On the whole, the majority of the population are not excited by these messages. We don’t seem to be being invited to march, demonstrate or (heaven forbid!) break any windows, we don’t seem to be hearing anything new. We don’t get excited.
But some people do. Every time we see a message saying “Watch this spce for a REALLY important message in four days time” we change to another channel or open another beer and settle deeper into our chairs, but there are those who are on their toes, at full alert, for the whole four days. Their nerves are tense, their sleep disturbed because they don’t know when they will be called to go into action. And then nothing happens. All those soldiers, keeping their weapons at the ready, and all the litle boys in grey and blue, itching to get out, throw a few tear gas canisters and crack a few skulls with their big batons, have not been able to concentrate on their food or get more than an hour or two of sleep at a time because they might be called on to stop a riot, get frustrated because there is no riot and quite soon they will start grumbling. They won’t take the next call to be alert, weapons at the ready, quite so seriously.
They might try to arrest a few people, but what is that to the millions who just sat back and watched their discomfiture on TVs, computers and phones? They were able to eat and sleep undisturbed and, if they were at first disappointed at the lack of action, they soon come to see its advantages. All those alarums and excursions did not demand anything of them, but they will slowly but surely, get on the nerves of the guys who used to be so keen on beating them and extracting bribes.
How long will it be before they start asking why they should be constantly disturbed for no reason? We don’t need to worry about the lack of action; we don’t lose any sleep over it. Our day will come, when the ordinary soldiers and coppers see that the joke is against them and maybe they should stand by their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters rather than the army generals and police commissioners who didn’t lose any sleep over the whole business. Haven’t you noticed that the army coups that really helped the people in other countries, started not from the generals, but lower down the line of command, with officers, if any were involved, who were far enough down the line of command to know the troubles of the ordinary soldiers? Yes, Colonel Nasser did invite General Neguib to present a “respectable front” to international diplomats and politicians, but he very soon discovered that was not necessary, thanked Neguib politely and retired him. Colonel Gadafi was known for his concern for the lower ranks of the army and society. And so down the line, through Captains Thomas Sankara and Ibrahim Traore, to the lowest kind of officer, Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, who straightened out a mess, handed power back to the politicians who made another mess, stood for election, served the allowed term as president and retired to be a much respected elder statesman.
Don’t look for salvation to the fat comfortable generals. A sergeant who knows and feels for his men, who know their parents’, brothers’ and sisters’ sufferings, is a better bet. And the top guys can’t sack all the sergeants.