Commentary - Restless Electrons

What’s happening in many North African countries is not surprising to me. It’s like restless electrons. In a stable state they continue to revolve around the nucleus holding them together in their own orbits. No different than the solar system or the moving galaxies. However, when it gets to an unstable state it creates tremendous energy that can cause tremendous upheaval including the possibility of a “big bang”.

In social or national context, such unstable conditions are created by rampant poverty, inequality, injustice, corruption, unemployment, cost of living, fear of losing identity or becoming extinct. How deep these need to be before the society gets into an excited state depends on the strength of the atomic bond, i.e. prevailing social conditions such as tradition, acceptance of fate as if endowed by God, lack of education, ingrained master-slave relationship, passivity, fear, etc. So, different countries with very similar conditions may take different amount of time to get to an unstable state. Once in excited state and the energy is released, it tends to get back to a new stable state, hopefully devoid of all or some of the conditions that led to the unstable state. The new stable state is expected to bring some sense of equality, better distribution of wealth, more fairness & justice so that majority of the masses (electrons) can be held together by a bond or should I say a sense of dignity, pride, individual rights, i.e. right to food, shelter, education, health care, and justice.

Most of the older countries in Africa, South America, and the east (including countries like China and India with over 2 billion people) and those countries that suppress women’s rights (i.e. rights of almost 50%) are either already in or getting close to an unstable state. It’s just a matter of time for an uprising or a revolution to take place to change the status quo. When that happens no military power can suppress that social atomic energy released. It brings down societies, governments, nations to ashes. And from those ashes rises a new society with a new dawn, a new beginning.

If there is a lesson to be learnt, those societies getting close to an unstable state must eliminate or reduce the causes (poverty, inequality, corruption, injustice, etc) in order to avoid a catastrophic meltdown, only to start all over from scratch. Obviously, sometimes starting all over may be the only way out. Generally, irresponsible people, society, government in power create an unstable state for selfish, short term gain that eventually lead to their own downfall when the restless electrons (suppressed masses) get into the excited state releasing unstoppable energy.