After Tunisia, Egypt takes to the streets. Is this the end of authoritarianism in the Muslim world?
- Thread starter awan4ever
- Start date
awan4ever
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
THE TRAGIC LIFE OF A STREET VENDOR
In a country where officials have little concern for the rights of citizens, there was nothing extraordinary about humiliating a young man trying to sell fruit and vegetables to support his family.
Yet when Mohamed Bouazizi poured inflammable liquid over his body and set himself alight outside the local municipal office, his act of protest cemented a revolt that would ultimately end President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year-rule.
Local police officers had been picking on Bouazizi for years, ever since he was a child. For his family, there is some comfort that their personal loss has had such stunning political consequences.
"I don't want Mohamed's death to be wasted," Menobia Bouazizi, his mother, said. "Mohamed was the key to this revolt."
Simple, troubled life
Mohamed Bouazizi was 10 years old when he became the main provider for his family, selling fresh produce in the local market. He stayed in high school long enough to sit his baccalaureate exam, but did not graduate. (He never attended university, contrary to what many news organisations have reported).
Bouazizi's father died when he was three years old. His elder brother lives away from the family, in Sfax. Though his mother remarried, her second husband suffers from poor health and is unable to find regular work.
"He didn't expect to study, because we didn't have the money," his mother said.
At age of 19, Mohamed halted his studies in order to work fulltime, to help offer his five younger siblings the chance to stay in school.
"My sister was the one in university and he would pay for her," Samya Bouazizi, one of his sisters, said. "And I am still a student and he would spend money on me."
He applied to join the army, but was refused, as were other successive job applications. With his family dependant on him, there were few options other than to continue going to market.
By all accounts, Bouazizi, just 26 when he died earlier this month, was honest and hardworking. Every day, he would take his wooden cart to the supermarket and load it would fruit and vegetables. Then he would walk it more than two kilometres to the local souk.
Police abuse
And nearly everyday, he was bullied by local police officers.
"Since he was a child, they were mistreating him. He was used to it," Hajlaoui Jaafer, a close friend of Bouazizi, said. "I saw him humiliated."
The body of the man who started a revolution now lies in a simple grave, surrounded by olive trees, cactuses and blossoming almond trees.
The abuse took many forms. Mostly, it was the type of petty bureaucratic tyranny that many in the region know all too well. Police would confiscate his scales and his produce, or fine him for running a stall without a permit.
Six months before his attempted suicide, police sent a fine for 400 dinars ($280) to his house – the equivalent of two months of earnings.
The harassment finally became too much for the young man on December 17.
That morning, it became physical. A policewoman confronted him on the way to market. She returned to take his scales from him, but Bouazizi refused to hand them over. They swore at each other, the policewoman slapped him and, with the help of her colleagues, forced him to the ground.
The officers took away his produce and his scale.
Publically humiliated, Bouazizi tried to seek recourse. He went to the local municipality building and demanded to a meeting with an official.
He was told it would not be possible and that the official was in a meeting.
"It's the type of lie we're used to hearing," said his friend.
Protest of last resort
With no official wiling to hear his grievances, the young man brought paint fuel, returned to the street outside the building, and set himself on fire.
For Mohamed's mother, her son's suicide was motivated not by poverty but because he had been humiliated.
"It got to him deep inside, it hurt his pride," she said, referring to the police's harassment of her son.
The uprising that followed came quick and fast. From Sidi Bouzid it spread to Kasserine, Thala, Menzel Bouzaiene. Tunisians of every age, class and profession joined the revolution.
In the beginning, however, the outrage was intensely personal.
"What really gave fire to the revolution was that Mohamed was a very well-known and popular man. He would give free fruit and vegetables to very poor families," Jaafer said.
It took Ben Ali nearly two weeks to visit Mohamed Bouazizi's bedside at the hospital in Ben Arous. For many observers, the official photo of the president looking down on the bandaged young man had a different symbolism from what Ben Ali had probably intended.
Menobia Bouazizi said the former president was wrong not to meet with her son sooner, and that when Ben Ali finally did reach out to her family, it was too late - both to save her son, and to save his presidency.
He received members of the Bouazizi family in his offices, but for Menobia Bouazizi, the meeting rang hollow.
"The invite to the presidential palace came very late," she said. "We are sure that the president only made the invitation to try to derail the revolution."
