The "Leaderless, Spontaneous" Revolution that Wasn't

The "leaderless" "social media" revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt have struck me as requiring some explanation. Revolutions don't just happen. Revolutionaries plan for them, in painstaking manner. They only succeed under certain structural conditions. No matter how unhappy people are with Mubarak, something must happen to change the political environment from one in which protesters are few and outnumbered (and arrested) by police, to one in which protesters can completely overwhelm the police with their sheer numbers, as occurred in Egypt January 28th and subsequent days.

I expressed my doubts in a previous post, and said I would update as my understanding of the situation developed. Now I can (briefly) update with some additional information.

Newsbreak: The revolution was not leaderless. It simply didn't have a "face" already known to western media, like Mohamed AlBaradei. Instead, young leaders eschewed the media limelight. Organizing, not posturing, seemed to be their main task.

More: Twitter and Facebook did not "make" this revolution; people did. Their hard work organizing people on the ground is what made this happen.

More on all this later, but for now, I'll simply post a few links to essential reading on the details of my argument.

Wired and Shrewd, Young Egyptians Guide Revolt

An Egyptian and Tunisian Link that Shook History

Revolution U: What Egypt Learned from the Students who Ovethrew Milosevic

The Hopeful Network: Meet the Young Cyberactivists who have been Planning Egypt's Revolution for Years