There will always be more of us that there are of them
Its always very hard for me to start anything when it comes to writing. Usually, all these thought cram up in my mind and its difficult for me to structure them into a coherent piece. Or a coherent rant. A coherent something, really. Alas, here is my attempt to put a couple of thoughts together about whats been happening in the last couple of months and especially since the Tunisia protests.
What we have seen unfold since October of last year has triggered a series of events which I thought would never happen.
First we got WikiLeaks, which proved to us how much the internet has changed our lives and how it defies censorship. It also showed us how afraid the powers that be are (a.k.a. the US government+corporations) of such a powerful tool. Governments were (and I think they still are) scared of people having access to this thing which is impossible for them to control. They were terrified of the internet being something they cannot censor. Their reaction was desperate and the U.S. demanded mastercard, paypal and visa to stop funding WikiLeaks et all.
They created out of thin air charges against the public face of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, accusing him of rape and sexual assault in Sweden. Sweden! They imprisoned Assange and started this smear campaign against the whole of WikiLeaks to lessen their credibility.
It didn't work.
People all over the globe started to realize what their governments were made of. A lot of people in the U.S. could not believe what their government was doing to stop information from being released. A large portion U.S. population, however, showed their true selves and started calling for Assange to be trialed against treason and compromising national security, all of these being ridiculous for if Assange was to be trialed for treason, all news agencies would have to be treated as traitors, too.
The media was also put to the test with this. A lot of newspapers turned their backs on Assange, which was quite scary. I don't have to go beyond what the National Press Club said when all this unfolded, they stated "Assange is not one of us" which was a sentence for WikiLeaks and whistleblowers all over the world. It was proven that the media has taken this stance of cowardice and disloyalty, threatening the very core of freedom of expression that they have fought for. This was a groundbreaking revelation and it let a lot of us to the realization of how corrupt and manipulative media has become in the U.S, hell, EVERYWHERE.
The Assange situation was sort of resolved but the impact that the leaked cables had was astounding. The world was watching with unprecedented attention and emotions were running high in a lot of places.
WikiLeaks proved to us that information is free, and no matter how hard governments try to keep us from it, the internet will always be there to break down the barriers built by those who want to control us and keep us in the dark. With WikiLeaks, government faced their worse fear: an informed population.
They know better than you and me that there is no turning back.
Then Tunisia happened.
An impoverished young man of 26. A graduate from collage. Unemployed. The only thing he had was a cart where he sold fruits. Unable to get a job, he turned to street commerce to support himself and his family. Then the police came. They said he did not have a permit. They took away his only livelihood. Angered and desperate, he set himself on fire in an act of self-immolation so his voice could be heard.
His voice, his reality, is the reality of millions all across this northern Africa country. His voice did not go unheard. This man triggered a series of protests all across Tunisia which led to the unthinkable: the demise of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a dictator that had been in power for almost 24 years.
This is unprecedented. Democracy in the arab world is non-existent and any kind of opposition to the GIP are met with intimidation, imprisonment and torture.
What happened in Tunisia has triggered even more protests all across the Arab world.
Now, to understand this, one must be aware of the fact that all governments in the Arab world are autocratic and most of them are dictatorships. There is no such thing as "public opinion" or "democracy" This applies to Saudi Arabia, the mother of all dictatorships, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, etc. Some of this countries are in control of "royal families" and some others have had their leaders imposed by the West, like Egypt. So, talking about civil movements, protests and demonstrations is like talking about Guatemala building an atomic bomb.
You get the drill.
So, when we see demonstrations in this parts of the world, when we see people being fearless and standing up, its quite the shock. Now imagine when this protests work and one sees a dictator deposed by the people he used to keep in fear.
It's beyond what words can express.
The events that took place in Tunisia and the unbelievable repercussions they had were an inspiration for the rest of the Arab world. People realized they could do something. That it was not pointless. That the protests had worked.
And this, ladies and gentleman, led to Egypt.
Never in a million years would I have thought protests of this scale and magnitude would take place. Let alone in Egypt, where president Hosni Mubarak has held a tight grip on the country since the 80s. What is happening in Egypt will be paramount to the rest of the region.
Now, a lot of people are comparing Tunisia with Egypt and it is my humble point of view that these two are incomparable. First of all, Tunisia is not a key element in Middle East politics and second, they are not a key ally to the U.S.