"I went there as a mother and a citizen to ask for justice for my son."
"The president promised he would do everything he could to save our son, even to have him sent to France for treatment."
The president never delivered on his promises to her family, Menobia Bouazizi said.
Contagious uprising
But by the time Menobia Bouazizi's son died of his burns on January 4, the uprising had already spread across Tunisia.
Fedya Hamdi, the last police officer to antagonise the street vendor, has since fled the town. She was reportedly dismissed, but her exact whereabouts are unknown.
Meanwhile, the body of the man who started a revolution now lies in a simple grave outside Sidi Bouzid, surrounded by olive trees, cactuses and blossoming almond trees.
He is sorely missed by his family, whose modest house is now one of the busiest in Sidi Bouzid, with a steady flow of journalists who have only just discovered the town where it all began.
"He was very sincere," Basma Bouazizi, his shy 16-year-old sister, said. "We are like soulless bodies since he left."
"We consider him to be a martyr," Mahmoud Ghozlani, a local member of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), said in an interview metres away from the spot where the street vendor set himself on fire.
Proof itself of the progress made in four short weeks: such an interview with an opposition activist on the streets of Sidi Bouzid would not have been possible until the day Bouazizi inspired the revolt.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/201111684242518839.html
In a country where officials have little concern for the rights of citizens, there was nothing extraordinary about humiliating a young man trying to sell fruit and vegetables to support his family.
Yet when Mohamed Bouazizi poured inflammable liquid over his body and set himself alight outside the local municipal office, his act of protest cemented a revolt that would ultimately end President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year-rule.
Local police officers had been picking on Bouazizi for years, ever since he was a child. For his family, there is some comfort that their personal loss has had such stunning political consequences.
"I don't want Mohamed's death to be wasted," Menobia Bouazizi, his mother, said. "Mohamed was the key to this revolt."
Simple, troubled life
Mohamed Bouazizi was 10 years old when he became the main provider for his family, selling fresh produce in the local market. He stayed in high school long enough to sit his baccalaureate exam, but did not graduate. (He never attended university, contrary to what many news organisations have reported).
Bouazizi's father died when he was three years old. His elder brother lives away from the family, in Sfax. Though his mother remarried, her second husband suffers from poor health and is unable to find regular work.
"He didn't expect to study, because we didn't have the money," his mother said.
At age of 19, Mohamed halted his studies in order to work fulltime, to help offer his five younger siblings the chance to stay in school.
"My sister was the one in university and he would pay for her," Samya Bouazizi, one of his sisters, said. "And I am still a student and he would spend money on me."
He applied to join the army, but was refused, as were other successive job applications. With his family dependant on him, there were few options other than to continue going to market.
By all accounts, Bouazizi, just 26 when he died earlier this month, was honest and hardworking. Every day, he would take his wooden cart to the supermarket and load it would fruit and vegetables. Then he would walk it more than two kilometres to the local souk.
Police abuse
And nearly everyday, he was bullied by local police officers.
"Since he was a child, they were mistreating him. He was used to it," Hajlaoui Jaafer, a close friend of Bouazizi, said. "I saw him humiliated."
The body of the man who started a revolution now lies in a simple grave, surrounded by olive trees, cactuses and blossoming almond trees.
The abuse took many forms. Mostly, it was the type of petty bureaucratic tyranny that many in the region know all too well. Police would confiscate his scales and his produce, or fine him for running a stall without a permit.
Six months before his attempted suicide, police sent a fine for 400 dinars ($280) to his house – the equivalent of two months of earnings.
The harassment finally became too much for the young man on December 17.
That morning, it became physical. A policewoman confronted him on the way to market. She returned to take his scales from him, but Bouazizi refused to hand them over. They swore at each other, the policewoman slapped him and, with the help of her colleagues, forced him to the ground.
The officers took away his produce and his scale.
Publically humiliated, Bouazizi tried to seek recourse. He went to the local municipality building and demanded to a meeting with an official.
He was told it would not be possible and that the official was in a meeting.
"It's the type of lie we're used to hearing," said his friend.
Protest of last resort
With no official wiling to hear his grievances, the young man brought paint fuel, returned to the street outside the building, and set himself on fire.
For Mohamed's mother, her son's suicide was motivated not by poverty but because he had been humiliated.
"It got to him deep inside, it hurt his pride," she said, referring to the police's harassment of her son.
