#editorschoice { DISPLAY: none}#breakingnews { DISPLAY: none}#nav { DISPLAY: none}.c35r { DISPLAY: none}.leaderboardad { DISPLAY: none}.halfbanner { DISPLAY: none}#articlepagecontent { WIDTH: 100%}A { COLOR: #000; TEXT-DECORATION: none}Opinion
How to prevent an Egyptian uprising from happening in the rest of Africa
By KWAMCHETSI MAKOKHAPosted Friday, February 18 2011 at 19:15
A week ago today, 21 days of bedlam and mayhem finally got to Hosni Mubarak, and his patience snapped. He took a plane to Sharm-el-Sheikh, leaving those unruly Egyptians to their devices.
Mr Mubarak was the saviour of Egypt, having put away billions in family assets over the 30 years he was president. The savings are enough money to fund the budgets of the five East African Community nations for five years. He could still have saved more had he completed his life term in office.
As the vote counting gets under way in Uganda after yesterdays presidential election, the government there and in other African states, needs to take lessons from Egypt lest wildly popular leaders snap and give in to hoodlum pressure.
Egypt has been living under emergency law since 1967 during its war with Israel. The emergency law was lifted briefly in 1980 but was returned after Mr Mubaraks predecessor, Mr Anwar Sadat, was assassinated in 1981.
You would have thought that with the extended police powers, hungry people would be prevented from assembling. Public demonstrations were banned and 17,000 hotheads were in prison but still the country succumbed to the mob because of a few security lapses.
An autopsy of the events in Egypt reveals that a highly seditious pamphlet, entitled How to Protest Intelligently, was being circulated to poison the peoples minds. Governments that want to prevent an Egypt-style revolution need to ban the circulation of this publication in print, online and by word of mouth.
Besides banning the pamphlet, security forces should read it to better prepare for the few disgruntled youth intent on deposing popular governments on the continent.
The first counter-strike should be against the attempt to co-opt the security services into the so-called revolution. In Egypt, demonstrators printed and displayed signs with words such as Police and the People Stand Together against Oppression!.
Civilians befriending members of the police, the army, the wildlife service and so on should be criminalised. The government should increase the social distance between the disciplined forces and the public, while encouraging prospective protesters to rat on each other.
Secondly, purely as a preventive measure, people should be discouraged from having more than three friends and neighbours, lest they start assembling with them in residential areas, forming a large group and then walking towards major streets, government buildings and other public spaces. If people want to demonstrate, let them do it as lone individuals instead of seeking safety in numbers.
Thirdly, shouting positive slogans and encouraging others to join a demonstration should be illegal. Supplying the police with noise meters would keep the shouting to a minimum and prevent a demonstration.
Lastly, governments must restrict the purchase of a number of items that could jeopardise public order. Buying plastic bags, liquid soap, towels and spray cans should only be allowed after obtaining the necessary government licensing.
In Egypt, demonstrators poured liquid soap in plastic bags and threw it under the armoured personnel carriers and other police vehicles. The vehicles became unstable on the road and could not deliver anti-riot personnel to battle zones in time.
Wet towels would be stuffed in the vehicle exhaust pipes, thus stalling the vehicles; and the windscreens would be sprayed in red, blue and even white paint.
Spray paint was used in Egypt to colour surveillance cameras and the windshields of the armoured vehicles. Officers wearing helmets with visors also got sprayed and had to choose between sight and safety. This must not be allowed to recur.
Considering how much governments in Africa spent on buying tear gas, it is a shame that people should be able to make it ineffective by splitting an onion and sniffing it, as people in Egypt did. The purchase of large quantities of onions must be outlawed in the rest of Africa. The same goes for vinegar, which is said to be used for similar purposes.
Cooking pans and dustbins should no longer be sold with lids, lest youth bent on demonstrating turn them into shields for blocking police truncheons, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters.
Efficient spy agencies should be on the look-out for increased purchases of sweatshirts or leather jackets with a hood, protective eye goggles and scarves. Purchases of running shoes should also be restricted to licensed athletes. These items are dead giveaways for people intending to riot or otherwise come into contact with tear gas.
