2.18.2011

We Are All Egyptians

In Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, Bahrain, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Syria and beyond the vast majority can barely cover their meager needs, while the elites live lives of excess and greed. In Cairo we saw the people come from the slums into Mahrir Square, we saw the powerful in their luxury apartments overlooking the square having cocktails and lavish dinner parties. The same is true throughout the Middle East, throughout Africa, Latin America...

Same's true for the protesters in Thailand, in Burma, and China too. There is only one war, class war, the faces change from country to country, region to region, but the paradigm doesn't. As Anatole France said, “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”

The Iranian hypocrites are getting the worst press. Iran's elites supported the Egyptian and Tunisian protests, calling them as an "Islamic awakening" inspired by Iran's Islamic Revolution, but immediately clamped down as soon as their young Internet savy protesters hit the streets to demand freedom from the same archaic ruling mullahs. In Bahrain protesters face the monarchy of King Hamad bin Isa, whose Bedouin family has ruled the country for more than two centuries, i wonder if they tweet?

How different yet how alike our lives here are compared to those of our cousins around the world. Different in that far fewer of us are homeless-yet, far fewer spend half our income on groceries, far more still have dreams for their children. Alike in that the tyranny of the many by the few still forces millions onto the streets and into tent cities. We are all Egyptians, we share a common destiny, either we learn to equitably redistribute the wealth generated by the subjugation of our common birthright or we perish, some sooner, some wrapped in diamonds trying to eat their money a bit later.

"People's expectations have been raised and their tolerance for the old ways diminished. The remaining Arab regimes must now ask not if change will happen but how...The people are saying to their rulers: our countries, our futures, don't belong to you any more. They belong to us." - A Sense of Common Destiny