The uprising that followed came quick and fast. From Sidi Bouzid it spread to Kasserine, Thala, Menzel Bouzaiene. Tunisians of every age, class and profession joined the revolution.
In the beginning, however, the outrage was intensely personal.
"What really gave fire to the revolution was that Mohamed was a very well-known and popular man. He would give free fruit and vegetables to very poor families," Jaafer said.
It took Ben Ali nearly two weeks to visit Mohamed Bouazizi's bedside at the hospital in Ben Arous. For many observers, the official photo of the president looking down on the bandaged young man had a different symbolism from what Ben Ali had probably intended.
Menobia Bouazizi said the former president was wrong not to meet with her son sooner, and that when Ben Ali finally did reach out to her family, it was too late - both to save her son, and to save his presidency.
He received members of the Bouazizi family in his offices, but for Menobia Bouazizi, the meeting rang hollow.
"The invite to the presidential palace came very late," she said. "We are sure that the president only made the invitation to try to derail the revolution."
"I went there as a mother and a citizen to ask for justice for my son."
"The president promised he would do everything he could to save our son, even to have him sent to France for treatment."
The president never delivered on his promises to her family, Menobia Bouazizi said.
Contagious uprising
But by the time Menobia Bouazizi's son died of his burns on January 4, the uprising had already spread across Tunisia.
Fedya Hamdi, the last police officer to antagonise the street vendor, has since fled the town. She was reportedly dismissed, but her exact whereabouts are unknown.
Meanwhile, the body of the man who started a revolution now lies in a simple grave outside Sidi Bouzid, surrounded by olive trees, cactuses and blossoming almond trees.
He is sorely missed by his family, whose modest house is now one of the busiest in Sidi Bouzid, with a steady flow of journalists who have only just discovered the town where it all began.
"He was very sincere," Basma Bouazizi, his shy 16-year-old sister, said. "We are like soulless bodies since he left."
"We consider him to be a martyr," Mahmoud Ghozlani, a local member of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), said in an interview metres away from the spot where the street vendor set himself on fire.
Proof itself of the progress made in four short weeks: such an interview with an opposition activist on the streets of Sidi Bouzid would not have been possible until the day Bouazizi inspired the revolt.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/201111684242518839.html
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No Friend. I am not advocating for dictators. I am just trying to wishing people of Egypt a prosperet future. What u think after hosni mobarak, America and Saudia will not interfear in Egypt. Egypt is like a key friend of America. America is helping them with money every time. Just listen also what Hillary Clinton said yesterday about Egypt. Egypt has 12-13 % liqvidity/income from tourist every year. I hope that these demonstrations will not make a big loss for this country and change will come soon. Otherise it will hurt the poor people of Egypt. Large number of poority in Egypt. Lot of people just struggling everyday to find food two times. I am just wishing them this change will be good for them it will not like a Iraq.
GeoG
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Bholay Badshah
KSA, where else
But don't forget American Azmooda Policy,
If some puppet becomes unpopular, have him Killed
and be friends with the next one
awan4ever
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
This is change from WITHIN. This kind of change is what is required in all Muslim countries led by dictators. It will show those who come in power down the line that the people can come onto the streets anytime. It shows the rulers that they can no longer keep the voice of the people stifled. It shows that people are fed up with living in police states. The people are breaking the fear barrier. They have nothing left to lose.
Abdali
Senator (1k+ posts)
Sleeping Giant Wakes Up..
By Yvonne Ridley
January 27, 2010 The Arab worlds sleeping giant has finally woken from its slumber after years of being drugged and mugged by the criminal West.
Having witnessed -- and experienced - first-hand the brutality of the Egyptian and Tunisian police and their undercover stooges, I can tell you that the uprisings of the masses took real courage.
Over the years, dictator Hosni Mubarak has traded on their fear, using some of the foulest methods of intimidation imaginable.
But like their counterparts in Tunisia, the Egyptian people are losing their fear and tearing away the chains of oppression.
The pharaohs police state is now teetering after a second day of protests.
Whatever the outcome over the next few weeks, I think it is clear that America and Britain can no longer manipulate and control the politics -- or lack of it -- in the Middle East.
Washingtons silence over the weeks of civil unrest on the streets of Tunisia was almost deafening, so when Barack Obama chose to congratulate the uprising only after Zine El Abidine Ben Alis plane was in the air, his message of support rang hollow. On Tuesday, he urged the Egyptian authorities to show restraint.