Egypt is so important because of this. Hosni Mubarak has been a key ally of the U.S. and has been a recepient of more than 1.6 billion dollars in aid. Everyone with a little knowledge of Middle Eastern politics knows that Mubarak has been working together with the U.S. and Israel, this is why the U.S. has given so much aid to Egypt. Egypt was the first to sign a peace treaty with Israel back in the 70s. Egypt holds control of the Suez canal which is key to international commerce and U.S. interests.
As you can see, Egypt is no Tunisia.
What is worrying is how the U.S. will look to influence the protests and its outcome. Earlier today I say a most disturbing headline in Al-Jazeera: "will the Egyptian people be allowed a democracy?" Allowed. Everyone knows that the U.S. will try to meddle in the people's choices. Hell, now that Mubarak has selected a "new government" (a decision that makes confirms he is completely out of touch) he has appointed Omar Suleiman as his new "vice president". He has appointed the chief of Egyptian intelligence to be his VP. Really? How stupid do they think we are? Are we not supposed to see this person was handpicked by the U.S.? Please.
Not only that but Mubarak has clearly shown he is completely out of touch with his people. In his speech, he said he would remove all of his government official but what he fails to see is that the people don't want that. Egyptians want him gone. His speech completely backfired.
And Egyptians have made their mind very clear to the U.S. Just this morning I was watching CNN and people were sending a very clear message to the U.S: do not support Mubarak. Do not meddle in our business. We do NOT want to hate America.
I think that pretty much sums it up.
Of course the U.S. will try to change the outcome of this protests. Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech that was both insulting and ambivalent in equal proportions. He clearly stands behind Mubarak but at the same time wants the protesters to be given freedom and dignity.
Dear Mr. Obama: you cannot support both the dictator and the people. Make up your fucking mind.
But, we all know what Obama really wants. He wants to keep control of Egypt and its politics. There is just no other way. Obama is now demanding for basic rights for Egyptian people, freedom of press, creation of jobs, etc. Where was this concern before this all started? When were these demands presented to Mubarak? Never, because lets face it: Obama does not give a damn about the Egyptian people. The U.S. only cares about their interests and Israel.
And Israelis must be shaking in their place. If Mubarak is overthrown, the Zionist state has no allies whatsoever. Add to the concoction the recent Palestine papers that were leaked by Al-Jazeera and you got a very scared Israel.
And with reason. Egypt has been key to the "peace process" in the Middle East. Egypt is in control of the Gaza strip and has been in charge of ensuring its kept closed.
The desperation of Mubarak is clear. He has sent the army to the streets and protests now have changed in nature. Reports of looting and violence all across the country are now very worrying. Mubarak's tactic, of course, is to send police thugs in civilian clothes to loot and destroy everything in their path, so people will call for order. The way to stop this protests is to send these people to wreck havoc and then, with the excuse of keeping order and putting an end to anarchy, mercilessly crush the protests at any price
I am scared of the military deployment. I am worried about the police looting in civilian clothes.
I am scared for my Egyptian sisters and brothers. But even more so, I am very proud of them.
If the U.S. keeps shoving their nose where it does not belong, this will have terrible consequences. Not only that but it will also prove that U.S. politicians are dumber than we believe and decision-making is made without any kind of foresight.
If the U.S. keeps meddling, they will prove themselves to be the worst enemy for Arab democracy and Arab people.
With all that said, I believe this is a very exciting time to be living. To be paying attention. Especially for someone like me, who is überly pro-Palestine.
I am most interested in what will happen in the next couple of days and specially I wonder about one country in particular: Libya.
There is no way back. The ball has started rolling and who knows where it will stop.
And in the end, we are all Egypt. That man who self-immolated in Tunisia is not an isolated act. It represents what 80% of the world population feels. That 80% who have absolutely nothing, who know hunger pains all too well. Those who have been exploited by the richest countries and are constantly called "collateral damage". Enough is enough.
And I am with them. Egypt is you and me, who are constantly worrying how to make ends meet while we see our government get richer and richer. Egypt is your mother, who works day and night to put food on a table.
Egypt is the millions unheard who had no choice but to grin and bear rulers who cared about nothing but themselves.
This is not isolated. We are all in this together.
