One critical factor that a successful revolt needs, as we have learned from Egypt, is wide publicity. That is why dictators have always censored reporters when these reports attempt to report their misdeeds. The case became very glaring in Egypt as reporters from various news networks, especially Aljazeera, were brutalized in the early part of the ongoing revolt. However, two ongoing protests in two other African countries have virtually not been noticed by the international news media, especially CNN which would like us to believe that they are focusing on Egypt (AC360) because they would want us to know the truth about the situation there. These two protests are those in Sudan (unrelated to the Southern Sudan independence elections) and Gabon. The one in Gabon has especially received less attention even as protesters are arrested and tortured by state security forces. Ali Bongo, who recently took over power after the death of his father who had ruled the country as his personal property for forty years, is now counting that no one will pay attention to what is going on in Gabon. Afterall, Gabon is not as strategically important as Egypt or Tunisia. Even more, according to imperial map-making, Gabon is in Africa while Egypt is in the Middle East.
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