Probus is expanding in Canada. There are about 2000 people on waiting lists. A new mixed gender club has just been formed in Port Credit and another women only club has been added in Burlington. Hopefully our club will soon have a website to reach out to those looking for stimulating social interaction with like-minded people.
I have just returned from a trip to Tunisia, the Arabic nation on the Mediterranean Sea between Algeria and Libya, and the first to start the Arab Spring revolutions. They were also the first to succeed based on using cell phones. It started as a local protest initiated by the suicide of a young man in December 2010. It spread by Facebook and Twitter. There was no news of it on the government controlled TV or newspapers. A local rap singer sang about the corruption of the president/dictator and his family on YouTube which was supported by millions clicking on the “like” icon, which tallied their responses.
The people coordinated their surge into the streets in protest using their cell phones. They swarmed the president’s guard and disarmed them. In January the president fled to Saudi Arabia, and has been convicted in absentia of embezzlement.
Elections were held in October. Tunisia has a good chance of success, having a relatively secular and tolerant society and without the tribal divisions bedeviling Libya and other African countries.
See you at the Xmas lunch on December 8th !
– Dave Patterson