So what do people do when they are discontented with the government? Well, they may form demonstration and march through the street, calling on the head of the government to step down and defying the security. For the case of Egypt, hundreds thousand of protesters march on the street and demand President to step down after his 30 years in office (even longer than P.M Hun Sen if I'm not mistaken). The aftermath of this protest: the government has released a decree, ordering the central bank and stock market to close. Moreover, internet service and phone call service are also block. This move is aim to block the communication of the protests to the outside world. Still, there are ways to use social network by using (speak2tweet). I really don't understand this service from Google, but what I can tell you is that we can phone a line and speak in Arabian and their will be translation and it will be converted into tweet. Egypt biggest ally, the U.S, has urged the Egyptian government to have democratic reform in the government. However, Israel contrastingly is in full support of President Mubarak. The game of politics is played here.
From what we experience in this post-industrial society, there are countless protests in different countries. More often than not, the result from the protest is fruitless and could lead to casualties. Let's take China as an example, the Tianan-men Square protest, which the Chinese calling for democracy and freedom of speech. Eventually, the communist government violently suppress the protesters by using TANKS, which leaded to bloodshed. How cruel is that? Tanks are designed to use in wars to destroy enemies, not its own citizens. Another example is the protests in Thailand, both Yellow Shirt protest and Red Shirt Protest. The Red Shirt protesters suffered from hundreds of casualties and shooting from the police, whereas Yellow Shirt protesters received no interference from the police. I would not comment on this issue. The Red Shirt protester's attempt to call for a new election remained futile. There were no result even hundreds of lives has sacrifice.
So why do they still protest and sacrifice, event though they had in mind that it is unlikely for the government to step down? It is about the will of people who want a better lives, who want to have their voice heard, who want to bring change. However, change won't take place easily without sacrifice. People may call the protester stupid, but to them their actions are heroic and nationalistic. We cannot remain silent and keep our head down to suppression. Oppression will leads to rebellion.
