It isn't just internet access though, Dexter. It plays a large role in Iran because there is access, but other things work in other areas. Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have both run programs to supply camcorders to oppressed people. Khomeni took over Iran long before the internet was commonplace and an underground press survived using little more than mimeograph machines. In Saudi Arabia the outlawed extremists communicate through the mosques and the outlawed human rights/democracy workers communicate through cell phones and personal meetings.
You see similar things throughout all countries and societies that seek to oppress people...a resistance builds. When it meets critical mass, things change. Remember Lech Walesa going on strike...that had more to do with the end of the Cold War than anything Ronnie Rayguns did. Remember when the Shah of Iran was deposed? That was the Iranian people standing up and saying, "Enough!" That many of them didn't want religious rulers kind of got lost in the news spin, but all were tired of the devil they knew.
The same is happening throughout Islam. People are seeing that there is another way of life, and they like it. They are looking into Islam, actually reading and thinking for themselves instead of listening to the Imams, and finding that they justify listening to music and watching movies. That's a powerful thing, one we underestimate here.
Such things do undermine the authority of dictators and extremists. Knowledge and ideas always do.
You see similar things throughout all countries and societies that seek to oppress people...a resistance builds. When it meets critical mass, things change. Remember Lech Walesa going on strike...that had more to do with the end of the Cold War than anything Ronnie Rayguns did. Remember when the Shah of Iran was deposed? That was the Iranian people standing up and saying, "Enough!" That many of them didn't want religious rulers kind of got lost in the news spin, but all were tired of the devil they knew.
The same is happening throughout Islam. People are seeing that there is another way of life, and they like it. They are looking into Islam, actually reading and thinking for themselves instead of listening to the Imams, and finding that they justify listening to music and watching movies. That's a powerful thing, one we underestimate here.
Such things do undermine the authority of dictators and extremists. Knowledge and ideas always do.
