Arab Spring

You know all that nonsense the talking head pundits in the corporate media have been saying about the Arab spring and Bush's success in spreading "democracy"? In case you didn't know, it's bullshit.

Although I have suspected for some time, when Bush talks about democracy, he doesn't mean a representative democracy with an open media, like we are taught to believe we have in the U.S. Rather, he means consumerism and opening markets to multinational corporations. And the two are very different.

Egypt is the perfect example. There is no sign the country is on the brink of democratic revolution, but it is in the midst of a consumer revolution. Yesterday, we went to one of the sporting clubs where wealthier Egyptians hang out to have a peaceful afternoon. We couldn't find Egyptian food but, sure enough, there was an A&W root beer burger joint. We then went to the new mall in Nasser City, which is insanely nice and huge. It has the Virgin Megastore, Nike, Cinnabon, Chili's, Puma, Fila, etc. There may not be the right to truly participate in the political process, but you are guaranteed to have choices in shoes and shitty fast food.

Then, there's the other dimension of all of this. People are getting more religious or at least they appear that way. Went to a family gathering last night, which was really well attended. All women, except one of my cousins, now cover their hair, but it was the exact opposite when I was a kid. Karla asked the lone holdout why she doesn't cover, which spawned a lengthy discussion about religion and the motivations to wear the higab.

To picture the Arab spring, one need only picture a bunch of covered chicks wearing Nikes and watching Britney Spears videos at the mall.