Us, not them. Always us, never them
update 1: King Hussein of Saudi Arabia has openly condemned the Egyptian demonstrators.
Why am I not surprised? Scared, Generalisimo Hussein?
What we have seen unfold since October of last year has triggered a series of events which I thought would never happen.
First we got WikiLeaks, which proved to us how much the internet has changed our lives and how it defies censorship. It also showed us how afraid the powers that be are (a.k.a. the US government+corporations) of such a powerful tool. Governments were (and I think they still are) scared of people having access to this thing which is impossible for them to control. They were terrified of the internet being something they cannot censor. Their reaction was desperate and the U.S. demanded mastercard, paypal and visa to stop funding WikiLeaks et all.
They created out of thin air charges against the public face of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, accusing him of rape and sexual assault in Sweden. Sweden! They imprisoned Assange and started this smear campaign against the whole of WikiLeaks to lessen their credibility.
It didn't work.
People all over the globe started to realize what their governments were made of. A lot of people in the U.S. could not believe what their government was doing to stop information from being released. A large portion U.S. population, however, showed their true selves and started calling for Assange to be trialed against treason and compromising national security, all of these being ridiculous for if Assange was to be trialed for treason, all news agencies would have to be treated as traitors, too.
The media was also put to the test with this. A lot of newspapers turned their backs on Assange, which was quite scary. I don't have to go beyond what the National Press Club said when all this unfolded, they stated "Assange is not one of us" which was a sentence for WikiLeaks and whistleblowers all over the world. It was proven that the media has taken this stance of cowardice and disloyalty, threatening the very core of freedom of expression that they have fought for. This was a groundbreaking revelation and it let a lot of us to the realization of how corrupt and manipulative media has become in the U.S, hell, EVERYWHERE.
The Assange situation was sort of resolved but the impact that the leaked cables had was astounding. The world was watching with unprecedented attention and emotions were running high in a lot of places.
WikiLeaks proved to us that information is free, and no matter how hard governments try to keep us from it, the internet will always be there to break down the barriers built by those who want to control us and keep us in the dark. With WikiLeaks, government faced their worse fear: an informed population.
They know better than you and me that there is no turning back.
Then Tunisia happened.
An impoverished young man of 26. A graduate from collage. Unemployed. The only thing he had was a cart where he sold fruits. Unable to get a job, he turned to street commerce to support himself and his family. Then the police came. They said he did not have a permit. They took away his only livelihood. Angered and desperate, he set himself on fire in an act of self-immolation so his voice could be heard.
His voice, his reality, is the reality of millions all across this northern Africa country. His voice did not go unheard. This man triggered a series of protests all across Tunisia which led to the unthinkable: the demise of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a dictator that had been in power for almost 24 years.
This is unprecedented. Democracy in the arab world is non-existent and any kind of opposition to the GIP are met with intimidation, imprisonment and torture.
What happened in Tunisia has triggered even more protests all across the Arab world.
Now, to understand this, one must be aware of the fact that all governments in the Arab world are autocratic and most of them are dictatorships. There is no such thing as "public opinion" or "democracy" This applies to Saudi Arabia, the mother of all dictatorships, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, etc. Some of this countries are in control of "royal families" and some others have had their leaders imposed by the West, like Egypt. So, talking about civil movements, protests and demonstrations is like talking about Guatemala building an atomic bomb.
You get the drill.
So, when we see demonstrations in this parts of the world, when we see people being fearless and standing up, its quite the shock. Now imagine when this protests work and one sees a dictator deposed by the people he used to keep in fear.
It's beyond what words can express.
The events that took place in Tunisia and the unbelievable repercussions they had were an inspiration for the rest of the Arab world. People realized they could do something. That it was not pointless. That the protests had worked.
And this, ladies and gentleman, led to Egypt.
Never in a million years would I have thought protests of this scale and magnitude would take place. Let alone in Egypt, where president Hosni Mubarak has held a tight grip on the country since the 80s. What is happening in Egypt will be paramount to the rest of the region.
Now, a lot of people are comparing Tunisia with Egypt and it is my humble point of view that these two are incomparable. First of all, Tunisia is not a key element in Middle East politics and second, they are not a key ally to the U.S.
