Unlike Communist revolutionaries of yore, the new leaders in the Middle East of what must be called the Islamic revolution of 2011 are not the object of veneration, something that Islam as a religion warns against.
However, while 1917 witnessed a Communist revolution against capitalism and imperialism led by a small corps of professional revolutionaries, 2011 has seen a mass, leaderless revolution facilitated by telecommunications, and in the case of the key Middle East, inspired by Islam.
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A Tunisian fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in a public square in a small town in December 2010, sparking protests that brought down dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and began a tidal wave of change both in the Middle East and farther afield. Add in the 2011 American withdrawal from Iraq and failed attempts to subdue Afghanistan and Iran, and the writing on the wall for empire is written boldly - in blood.
Hence, the Arab Spring of 2011 and the accession to power of Islamists via the ballot box across the Middle East. Hence, the unwinnable war against the Afghan people, that brought empire to its knees in fateful 2011, even as the slaughter of insurgents and civilians increased. Yes, the imperialists managed a clever ruse, invading Libya to depose the clownish Gaddafi, but the Islamists and fiercely independent tribes there are unlikely allies of empire.
The tsunami of resistance to imperialism surged throughout 2011 around the world, while the empire's leaders put a worldwide "missile defense" system in place. But even as radars and missiles were installed in Europe, the rising tide reached the empire's shores in 2011, as financial crisis led to rising poverty and unrest in the imperial center itself.
Taking inspiration from the Arab Spring, mass demonstrations in Greece and Spain erupted, and Wall Street, the empire's "heartland", was occupied. The "99 per cent" entered the political lexicon as the people vs. the ruling elite (the 1 per cent who own half of the country's assets). Even Israel and newly capitalist Russia witnessed mass demonstrations, as ordinary citizens began to realize how the system, or rather, how it doesn't work for them. The increasing disparity of wealth is a logical result of market fundamentalism and the control of the economy by financial capital.
2011 will go down in history as a year as fateful as 1917, when the blinkers fell away from the eyes of ordinary people in Russia, and they rose up against their oppressors. However, while 1917 witnessed a Communist revolution against capitalism and imperialism led by a small corps of professional revolutionaries, 2011 has seen a mass, leaderless revolution facilitated by telecommunications, and in the case of the key Middle East, inspired by Islam.
Even as the world environment degrades, even as imperial arms continue to kill, maim and choke demonstrators and insurgents both at the heart of the empire and in the heart of the "enemy", we can take heart in the new sense of human dignity which 2011 spawned, and fight the intrigues of empire with new vigor in 2012.
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