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Arabs are democracy's new pioneersThe leaderless Middle East uprisings can inspire freedom movements as Latin America did before

Michael Hardtand Antonio Negri

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011 23.30 MT

!ne challenge "acing obser#ers o" the u$risings s$reading across north A"rica and

theMiddle %ast is to read the& as not so &any re$etitions o" the $ast but as original

e'$eri&ents that o$en ne( $olitical $ossibilities, rele#ant (ell beyond the region, "or

"reedo& and de&ocracy. )ndeed, our ho$e is that through this cycle o" struggles the

Arab (orld beco&es "or the ne't decade (hat *atin A&erica (as "or the last + that is, a

laboratory o" $olitical e'$eri&entation bet(een $o(er"ul social &o#e&ents and

$rogressi#e go#ern&ents "ro& Argentina to ene-uela, and "ro& ra-il to oli#ia.

These re#olts ha#e i&&ediately $er"or&ed a kind o" ideological house/cleaning,

s(ee$ing a(ay the racist conce$tions o" a clash o" ci#ilisations that consign Arab

$olitics to the $ast. The &ultitudes in Tunis, airo and engha-i shatter the $olitical

stereoty$es that Arabs are constrained to the choice bet(een secular dictatorshi$s and

"anatical theocracies, or that Musli&s are so&eho( inca$able o" "reedo& and

de&ocracy. %#en calling these struggles re#olutions see&s to &islead co&&entators

(ho assu&e the $rogression o" e#ents &ust obey the logic o" 1 or 11, or so&e

other $ast %uro$ean rebellion against kings and c-ars.

These Arab re#olts ignited around the issue o" une&$loy&ent, and at their centre ha#e

been highly educated youth (ith "rustrated a&bitions + a $o$ulation that has &uch inco&&on (ith $rotesting students in *ondon and 5o&e. Although the $ri&ary de&and

throughout the Arab (orld "ocuses on the end to tyranny and authoritarian go#ern&ents,

behind this single cry stands a series o" social de&ands about (ork and li"e not only to

end de$endency and $o#erty but to gi#e $o(er and autono&y to an intelligent, highly

ca$able $o$ulation. That 6ine al/A#idine en Ali and Hosni Mubarak or Mua&&ar

adda"i lea#e $o(er is only the "irst ste$.

The organisation o" the re#olts rese&bles (hat (e ha#e seen "or &ore than a decade in

other $arts o" the (orld, "ro& 7eattle to uenos Aires and enoa and ochaba&ba,

oli#ia8 a hori-ontal net(ork that has no single, central leader. Traditional o$$osition

bodies can $artici$ate in this net(ork but cannot direct it. !utside obser#ers ha#e tried

to designate a leader "or the %gy$tian re#olts since their ince$tion8 &aybe it9s Moha&ed

%laradei, &aybe oogle9s head o" &arketing, :ael honi&. They "ear that the

Musli& rotherhood or so&e other body (ill take control o" e#ents. :hat they don9t

understand is that the &ultitude is able to organise itsel" (ithout a centre + that the

i&$osition o" a leader or being co/o$ted by a traditional organisation (ould under&ine

its $o(er. The $re#alence in the re#olts o" social net(ork tools, such as Facebook,

;ouTube, and T(itter, are sy&$to&s, not causes, o" this organisational structure. These

are the &odes o" e'$ression o" an intelligent $o$ulation ca$able o" using the

instru&ents at hand to organise autono&ously.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/michael-hardthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/antonio-negrihttp://www.guardian.co.uk/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast/rounduphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wael_Ghonimhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/michael-hardthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/antonio-negrihttp://www.guardian.co.uk/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast/rounduphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wael_Ghonim

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Although these organised net(ork &o#e&ents re"use central leadershi$, they &ust

nonetheless consolidate their de&ands in a ne( constituent $rocess that links the &ost

acti#e seg&ents o" the rebellion to the needs o" the $o$ulation at large. The

insurrections o" Arab youth are certainly not ai&ed at a traditional liberal constitution

that &erely guarantees the di#ision o" $o(ers and a regular electoral dyna&ic, but rather

at a "or& o" de&ocracy ade