2011 is turning out to be a very energetic year already. In one country after another, there is motion. In South Sudan, 99% of the voters favored secession and they will become their own nation July 1st. Since the first of the year, the population of Tunisia has ousted their authoritarian government. And this week, in Egypt, in what appears to be, at least partially, a response to what happened in Tunisia, the Egyptians cast down a tyrant who has held them captive (with the help and encouragement of the United States) for thirty years.The man in the YouTube video below was interviewed yesterday at a protest in front of the Egyptian embassy in London. He tries to contain his emotion, but ultimately gives witness to what it is like to taste freedom after a lifetime of waiting. Who else in the world would like a taste of freedom, I'm wondering tonight.
These may be signs of a new beginning for the nations of the African continent.
ReplyDeleteFrom your computer to God's ears, Blaque. And for us all, I hope.
ReplyDeleteI pray that they don't oust one leader only to get one who is worse in as we have seen in many African countries. I believe in one thing that the people know what they want what makes them happy and they are striving for it. It is my prayer that this uprising doesn't beget corruption and deceit
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile---US National Guard detachment is heading to Egypt: Connecticut National Guard Detachment 2, Company I, 185th Aviation Regiment of Groton has mobilized and will deploy to the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, to support the Multinational Force and Observers. Problem is-- our US government is pro-Mubarak.
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/flVVUi
Art: I agree.
ReplyDeleteJack and Jill: Thanks for the comment and the link. Always, always, the agenda unfolds to leave those with the ultimate power still in power. So we're back to Art's comment.
Sigh.
Even if it beget new corruption, democracy must be dealt to the peoples of these countries. The answer is never containment when the question is one of a society's degree of liberty. It is always a risk, as we in this country have found out, going back 300+ years. It continues. Look at present-day France, in many ways the most advanced Social Contract around, and looks who's in charge there! Those in office are always secondary to the mood of the people. We can move mountains, if organized. We can throw the earth off its axis.
ReplyDelete-peace in the valley,
benjamin
what's more, the empire must be overthrown. this isn't something that will unwind dialectically, of its own accord. this is a bloody empire. our country is a holding-ground to some of the most notorious criminal acts in modern history, and we put all previous empires to shame on scale or off. what we...excuse me--what THEY do and then profess to do are entirely separate and duplicitous.
ReplyDeleteThere's no other war but class war.
Welcome to my house, Benjamin. Yes, what has been happening in the past month in Africa has raised many eyebrows and much consciousness. We can't accomplish anything by just hoping things will get better. Nothing will change unless and until we are committed to make the necessary changes in the way things work politically and economically in the world. As long as all the power and pretty much all the money is in the hands of a handful of folks who inherited it, the human race is in trouble. And people of color, who have been exploited the most by those with the power to define, will continue to suffer the most.
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