Left and right, they are all trying to understand.
Attempting to apply political analysis and knowledge to comprehend this overwhelming and allegedly "shocking" collective Arab uprising. But to no avail.
What we are witnessing in history is beyond science, it's beyond sociology, way beyond economics and class dynamics.
It's occurrences like these that are utter bafflement to analysts but ultimate elation to historians.
The irony is that we're so efficient at studying power struggles and ego trips, yet we're nowhere near close to understanding raw nationalist sentiment.
Most would not know how to give you a satisfactory definition of patriotism yet they are very capable of filling pages and pages on the science of control and authoritarianism.
There's no possible way of determining how these series of revolutions were ignited. Our only option is the metaphysical and the emotional. Faith, justice, frustration, vendetta, dignity, and humanity.
Arabs at this moment in history Arabs are collectively fearless. This is not about breaking stereotypes or proving ourselves to anyone. This is a matter of pure human dignity. Things that core nations take for granted and easily manipulate. Most "Western" nations cannot grasp the concept of being or having a member of their family incarcerated for years upon no criminal/civil indictment while suffering humiliation well beyond human threshold.
We complain about debt, responsibilities, work. They complain about suffering a back injury from a rocket-propelled grenade while hiding from mercenaries them down in hospitals. For the sole reason of speaking.
See, these people don't have the luxury of "complaint". They are not entitled to reprimanding their government representatives for federal budgets or health care.
You speak? You get ostracized, raped, beaten, killed.
Two days ago, Libyan protesters in Eastern Libya were killed with acid by the regime.
Dry charred residues of former selves, they were put on display on the streets of Benghazi to send the rest of the protesters home.
Yet the protesters' reaction is the zenith of revolutionary art.
They don't budge. They get even deeply moralized. Martyrdom further fuels purpose. It's a constant reminder of what it is that sent you to the streets in the first place.
Aside from politics, victory of Tunisians and Egyptians magnifies divine ethereal blessing. The drive of this revolution is more than human. It's beyond us yet it pulls us.
Most are hungry to witness Muammar Qadhafi suffer the savagery similar (if not harsher) to the very one he has been orchestrating upon Africans as well as his people for the past four decades. As much as I would love to see nothing but him be indicted in international court, no method of purgatory will be comparable to what he will suffer the day the sun rises from the West.
That's exactly what it's about: Human Dignity. It's so difficult to explain to the western mindset how instinctive and basic these demands are. And when there's an attempt to, they still try to force it into the realm of "Islamists", "Sharia" and the most selfish of all, "oil prices".
ReplyDeleteI think the ramifications and complete psychological reprogramming of the west will take some time. For years they have seen the east as little more than oppressed women needing to be "rescued" and uneducated men wanting theocracy. The "moderates" a la Mubarak were the west's necessary evil, if not heroes, for aiding in the "war on terror".
But again, this is about basic human dignity.
The US loves defining events in its own terms and definitions. Unfortunately, their foreign policy vocabulary is limited to "extremist" and "Iran". It's a shame that the most economically and militarily capable nation in the world is so shortsighted.
ReplyDelete