Egypt is so important because of this. Hosni Mubarak has been a key ally of the U.S. and has been a recepient of more than 1.6 billion dollars in aid. Everyone with a little knowledge of Middle Eastern politics knows that Mubarak has been working together with the U.S. and Israel, this is why the U.S. has given so much aid to Egypt. Egypt was the first to sign a peace treaty with Israel back in the 70s. Egypt holds control of the Suez canal which is key to international commerce and U.S. interests.
As you can see, Egypt is no Tunisia.
What is worrying is how the U.S. will look to influence the protests and its outcome. Earlier today I say a most disturbing headline in Al-Jazeera: "will the Egyptian people be allowed a democracy?" Allowed. Everyone knows that the U.S. will try to meddle in the people's choices. Hell, now that Mubarak has selected a "new government" (a decision that makes confirms he is completely out of touch) he has appointed Omar Suleiman as his new "vice president". He has appointed the chief of Egyptian intelligence to be his VP. Really? How stupid do they think we are? Are we not supposed to see this person was handpicked by the U.S.? Please.
Not only that but Mubarak has clearly shown he is completely out of touch with his people. In his speech, he said he would remove all of his government official but what he fails to see is that the people don't want that. Egyptians want him gone. His speech completely backfired.
And Egyptians have made their mind very clear to the U.S. Just this morning I was watching CNN and people were sending a very clear message to the U.S: do not support Mubarak. Do not meddle in our business. We do NOT want to hate America.
I think that pretty much sums it up.
Of course the U.S. will try to change the outcome of this protests. Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech that was both insulting and ambivalent in equal proportions. He clearly stands behind Mubarak but at the same time wants the protesters to be given freedom and dignity.
Dear Mr. Obama: you cannot support both the dictator and the people. Make up your fucking mind.
But, we all know what Obama really wants. He wants to keep control of Egypt and its politics. There is just no other way. Obama is now demanding for basic rights for Egyptian people, freedom of press, creation of jobs, etc. Where was this concern before this all started? When were these demands presented to Mubarak? Never, because lets face it: Obama does not give a damn about the Egyptian people. The U.S. only cares about their interests and Israel.
And Israelis must be shaking in their place. If Mubarak is overthrown, the Zionist state has no allies whatsoever. Add to the concoction the recent Palestine papers that were leaked by Al-Jazeera and you got a very scared Israel.
And with reason. Egypt has been key to the "peace process" in the Middle East. Egypt is in control of the Gaza strip and has been in charge of ensuring its kept closed.
The desperation of Mubarak is clear. He has sent the army to the streets and protests now have changed in nature. Reports of looting and violence all across the country are now very worrying. Mubarak's tactic, of course, is to send police thugs in civilian clothes to loot and destroy everything in their path, so people will call for order. The way to stop this protests is to send these people to wreck havoc and then, with the excuse of keeping order and putting an end to anarchy, mercilessly crush the protests at any price
I am scared of the military deployment. I am worried about the police looting in civilian clothes.
I am scared for my Egyptian sisters and brothers. But even more so, I am very proud of them.
If the U.S. keeps shoving their nose where it does not belong, this will have terrible consequences. Not only that but it will also prove that U.S. politicians are dumber than we believe and decision-making is made without any kind of foresight.
If the U.S. keeps meddling, they will prove themselves to be the worst enemy for Arab democracy and Arab people.
With all that said, I believe this is a very exciting time to be living. To be paying attention. Especially for someone like me, who is überly pro-Palestine.
I am most interested in what will happen in the next couple of days and specially I wonder about one country in particular: Libya.
There is no way back. The ball has started rolling and who knows where it will stop.
And in the end, we are all Egypt. That man who self-immolated in Tunisia is not an isolated act. It represents what 80% of the world population feels. That 80% who have absolutely nothing, who know hunger pains all too well. Those who have been exploited by the richest countries and are constantly called "collateral damage". Enough is enough.
And I am with them. Egypt is you and me, who are constantly worrying how to make ends meet while we see our government get richer and richer. Egypt is your mother, who works day and night to put food on a table.
Egypt is the millions unheard who had no choice but to grin and bear rulers who cared about nothing but themselves.
This is not isolated. We are all in this together.
Us, not them. Always us, never them
update 1: King Hussein of Saudi Arabia has openly condemned the Egyptian demonstrators.
Why am I not surprised? Scared, Generalisimo Hussein?