Banning Facebook and Twitter is just the beginning. Following these simple steps would close all avenues open to youthful rioters and save the rest of Africa an uprising.
kwamchetsi@formandcontent.co.ke
How to prevent an Egyptian uprising from happening in the rest of Africa
By KWAMCHETSI MAKOKHAPosted Friday, February 18 2011 at 19:15
A week ago today, 21 days of bedlam and mayhem finally got to Hosni Mubarak, and his patience snapped. He took a plane to Sharm-el-Sheikh, leaving those unruly Egyptians to their devices.
Mr Mubarak was the saviour of Egypt, having put away billions in family assets over the 30 years he was president. The savings are enough money to fund the budgets of the five East African Community nations for five years. He could still have saved more had he completed his life term in office.
As the vote counting gets under way in Uganda after yesterdays presidential election, the government there and in other African states, needs to take lessons from Egypt lest wildly popular leaders snap and give in to hoodlum pressure.
Egypt has been living under emergency law since 1967 during its war with Israel. The emergency law was lifted briefly in 1980 but was returned after Mr Mubaraks predecessor, Mr Anwar Sadat, was assassinated in 1981.
You would have thought that with the extended police powers, hungry people would be prevented from assembling. Public demonstrations were banned and 17,000 hotheads were in prison but still the country succumbed to the mob because of a few security lapses.
An autopsy of the events in Egypt reveals that a highly seditious pamphlet, entitled How to Protest Intelligently, was being circulated to poison the peoples minds. Governments that want to prevent an Egypt-style revolution need to ban the circulation of this publication in print, online and by word of mouth.
Besides banning the pamphlet, security forces should read it to better prepare for the few disgruntled youth intent on deposing popular governments on the continent.
The first counter-strike should be against the attempt to co-opt the security services into the so-called revolution. In Egypt, demonstrators printed and displayed signs with words such as Police and the People Stand Together against Oppression!.
Civilians befriending members of the police, the army, the wildlife service and so on should be criminalised. The government should increase the social distance between the disciplined forces and the public, while encouraging prospective protesters to rat on each other.
Secondly, purely as a preventive measure, people should be discouraged from having more than three friends and neighbours, lest they start assembling with them in residential areas, forming a large group and then walking towards major streets, government buildings and other public spaces. If people want to demonstrate, let them do it as lone individuals instead of seeking safety in numbers.
Thirdly, shouting positive slogans and encouraging others to join a demonstration should be illegal. Supplying the police with noise meters would keep the shouting to a minimum and prevent a demonstration.
Lastly, governments must restrict the purchase of a number of items that could jeopardise public order. Buying plastic bags, liquid soap, towels and spray cans should only be allowed after obtaining the necessary government licensing.
In Egypt, demonstrators poured liquid soap in plastic bags and threw it under the armoured personnel carriers and other police vehicles. The vehicles became unstable on the road and could not deliver anti-riot personnel to battle zones in time.
Wet towels would be stuffed in the vehicle exhaust pipes, thus stalling the vehicles; and the windscreens would be sprayed in red, blue and even white paint.
Spray paint was used in Egypt to colour surveillance cameras and the windshields of the armoured vehicles. Officers wearing helmets with visors also got sprayed and had to choose between sight and safety. This must not be allowed to recur.
Considering how much governments in Africa spent on buying tear gas, it is a shame that people should be able to make it ineffective by splitting an onion and sniffing it, as people in Egypt did. The purchase of large quantities of onions must be outlawed in the rest of Africa. The same goes for vinegar, which is said to be used for similar purposes.
Cooking pans and dustbins should no longer be sold with lids, lest youth bent on demonstrating turn them into shields for blocking police truncheons, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters.
Efficient spy agencies should be on the look-out for increased purchases of sweatshirts or leather jackets with a hood, protective eye goggles and scarves. Purchases of running shoes should also be restricted to licensed athletes. These items are dead giveaways for people intending to riot or otherwise come into contact with tear gas.
Banning Facebook and Twitter is just the beginning. Following these simple steps would close all avenues open to youthful rioters and save the rest of Africa an uprising.
kwamchetsi@formandcontent.co.ke