The worlds most powerful mans weasel words tripped from his lips as blood was shed on the streets of Cairo, Asyut, Alexandria, Mansura, Tanta, and Aswan as the people faced down hundreds of thousands of uniformed and plain-clothes thugs using water cannon and teargas.
The truth is the scenes of civil unrest from Tunis to Cairo speak volumes about U.S. and Western interference as much as the actions of the tyrants they have bankrolled and supported.
All of them have seriously underestimated ordinary Arabs. The brutality of tyrants has been allowed to go on for countless decades and the silence of the Western powers today exposes their own deep-seated racism and double standards toward the people.
Is the blood of an Arab worth less than that of an American? Its a rhetorical question and we all know the shameful answer.
With the exception of Iraq (and lets not go down the road of who created and supported Saddam), all of the governments in the Middle East are identified by their Western-installed family dynasties, sham democracies, and rigged elections, punctuated by extreme reaction to any signs of dissenting voices.
While these leaders have lived a life of luxury bordering on obscene, theyve carried out their orders from Washington, London, Paris, and beyond without question -- and this goes for the corrupt Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and his Palestinian Authority. If ever there was a dictator-in-the-making, its this odious man.
As Robert Fisk pointed out a few days back, the emergence of The Palestine Papers is as damning as the Balfour Declaration. The right of return for millions of Palestinians, for instance, was traded and eroded beyond measure.
From the West Bank to Gaza and the refugee camps beyond, Abu Mazen sold his people down the river. And the fact that Hillary Clintons predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, saw no problem in moving the Palestinians halfway across the world to settle in South America exposes the real contempt U.S. administrations have for the Arab people, not to mention those living in Latin America.
And why? For Israel, a festering pustule not the size of a South African game park, squatting in the Middle East. The creation of this nuclear-powered Frankenstein and the determination to force it on Arabs will turn out to be America and Britains biggest mistake ever.
But its not just the U.S. to blame. Britain under Tony Blair was a prime mover in overseeing the brutalization of the Arab world.
The UKs intelligence service, MI6, drew up plans to help the Palestinian Authority crush the Islamic political movement Hamas and resistance groups in the West Bank.
Documents -- part of nearly 1700 transcripts and emails leaked to the Al Jazeera network documenting more than a decade of Israeli-Palestinian talks -- shed light on a little-known role played by British security services in shoring up the corrupt PAs security apparatus. It was all done on Blairs watch.
The West has bribed, bullied, and cajoled Arab leaders into accepting the vile Zionist regime, to the detriment of their own people, and this is now coming back to haunt them.
The movement of the masses isnt just about oppression under tyrants, it is also about the creation and maintenance of Israel and the unconditional support it is given by the West and the Wests puppet leaders in the region.
Well, the sleeping giant has finally woken up, and when the people start to lead, their leaders will and are becoming irrelevant.
Israels biggest ally Mubarak must now be planning an exit strategy, wondering where he can flee to -- or even if he can rely any more on his Western puppet masters. They all turned their back on Ben Ali, didnt they?
In Lebanon, Americas friends are folding as a prime minister is appointed who will support Israels archenemy Hezbollah, and from the West Bank to Gaza, Hamas is seen as the peoples choice. The Muslim Brotherhood is being re-energized in Egypt, where it has been robbed of election victories over the years. They would be the ruling party if free and fair elections had ever been allowed.
And in the coalition unity government of Tunisia, alliances may well be made with returning and previously banned Islamic political parties.
Its only a matter of time before the rest of the tyrants come tumbling down like a pack of cards.
The game is up. It is over.
The Arab world is going to start to choose its own leaders. We in the West might not like the choices of the people, but we should respect their wishes.
Western leaders have a great deal to think about in the coming weeks as the Arab people decide how to shape their future in the Arab world.
But the first thing to do is send Air Force One around the region to collect all the dictators, tyrants, and despots on the U.S. payroll and take them back to Washington.
Like pet poo in New Yorks Central Park, you have to take responsibility for the mess your dogs make.
British journalist Yvonne Ridley is also the European President of the International Muslim Women's Union
By Yvonne Ridley
January 27, 2010 The Arab worlds sleeping giant has finally woken from its slumber after years of being drugged and mugged by the criminal West.
