Lessons Learned from the Egyptian Revolution

My friend Maurizio Mariotti wrote this, originally posted it on the Cybermind email list, and granted me permission to share it here.

How to make a successful revolution. 

* Occupy the square.  

* Stay in the square. Many important demonstrations, like the one
protesting the Iraq war, failed because people did not stay in the
square.  

* How to attract and maintain the attention of TV viewers. That's a
critically important part because a) Western viewers have conservative
tendencies, and b) have a short attention span for viewing things other
than The Bold & the Beautiful, Two and Half Men, Desperate Housewives,
Eastenders, Coronation Street, and other, similarly intellectual forms
of divertissement.

* Do not break anything in the square. The eyes of the world are on
you, and you don't want to be perceived as hooligans.  

* Equally, do not fight the Police or throw anything at them. You do
not want to be perceived as anarchists or worse, socialists, enemies of
the Law & Order that Western viewers cherish so much, either on TV or
in real life. 

* Tweet. Now, stop chirping like a bird. I mean, use Twitter.  

* Stop using Facebook for molesting sheep in Farmville, interacting
with imaginary friends, and being in touch with a retarded distant
cousin. Instead, use it to make your point(s) to tens of millions of
users around the world.  

* Express your demand in a short and sharp way which TV viewers can
understand and remember. If you want an Evil Leader (tm) to go, just
chant "<Name of Evil Leader>, GO!"

* If you are successful, TV viewers will watch what you are doing as a
gripping 24/7 reality show, like The Truman Show, except it's on TV.
You got the world's attention.

* The support of World Leaders for your demands. World Leaders are just
as confused and unaware as they look, but that's when TV stations
Executives come into play. You see, by not watching their intellectual
shows mentioned above, the advertising revenues will plummet, and they
will therefore put pressure on World Leaders to ensure that your
demands (like, Evil Leader, GO!) are met, so the crowds will disperse
and TV viewers can go back to their important divertissements.

Good luck with your revolution.

Comrade Mau