Prepare for Change

http://www.truth-out.org/gates-warns-against-more-wars-like-iraq-and-afghanistan68092?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it,” Mr. Gates told an assembly of Army cadets here. It gives one pause to wonder whether, if the U.S. had left Iraq alone, it too might be on the current list of countries going through regime change.  One could also wonder if the trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost was worth it.

http://feb17.info/media/new-leaders-emerge-and-take-charge/ This is a great look in Libya about the instant problems that arise once the power of the dictator is gone. I heard Gene Sharp say on NPR that kicking out the dictator is only the beginning.

When I started this blog I figured economic forces were the main thing changing the world quickly.  But now with the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Morocco, Yemen, and elsewhere, there are other forces at work here as well.  The people have risen up to overthrow dictators who have been in place as long as 40 years.  Why did this happen now? My other blog, www.internetcollectiveaction.org , is about the influence of the Internet and other technology on social activism.  The Internet makes connecting to like-minded people not only easy but instant.  Organizing, distributing work, and staying in touch are simple, cheap, and instant.  This is not the only ingredient, of course, that makes today different than before. But it is the tool that makes such protest easier and cheaper to accomplish, and thus more likely. The influence of this wave of change is powerful and will last for a long time. China is concerned that they may be next for large ...

Egypt, Tunisia, and probably another country or two soon, have thrown off long-time dictators, using peaceful methods.  Gandhi got rid of British rule in India with nonviolence.  Many other examples since then show the power of nonviolent protest. The New York Times' article about Gene Sharp is interesting, and has some nice links as well.  I've never heard of Sharp, so now I'll have to read his "From Dictatorship to Democracy" and find out what the fuss is about.  The most amazing thing about these recent protests is that they are efficient.  There has been a lot of thinking and planning ahead of time.  This is in contrast to 1989 when the Chinese protested at Tienanmen Square, and were crushed by the military.  Shen Tong's book Almost a Revolution tells what happened there.  They were not prepared for their small protest to blow up into such a huge demonstration. They had to organize and improvise on the fly.  This caused all kinds of p...

http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/3233/why-do-programmers-write-applications-and-then-make-them-free "As an entrepreneur/programmer who makes a good living from writing and selling software, I'm dumbfounded as to why developers write applications and then put them up on the Internet for free. You've found yourself in one of the most lucrative fields in the world. A business with 99% profit margin, where you have no physical product but can name your price; a business where you can ship a buggy product and the customer will still buy it." I've been puzzling over this for a long time. How does our economic system deal with the many areas of our economy that have gone over or are going over to collective action?  Journalism is an example of this, where you can get good reporting from activists and bloggers for free. Video production that used to require a college degree can now be done by your 4th grader. Programming is of course a big one.  ...

  http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/02/gop_budget_cuts The U.S. is hobbled with a political party that puts ideology above economic sense.  "Shrink the government" and "taxes are evil" do not fix what is wrong with our economy.  Besides, as this article shows, the Republican Party does not even follow it's own ideology when passing laws. I don't see an easy solution to this when common sense takes a back seat to political memes.