"The
crowds get bigger and the dreams morph. The days of anger begin. Then slogans
are adopted that citizens wouldn't have dared utter outside their own homes
just days before. If police fire bullets to disperse the protesters, Barack
Obama opposes the excessive use of force and demands that the authorities hold
a dialogue with the protesters."
Recent decades haven't been
easy on the Middle East, with one explosion after another leaving its mark on
the region. We saw the Iranian Revolution uproot the Shah’s regime and impose a
new lexicon; The army of Saddam invaded Iranian territory; The Israeli army
occupied Beirut and forced Yasser Arafat to flee; We saw Saddam’s army invade
Kuwait, and the world rise to discipline him; and the Oslo Agreement was signed
in the White House Rose Garden. We saw the American war machine uproot the
Baath regime in Iraq and Saddam Hussein hang from the gallows; we saw Rafik
Hariri's corpse burn on a street in Beirut; and we witnessed the July War in
Lebanon with all of its meaning and implications. All the above were of great significance
and often danger. But it's no exaggeration to say that what the Middle East is currently
experiencing is more significant and more dangerous than all of these other
events. The fear that now afflicts the region is equally unprecedented.
What's happening now is not a
passing cloud. Just observe the events in Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco,
Bahrain and Iran. No - this is no short-lived wind. A storm has hit the region,
as is evident from the fact that Tunisia and Egypt no longer live in the shadow
of Ben Ali and Mubarak. Nothing indicates that the storm has lost its momentum
and that its impact will not expand further. We are clearly witnessing the end
of one era and the beginning of another.
No - this is no passing
cloud. Rather, it's a cluster of dark clouds that have amassed and have been innervated
by the prevailing electro-magnetic charge. States in the region seem worried
and confused, just like a plane that suddenly encounters a zone of violent
turbulence after its remote sensors malfunction.
The absence of precedents compounds
the difficulty of properly dealing with these events. Countries in the region
used to fear the dreams of officers in the barracks; groups that plant bombs,
drive booby-trapped cars or execute suicide bombings; or the traditional
opposition. The region has trained itself to address these types of challenges.
But today they confront something far more dangerous. Young people are flocking
from universities and high schools into the streets - and these young people
don't belong to parties, but share a common despair over current realities and
the desire to change them. Not motivated by an inspiring leader, their meetings
are facilitated by social networks. This open space protects them from the
practices traditionally adopted by states to silence the defiant,
aka/"nipping strife in the bud."
It is an entirely new reality.
One small demonstration may now end in the streets falling under the control of
protestors. The crowds get bigger and the dreams morph. The days of anger begin.
Then slogans are adopted that citizens wouldn't have dared utter outside their
own homes just days before. If police fire bullets to disperse the protesters,
Barack Obama opposes the excessive use of force and demands that the authorities
hold a dialogue with the protesters.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The new landscape has spread
fear among nations in the region. The barbaric way Qaddafi’s regime dealt with
protesters in Benghazi reveals the extent of his fear. The colonel has squandered
his time and his nation’s fortune on attempts to light fires of revolution and
uprisings abroad; but he sent his army into the streets when shouts of change
rose in his own country. He likes revolutions that occur far away. He supports
change provided it is distant. The way Iranian authorities dealt with protesters
yesterday also reveals a deep fear. The revolution that emanated from the power
of the masses today fears those very same masses.
The confusion and fear is
quite obvious. The landscape is bleak and volatile. Many countries have wasted decade
after decade suffering from poverty and marginalization, stumbling development,
a lack of institutions, poor education and unemployment. The dark clouds have gathered,
bludgeons are not enough and bullets are prohibited or extremely costly to use.
The time of peace of mind has ended. Excessive peace of mind is as harmful as
permanent anxiety.