Having witnessed -- and experienced - first-hand the brutality of the Egyptian and Tunisian police and their undercover stooges, I can tell you that the uprisings of the masses took real courage.
Over the years, dictator Hosni Mubarak has traded on their fear, using some of the foulest methods of intimidation imaginable.
But like their counterparts in Tunisia, the Egyptian people are losing their fear and tearing away the chains of oppression.
The pharaohs police state is now teetering after a second day of protests.
Whatever the outcome over the next few weeks, I think it is clear that America and Britain can no longer manipulate and control the politics -- or lack of it -- in the Middle East.
Washingtons silence over the weeks of civil unrest on the streets of Tunisia was almost deafening, so when Barack Obama chose to congratulate the uprising only after Zine El Abidine Ben Alis plane was in the air, his message of support rang hollow. On Tuesday, he urged the Egyptian authorities to show restraint.
The worlds most powerful mans weasel words tripped from his lips as blood was shed on the streets of Cairo, Asyut, Alexandria, Mansura, Tanta, and Aswan as the people faced down hundreds of thousands of uniformed and plain-clothes thugs using water cannon and teargas.
The truth is the scenes of civil unrest from Tunis to Cairo speak volumes about U.S. and Western interference as much as the actions of the tyrants they have bankrolled and supported.
All of them have seriously underestimated ordinary Arabs. The brutality of tyrants has been allowed to go on for countless decades and the silence of the Western powers today exposes their own deep-seated racism and double standards toward the people.
Is the blood of an Arab worth less than that of an American? Its a rhetorical question and we all know the shameful answer.
With the exception of Iraq (and lets not go down the road of who created and supported Saddam), all of the governments in the Middle East are identified by their Western-installed family dynasties, sham democracies, and rigged elections, punctuated by extreme reaction to any signs of dissenting voices.
While these leaders have lived a life of luxury bordering on obscene, theyve carried out their orders from Washington, London, Paris, and beyond without question -- and this goes for the corrupt Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and his Palestinian Authority. If ever there was a dictator-in-the-making, its this odious man.
As Robert Fisk pointed out a few days back, the emergence of The Palestine Papers is as damning as the Balfour Declaration. The right of return for millions of Palestinians, for instance, was traded and eroded beyond measure.
From the West Bank to Gaza and the refugee camps beyond, Abu Mazen sold his people down the river. And the fact that Hillary Clintons predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, saw no problem in moving the Palestinians halfway across the world to settle in South America exposes the real contempt U.S. administrations have for the Arab people, not to mention those living in Latin America.
And why? For Israel, a festering pustule not the size of a South African game park, squatting in the Middle East. The creation of this nuclear-powered Frankenstein and the determination to force it on Arabs will turn out to be America and Britains biggest mistake ever.
But its not just the U.S. to blame. Britain under Tony Blair was a prime mover in overseeing the brutalization of the Arab world.
The UKs intelligence service, MI6, drew up plans to help the Palestinian Authority crush the Islamic political movement Hamas and resistance groups in the West Bank.
Documents -- part of nearly 1700 transcripts and emails leaked to the Al Jazeera network documenting more than a decade of Israeli-Palestinian talks -- shed light on a little-known role played by British security services in shoring up the corrupt PAs security apparatus. It was all done on Blairs watch.
The West has bribed, bullied, and cajoled Arab leaders into accepting the vile Zionist regime, to the detriment of their own people, and this is now coming back to haunt them.
The movement of the masses isnt just about oppression under tyrants, it is also about the creation and maintenance of Israel and the unconditional support it is given by the West and the Wests puppet leaders in the region.
Well, the sleeping giant has finally woken up, and when the people start to lead, their leaders will and are becoming irrelevant.
Israels biggest ally Mubarak must now be planning an exit strategy, wondering where he can flee to -- or even if he can rely any more on his Western puppet masters. They all turned their back on Ben Ali, didnt they?
In Lebanon, Americas friends are folding as a prime minister is appointed who will support Israels archenemy Hezbollah, and from the West Bank to Gaza, Hamas is seen as the peoples choice. The Muslim Brotherhood is being re-energized in Egypt, where it has been robbed of election victories over the years. They would be the ruling party if free and fair elections had ever been allowed.
And in the coalition unity government of Tunisia, alliances may well be made with returning and previously banned Islamic political parties.
