The revolution in Egypt has had me glued to my digital screens. I have constantly been watching the Aljazeera English live stream online in want of always wanting to be updated as the US news channels coverage has been lacking.
What I notice more on Aljazeera is a local coverage of the Egyptian people and their struggle for freedom. American coverage has predictably been US-centric, and asking how the outcomes could affect US relations in the Middle East, and how this could affect Israel, our main ally in the region.
Image by Muhammad ?????? via Flickr
While this may be pragmatic, it diminishes the struggle that the Egyptian people have expressed on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. Media pundits have been discussing that the stance of the Obama administration of not
supporting Mubarak, an ally of more than 30 years, and thus have shown support of the protesters.
Israel fears losing an ally in Mubarak and fear the void that his expulsion would leave behind. Yes, it is not known who will lead Egypt next, but that is the cost of democracy. If we truly stand for the principle rather than democr
acy being meaningless rhetoric to spout out when one needs to justify foreign policy choices, than we should support the revolution and not fear it.
The despicable hypocrisy in American foreign policy in supporting democracy whilst propping up friendly d
ictators has to cease! I applaud the Obama administration for treading the fine line between pragmatism and silent support of the Egyptian people. There is cleverness in not supporting the revolution out loud, as some would interpret it as US involvement. I, however, deplore the pundits for trivializing a democratic revolution. How can we promote
democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan and stand against them in the rest of the world?
People have taken inspiration throughout the Middle East after the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Protests have broken out in Morocco and Yemen. The King Abdullah II of Jordan has dissolved his parliament and ordered to implement changes (though this may only be superficial). Even China has blocked searches of Egypt in fear of a revolution.
While I was thinking about the struggles of the Egyptian people and eagerly anticipating their success, in contrast to the pundits at MSNBC and Fox News, the remembered the powerful words of Bob Dylan, “there’s a battle outside and it’s raging. It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times they are a-changing.”
The revolution is happening now, to oppose it now would be futile and irresponsible.
