“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Egypt-Indonesia democratisation explored

The Egyptian Gazette, by Mohamed Kassem, Monday, May 23, 2011

JAKARTA – Egypt occupies a special place in Indonesia’s history and many Indonesians have not forgotten how Egypt was one of the first countries to recognise its independence from a colonial power.

Against this backdrop and the recent democratic transition in Egypt, there is a widespread international awareness of the similarity between Indonesia’s experience with democratisation since 1998 and the rapidly moving events in Egypt today.

Egypt is entering a period of historic political transition and is facing remarkably similar challenges to those that Indonesia had to deal with during the period of reformasi in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Following a popular uprising against a previously entrenched authoritarian regime, Egypt today, like Indonesia a decade ago, is attempting to rebuild its institutions of state and foster a new democratic culture and open political competition.

Conditions in Egypt today resemble those of the immediate post-Suharto period in Indonesia, with the closest parallel perhaps in the months between the resignation of the Indonesian President in May 1998 and the convening of the Special Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) in November whereby the agenda of reform was agreed upon.

Like that time in Indonesia, events in Egypt are moving rapidly with the holding of the referendum on constitutional reform on March 19 in Egypt and elections next September.

In light of political developments in the two countries, it is appropriate to compare them in other more basic ways. Indonesia and Egypt are of similar size and potential global significance and are pivotal in their respective regions.

Both have a moderate Muslim majority but with significant non-Muslim minorities; have a largely secular political culture but with challenges from Islamist minorities; and have had militaries with a major role in politics and the economy.

Given the similarity between the processes of democratic transition in Indonesia and Egypt, a workshop, organised by the Institute for Peace and Democracy, opens Wednesday in Jakarta to initiate dialogue between selected Indonesians and Egyptians regarding lessons and observations about the Indonesian experience that may be of relevance to efforts to strengthen democracy in Egypt.

This is not to suggest that everything that occurred in Indonesia from 1998 should or could be copied by Egypt, but that the Egyptians can select what they might find helpful. Mistakes as well as successes could be taken as inspiration or salutary lessons.

The objective of the workshop is first to hold dialogue and provide an opportunity for the Egyptian participants to be exposed to examples from a comparable country, not to develop particular proposals or solutions, say organisers.

The initiative of the workshop came from the Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD) as the implementing agency of the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) as a track to initiative.

The focus of the discussions would fall under the broad theme of “Setting the Agenda”: in other words, identifying what are the key tasks that need to be tackled in the immediate period to advance and consolidate democracy in Egypt.

The current situation is very fluid and the nature of constitutional and political arrangements in the post-Mubarak era are not yet clear. The most pressing task would appear to be to define what has to be done, how and when it should be done and who should do it.

Current debate in Egypt about what should be done appears to focus on questions such as the role of an interim administration, constitutional reform and early elections, the how and who embraces issues such as the place of the military in both the transition period and in future politics, balancing the respective voices of various majority and minority religious and socio-economic groups in the process of change, as well as the role of political parties and civil society in a new national political compact.

The when questions, especially the timing and sequencing of constitutional reform and elections, will critically affect the quality of popular consultation and participation and thus the nature of outcomes.

Topics of discussion include the role of the military in transition and their place in future democratic society, constitutional and political reforms, politics and state in Islam as well as the role of the media in transitional and consolidating democracy.


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