Its only a matter of time before the rest of the tyrants come tumbling down like a pack of cards.
The game is up. It is over.
The Arab world is going to start to choose its own leaders. We in the West might not like the choices of the people, but we should respect their wishes.
Western leaders have a great deal to think about in the coming weeks as the Arab people decide how to shape their future in the Arab world.
But the first thing to do is send Air Force One around the region to collect all the dictators, tyrants, and despots on the U.S. payroll and take them back to Washington.
Like pet poo in New Yorks Central Park, you have to take responsibility for the mess your dogs make.
British journalist Yvonne Ridley is also the European President of the International Muslim Women's Union
islamabadi2
Banned
Re: Sleeping Giant Wakes Up..
When is your revolution coming?
When is your revolution coming?
Abdali
Senator (1k+ posts)
Sleeping Giant Wakes Up..
By Yvonne Ridley
January 27, 2010 The Arab worlds sleeping giant has finally woken from its slumber after years of being drugged and mugged by the West.
Having witnessed -- and experienced - first-hand the brutality of the Egyptian and Tunisian police and their undercover stooges, I can tell you that the uprisings of the masses took real courage.
Over the years, dictator Hosni Mubarak has traded on their fear, using some of the foulest methods of intimidation imaginable.
But like their counterparts in Tunisia, the Egyptian people are losing their fear and tearing away the chains of oppression.
The pharaohs police state is now teetering after a second day of protests.
Whatever the outcome over the next few weeks, I think it is clear that America and Britain can no longer manipulate and control the politics -- or lack of it -- in the Middle East.
Washingtons silence over the weeks of civil unrest on the streets of Tunisia was almost deafening, so when Barack Obama chose to congratulate the uprising only after Zine El Abidine Ben Alis plane was in the air, his message of support rang hollow. On Tuesday, he urged the Egyptian authorities to show restraint.
The worlds most powerful mans weasel words tripped from his lips as blood was shed on the streets of Cairo, Asyut, Alexandria, Mansura, Tanta, and Aswan as the people faced down hundreds of thousands of uniformed and plain-clothes thugs using water cannon and teargas.
The truth is the scenes of civil unrest from Tunis to Cairo speak volumes about U.S. and Western interference as much as the actions of the tyrants they have bankrolled and supported.
All of them have seriously underestimated ordinary Arabs. The brutality of tyrants has been allowed to go on for countless decades and the silence of the Western powers today exposes their own deep-seated racism and double standards toward the people.
Is the blood of an Arab worth less than that of an American? Its a rhetorical question and we all know the shameful answer.
With the exception of Iraq (and lets not go down the road of who created and supported Saddam), all of the governments in the Middle East are identified by their Western-installed family dynasties, sham democracies, and rigged elections, punctuated by extreme reaction to any signs of dissenting voices.
While these leaders have lived a life of luxury bordering on obscene, theyve carried out their orders from Washington, London, Paris, and beyond without question -- and this goes for the corrupt Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and his Palestinian Authority. If ever there was a dictator-in-the-making, its this odious man.
As Robert Fisk pointed out a few days back, the emergence of The Palestine Papers is as damning as the Balfour Declaration. The right of return for millions of Palestinians, for instance, was traded and eroded beyond measure.
From the West Bank to Gaza and the refugee camps beyond, Abu Mazen sold his people down the river. And the fact that Hillary Clintons predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, saw no problem in moving the Palestinians halfway across the world to settle in South America exposes the real contempt U.S. administrations have for the Arab people, not to mention those living in Latin America.
And why? For Israel, a festering pustule not the size of a South African game park, squatting in the Middle East. The creation of this nuclear-powered Frankenstein and the determination to force it on Arabs will turn out to be America and Britains biggest mistake ever.
But its not just the U.S. to blame. Britain under Tony Blair was a prime mover in overseeing the brutalization of the Arab world.
The UKs intelligence service, MI6, drew up plans to help the Palestinian Authority crush the Islamic political movement Hamas and resistance groups in the West Bank.
Documents -- part of nearly 1700 transcripts and emails leaked to the Al Jazeera network documenting more than a decade of Israeli-Palestinian talks -- shed light on a little-known role played by British security services in shoring up the corrupt PAs security apparatus. It was all done on Blairs watch.
The West has bribed, bullied, and cajoled Arab leaders into accepting the vile Zionist regime, to the detriment of their own people, and this is now coming back to haunt them.
