“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.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

With VIPs gone, mourning South Africans reclaim Madiba

Google – AFP, Mariette le Roux (AFP), 12 December 2013

A handout picture taken and released by the South African Government (GCIS)
 on December 12, 2013 shows people queuing at the Pretoria show grounds to board
 buses that will take them to the Union Buildings to bid farewell to Nelson Mandela
(GCIS/AFP, Jacoline Prinsloo)

Pretoria — Nelson Mandela was given back to ordinary South Africans, who queued in their thousands from early morning Thursday to file past his open casket on a day of viewing reserved for the public.

Until now, the cameras of the world have often been trained on leaders, VIPs and celebrities paying tribute to a man known for his common touch -- a man who related to princes and paupers with equal ease.

Ordinary mourners from all walks of life had also queued for hours on end Wednesday to view the body, but many were turned away by evening without having made it to the front of the long, winding line of people united in grief and gratitude for the father of their democratic nation.

People react as the funeral cortege of
Nelson Mandela passes by on its way
to the Union Buildings for the lying in state
on December 12, 2013 in Pretoria (AFP, 
Marco Longari)
Many returned on Thursday for another chance, with the entire day given over to general public access.

"My heart is so broken," said Anita Bodiba, 35, who arrived at the seat of government, the Union Buildings, hours before dawn to join the long queue that had already formed.

"I can't even sleep, I'm thinking of Madiba. He is the one who united us here in South Africa -- white people, black people, Indian people," she said -- using the clan name by which the democracy icon is fondly known.

On Wednesday, Mandela's distraught widow Graca Machel and other family members were followed by presidents, royalty and other international figures in paying their last respects in the amphitheatre of the Union Buildings where the Nobel laureate is laying in state.

It was here that he was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president in 1994, after emerging from 27 years' imprisonment.

Last respects

A woman cries after paying her respects
 to South African former president Nelson
 Mandela as he lies in state at the Union
 Buildings on December 12, 2013 in
Pretoria (Pool/AFP, Yves Herman)
A third day of lying in state will be held Friday, after which Mandela's body will be transported to his boyhood home of Qunu, ahead of its eventual burial on Sunday.

Thursday's programme began, as the day before, with Mandela's casket brought in a solemn cortege from the 1 Military Hospital to the Union Buildings.

Thousands lined the route as a black hearse, flanked by motorcycle outriders, carried the flag-draped coffin on its journey through the streets of Pretoria.

In the Union Buildings amphitheatre, soon to be renamed after him, Mandela's body lies underneath a perspex screen, dressed in the type of printed shirt that became his trademark.

Two navy officers stood by the coffin, their eyes downcast, and Mandela's grandson Mandla sat in a chair on the platform supporting the coffin.

Some visitors collapsed as they passed the coffin, felled by the weight of their grief, and were helped away by medical personnel and fellow mourners.

"It was so sad," Alinah Lekalakala, 52, said after seeing the body of her icon.

A woman reacts after paying her respects
 to Nelson Mandela as he lies in state at 
the Union Buildings on December 12, 2013
in Pretoria (Pool/AFP, Yves Herman)
"I needed to pay my last respects because I am so grateful for what he has done. This will help me to accept that he is gone."

For Tryphina Kau, 78, the event was a joyful one.

"I am very, very happy because his spirit is still with us, only the body is going," she said, recounting the day that Mandela shook her hand while she queued to vote in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

"I saw him at the beginning, and I came to see him at the end."

Lebogang Phillips, a 36-year-old police officer who had served on Mandela's security detail when he was president, remembered the man as "the friendliest person I have ever met".

"When meeting people, he would always try to speak their language, whatever it was."

The line of people queueing to catch a glimpse of their hero was already several city blocks shortly after dawn, and continued snaking around streets surrounding the Union Buildings by lunchtime.

Officers carry the coffin of Nelson Mandela
 to lie in state at the Union Buildings on
 December 12, 2013 in Pretoria (Pool/AFP,
 Yves Herman)
Some mourners were dressed in the vibrant yellow, green and black of the ruling African National Congress that Mandela once led, and many wore black armbands.

People carried posters bearing Mandela's likeness and many clutched miniature South African flags, dancing and singing revolutionary songs from the liberation struggle era as helicopters hovered overhead.

White South African siblings Sean and Louise Bos, 21 and 19 respectively, flew from Cape Town on Wednesday morning to be part of the historic occasion.

They queued until closing time without making it to the front, then returned at 5:30 am on Thursday, queueing about five hours to see him.

"We never met him so we thought we'd come to say goodbye," said Sean, as the pair rushed to catch a plane home afterwards.




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