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I'm more worried about the ease with which Police States (pre-2011
Egypt) and Military Dictatorships (pre-1980 Korea) are being
conflated. <br>
<br>
The military has not acted violently against the Egyptian people in
generations. Egyptians link their freedom to the military coup of
Naguib/Nasser, and hold the military in very high regard. The state's
Police forces, on the other hand, were feared and reviled by all
Egyptians, and were much more comparable to the old DDR's <i>Stasi</i>.
<br>
<br>
In the current revolution, there have been widespread reports of the
military assisting the populace in defending themselves against police
aggression: letting the people use tanks as barriers against police
gunfire, taking over police bunkers for the people to use, etc. When
the police regime was toppled last week, it was the military that
coordinated the people's checkpoints, which prevented anyone with
police ID from getting through and looting. A jaded commentator may
say this was in the military's own long-term best interest, but it is
in keeping with a long record of good relations between the military
and the people. The people of Egypt are chanting "The people and the
military are one!" in the streets, so they cannot be counted among the
cynics. <br>
<br>
Mubarak's Egypt was not a military dictatorship, it was a police state:
in that important sense, it was most unlike Korea under 박정희 / 전두환.<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:mailman.108.1297613912.4324.koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws@koreaweb.ws"
type="cite"><br>
while I understand the political side of it (unexpected collaps of
seemingly solid repression politics) I am a little worried when reading
Egypt and Gwangju in the same sentence, because somehow
(whithout mentioning the brutal behavior of the military and the
political cover-up) it may have the effect of belittling 8.15...<br>
Best to you, <br>
Werner</blockquote>
<br>
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