonviolent trainings and create the alternative structures (meals, sanitation, security, etc.) needed to continue the occupation of Tahrir Square.  Hold meetings to clarify demands and to learn from each other about the direction of a new Egypt.

Certainly the anxieties of the Egyptian people are weighing on them in any myriad of ways.  Their bodies and spirits are stressed.  They must be wondering: “When will this end?”  “When can we go back to work?”  “Will we be attacked?”  “Are my friends and family okay?”  The nonviolent resolution or transformation of conflict requires patience and discipline.  Many popular movements, while appearing strong, have collapsed after having been waited out or overwhelmed by unexpected, violent repression.  As tomorrow might be the day of the largest protests yet, please, please do not turn to violence.  It may be painful, but not as bloody as it could be if Mubarak or Suleiman find reasons to give orders to their security forces to fight.  The Army announced today that it continues to stand behind the people, but recent reports of the Army detaining and torturing pro-democracy protesters has added to the confusion of which way the Army will through its considerable weight.  Regardless, tomorrow will be a decisive day in the future of Egypt.