It's 1848 all over again

Gosh. The last time in history that I can think of when protests against corrupt governments swept the world was 1848. Unfortunately, those protests did not result in immediate change, although they seeded much future change. Let's hope that protests such as these, as well as the other protests spreading throughout the Middle East represent a permanent shift in the paradigm:

Thousands of women rallied in eastern Pakistan on Monday to demand justice and protection for a woman who said she was gang-raped at the direction of a village council, after a court ordered the release of her alleged attackers.

BTW, the freedom protestors have one thing now they were utterly lacking in 1848: This time, they have America at their back.