Feral Jundi

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Strategy: Egyptians Share Secrets Of Uprising

      This is fascinating stuff. Like most folks, I have been following the protests and political upheaval with some interest. But what I am really interested in is the strategies and tactics behind such things.  Because really, the best way to win a war or achieve an objective, is to not fight at all. Removing a leader and it’s regime via internal uprising or coup (bloodless preferred) , is far better than expending all the resources, treasure and blood that is involved with conducting an all out war to remove such a beast.

     What I thought was most impressive is that it sounded like what won the day was really good strategy on the part of the activists, and not Twitter or Facebook or whatever gadgets that the media likes to point to as the source.  These protesters played a better game than the riot forces and the Mubarak regime did, and they did it by borrowing brilliance or what I call ‘mimicry strategy’.  They saw how the folks in Tunisia did this, and copied it.  They also used whatever communications tool they could to network the masses and get them to where they needed to be.  So they did word of mouth tactics, they used the internet, they used flyers, they used the cell phone and text messaging, they used everything they could to get the word out.

     Further more, on the technology side of things, there are more cellphones in Egypt than internet users.  And the government eventually shut down the internet, leaving protest organizers to go back to more traditional ways of organizing.  But as you can see with their strategy, they wanted to create just one successful protest that would get people off their asses and out into the streets.  Once they got the people out, the protest would fuel itself because people would be motivated by other people and their actions.  Momentum is what they were seeking, and that is what they achieved.

    Also, I really dug the ‘Site 21’ strategy mentioned.  I think Col. John Boyd would be impressed with this strategy, as would any military strategist.  The protest was well planned and executed, and it used decoy marches to fool the police.  With that planning, they were also able to create a focal point or schwerpunkt at this Site 21, and depend on the masses to collect there and overwhelm any police forces that could respond. This massive show of people would be the fuel for future protests. This would further build on the inception of the Tunisian success in Egypt idea in everyone’s brain.  Success breeds success.

     Also it should be noted that ‘know yourself, know your enemy’ was extremely important to the success of these strategists.  They had protested and failed before, so they had that to learn from.  They had years to study the Egyptian riot police and how they operated.  They also learned what it took to motivate the people through a source of constant give and take feedback gold on such places as Facebook, Twitter, and activist forums.  And lets not forget the simple act of just talking on a phone or sending text as well?  The cellphone to me was probably the most important technological tool used, just because it was the one tool that everyone in the country had access too.

     Now for the down side.  Who knows what the outcome of all of this will be?  Will the Muslim Brotherhood take over in Egypt? Are we seeing the seeds of a Islamic Revolution throughout the region, much like what happened in Iran back in 1979?  Will the military in Egypt join with the people and their desired leader, or join with Mubarak and hurt the people to break the uprising? Or will the military just dissolve? Not to mention how all of this will impact the price of oil, US regional strategies and national interests, or even Egypt’s neighbor Israel?

     I don’t know, but I do know that other political uprisings will emerge because now there is a template.  Mimicry strategy, along with adding that one little edge specific to their region is the kind of stuff we will continue to see. Most importantly, there is momentum building and oppressed peoples will be more enthused to do something. –Matt

Go to Site 21!!!! This is our Tunisia!!!!

Egyptians Share Secrets of Uprising

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

By CHARLES LEVINSON And MARGARET COKER

CAIRO—The Egyptian opposition’s takeover of the area around the parliament this week began with a trick.

First, they called for a march on the state television building a few blocks north of their encampment in Tahrir Square. Then, while the army deployed to that sensitive communications hub, they moved into the lightly defended area around the parliament to the south.

The feint gave a taste of how a dozen young activists managed to outwit Egypt’s feared security forces to launch a historic uprising now in its 17th day—and hint at how the organizers hope to keep pressure on a regime that has dug in its heels.

On Jan. 25, the first day of protests, the organizers had a trick up their sleeves in the impoverished slum of Bulaq al-Dakrour, on Cairo’s western edge.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Funny Stuff: Field Expedient Helmets In Egypt

Filed under: Egypt,Funny Stuff — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 2:58 PM

     This cracked me up.  It seems to me that a market for protestor riot equipment might be emerging out of all of this chaos in Egypt and elsewhere. –Matt 

THE MANY WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR HEAD IN A FIGHT WITH STONES

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square have resorted to a variety of headgear – at times comical – to protect themselves in the pitched battle against President Mubarak’s thugs.

Stones are the preferred weapon in this Old Testament-style fight within the Egyptian capital and the protesters have made use of whatever lies closest to hand.

There’s the man with a saucepan on his head, another with what looks like a latticed litter basket – so he can still see where the rocks are coming from – and another with a piece of styrofoam tied with a scarf to the top of his head.

In Yemen, one protester was even more inventive – he created a makeshift helmet with two baguettes, a chapatti and clingfilm.

Story here.

 

 

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Egypt: Security Companies Playing A Crucial Role In Evacuations

     Evacuation companies can charge anything from $5,000 for a simple security escort to the airport to more than $300,000 for the charter of a jumbo jet and a 15-man armed security team.

 

     With all of the news coming out of Egypt about the protests, this is the stuff that gets my attention. Right now there are numerous companies who are tasked with getting their clients out of Egypt.  It could be wealthy travelers and businessmen, or it could be the study abroad students.  And if you remember the chaos during the Israeli Lebanon war in 2006, there was a similar mad rush for companies to get their clients out of Lebanon. Hell, some of the same players from that ordeal are now involved with the Egypt crisis.

     With this post, I wanted to highlight some of the players for this deal. SOS InternationalControl Risks, Diligence Management Consultants, and Northcott Global Solutions were the companies mentioned below. I am sure these companies will be busy escorting and evacuating hundreds, if not thousands of stranded people. These kind of operations don’t come cheap either. –Matt

Foreign firms evacuate top staff

Bradley Hope

Jan 31, 2011

Hundreds of expatriate businessmen and their families are leaving Egypt as protests rage into the sixth day and encounters with authorities become increasingly violent.

More than 600 people are in the process of being evacuated from across the country in a joint venture between the security companies Control Risks and International SOS.

Other security companies across the region and Europe said they were beginning to escort clients out of the country and make plans in case the situation worsened.

“Today has been the biggest day so far,” Tim Stear, the Control Risks country manager for the UAE, said yesterday. “The moment that led to many companies starting to withdraw was when the military was asked to intervene. There’s very little noticeable uniformed police on the street and lots of looting.”

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