COMMENT Repression versus democratic dissent is an old story in human history, with victory - if not immediately, then sometime down the road - favouring the forces of freedom.

You would think that given the higher frequency of victories for the latter, projectors of the former, conscious of events such as the Arab Spring, would be reluctant to invoke preemptive powers in a face-off with the latter.  

But, as the philosopher Hegel warned, the Owl of Minerva flies only at dusk.

Hegel was saying that wisdom is an attribute that tends to take hold only at the drawn-out close to events, when fatigue sets in and hubris is exposed for the trap it is.

That is why with police power clenching tightly into a repressive sweep against all forms of democratic dissent, Bersih 2.0, the march planned for July 9 to push for electoral reform, has come to be draped in the mantle of iconic pronouns in freedom’s eternal battle with autocracy...