The Friday before last I was at a demon­stra­tion in West Amman, the wealthier section of Amman, far from the layers of boxy concrete buildings that carpet East Amman, with its camps and its poverty. There were at least 100 unarmed riot police and perhaps 200 pro­test­ers and another 40 jour­nal­ists observing the activ­i­ties. That day the demon­stra­tions had been broken up amongst a few scattered sites, as opposed to one mass protest. Within Amman, there is a kind of moral economy to the protests: generally the pro­test­ers are “free” to say, “the people want to change the system,” or “the people want to end the corruption,” or “the people want to get rid of the prime minister.” What they cannot say is, “the people want to get rid of the King.” If they do, they will be thrown in prison, followed, beat up, or be the recipient of death threats. Social mobi­liza­tion in Jordan creates pressure, and that pressure is released when the King deposes and then replaces his cabinet, a kind of social pressure release valve.