I have been Watching the news on television, like many others and the huge demonstrations of people who have flooded the streets of Cairo and other major cities in Egypt.
This reminds me so much of the scenes on the streets of Athens in August 1974 when the military junta was just about to collapse following the invasion of Cyprus and the 7 years of repression. And it was younger people and students again who took to the streets and said enough is enough and that dictatorships have no place in modern society. It was also the students at the Athens polytechnic who occupied the college the year before and refused to surrender to the tanks who started the movement that would eventually bring down the regime, many of them were killed by troops loyal to the colonels but this gave rise to an unstoppable movement. There was more than a million demonstrators on the streets of Athens in August 1974 for a whole week which then led to the collapse of the colonels regime and their immediate arrest, the army there refused to fire on its people a situation very reminiscent to the events today in Cairo.
So the same is now happening in Egypt a country ready for change and a state that rejects dictatorship, people demand more.
I agree. I was in Athens in 1974 and it directly parallels todays events.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right, I was only 14 at the time but I remember the power and the energy of the people on the streets of Athens. 2 million protesters who were refusing to leave and go home until the dictatorship removed themselves from office. I am Hoping that the Egyptian people have a better future now.
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