• by Johan Galtung
• Monday, February 14, 2011
• Inter Press Service

After 18 days of massive nonviolent demonstrations, Egypt's president Mubarak finally stepped down. This historic achievement by a million heroes was inspired by Tunisia, wrtites Johan Galtung, Rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University, is author of "The Fall of the US Empire - And Then What?"

What happens next may show the weakness of this type of nonviolence--as opposed to the Gandhian original. Gandhi did not demand the ouster of a viceroy, but the end of colonialism; swaraj, self-rule, and he got that. But he also argued sarvodaya, uplifting the poor and casteless, and was betrayed. So were the huge masses in Western Europe demonstrating against nuclear arms; they are still there. So were the heroic demonstrators in Leipzig in October 1989; they wanted a democratic East Germany, not absorption into capitalist West Germany. The nonviolent "rose" revolution in Georgia and "orange" revolution in the Ukraine were so clearly designed in the USA that they were caricatures of popular revolts.

But even when popular uprisings are genuine, states do not like to share power with people. And states have a number of tricks after some initial sharing, committees, even agreements.

Parliamentary democracies can use legislative power to put the issue to a vote in a parliament based on national multi-party fair and free elections --easily manipulated by the media. Only rarely will a majority in parliament yield to a majority in the streets. Direct democracies may call a referendum, but mobilize the non-revolting masses.

If the demands from streets do not win parliamentary, nor democratic, legitimacy, are they dead? Not if the nonviolent movement becomes better at conveying its message to the unconverted, reaching beyond streets and squares.

(*) Johan Galtung, Rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University, is author of "The Fall of the US Empire - And Then What?" (www.transcend.org/tup).

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM//

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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