In this Feb 18, 2011 file photo, Egyptians pray and celebrate the fall of the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, and to maintain pressure on the current military rulers, in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. – AP
HISTORY, when it happens, tends to take you by surprise. This is especially true of the often violent upheavals that revolutions bring with them, and as far as those are concerned no one put it better than author David Mitchell: “All revolutions are the sheerest fantasy until they happen; then they become historical inevitabilities.”
But then something else happens, and this is particularly true in today’s world of hot takes and instant gratification: we pronounce movements as successes or failures based on whether they achieved their immediate goals in the time that we have allotted them.