The movement of the masses isnt just about oppression under tyrants, it is also about the creation and maintenance of Israel and the unconditional support it is given by the West and the Wests puppet leaders in the region.
Well, the sleeping giant has finally woken up, and when the people start to lead, their leaders will and are becoming irrelevant.
Israels biggest ally Mubarak must now be planning an exit strategy, wondering where he can flee to -- or even if he can rely any more on his Western puppet masters. They all turned their back on Ben Ali, didnt they?
In Lebanon, Americas friends are folding as a prime minister is appointed who will support Israels archenemy Hezbollah, and from the West Bank to Gaza, Hamas is seen as the peoples choice. The Muslim Brotherhood is being re-energized in Egypt, where it has been robbed of election victories over the years. They would be the ruling party if free and fair elections had ever been allowed.
And in the coalition unity government of Tunisia, alliances may well be made with returning and previously banned Islamic political parties.
Its only a matter of time before the rest of the tyrants come tumbling down like a pack of cards.
The game is up. It is over.
The Arab world is going to start to choose its own leaders. We in the West might not like the choices of the people, but we should respect their wishes.
Western leaders have a great deal to think about in the coming weeks as the Arab people decide how to shape their future in the Arab world.
But the first thing to do is send Air Force One around the region to collect all the dictators, tyrants, and despots on the U.S. payroll and take them back to Washington.
Like pet poo in New Yorks Central Park, you have to take responsibility for the mess your dogs make.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27358.htm
By Yvonne Ridley
January 27, 2010 The Arab worlds sleeping giant has finally woken from its slumber after years of being drugged and mugged by the West.
Having witnessed -- and experienced - first-hand the brutality of the Egyptian and Tunisian police and their undercover stooges, I can tell you that the uprisings of the masses took real courage.
Over the years, dictator Hosni Mubarak has traded on their fear, using some of the foulest methods of intimidation imaginable.
But like their counterparts in Tunisia, the Egyptian people are losing their fear and tearing away the chains of oppression.
The pharaohs police state is now teetering after a second day of protests.
Whatever the outcome over the next few weeks, I think it is clear that America and Britain can no longer manipulate and control the politics -- or lack of it -- in the Middle East.
Washingtons silence over the weeks of civil unrest on the streets of Tunisia was almost deafening, so when Barack Obama chose to congratulate the uprising only after Zine El Abidine Ben Alis plane was in the air, his message of support rang hollow. On Tuesday, he urged the Egyptian authorities to show restraint.
The worlds most powerful mans weasel words tripped from his lips as blood was shed on the streets of Cairo, Asyut, Alexandria, Mansura, Tanta, and Aswan as the people faced down hundreds of thousands of uniformed and plain-clothes thugs using water cannon and teargas.
The truth is the scenes of civil unrest from Tunis to Cairo speak volumes about U.S. and Western interference as much as the actions of the tyrants they have bankrolled and supported.
All of them have seriously underestimated ordinary Arabs. The brutality of tyrants has been allowed to go on for countless decades and the silence of the Western powers today exposes their own deep-seated racism and double standards toward the people.
Is the blood of an Arab worth less than that of an American? Its a rhetorical question and we all know the shameful answer.
With the exception of Iraq (and lets not go down the road of who created and supported Saddam), all of the governments in the Middle East are identified by their Western-installed family dynasties, sham democracies, and rigged elections, punctuated by extreme reaction to any signs of dissenting voices.
While these leaders have lived a life of luxury bordering on obscene, theyve carried out their orders from Washington, London, Paris, and beyond without question -- and this goes for the corrupt Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and his Palestinian Authority. If ever there was a dictator-in-the-making, its this odious man.
As Robert Fisk pointed out a few days back, the emergence of The Palestine Papers is as damning as the Balfour Declaration. The right of return for millions of Palestinians, for instance, was traded and eroded beyond measure.
From the West Bank to Gaza and the refugee camps beyond, Abu Mazen sold his people down the river. And the fact that Hillary Clintons predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, saw no problem in moving the Palestinians halfway across the world to settle in South America exposes the real contempt U.S. administrations have for the Arab people, not to mention those living in Latin America.
And why? For Israel, a festering pustule not the size of a South African game park, squatting in the Middle East. The creation of this nuclear-powered Frankenstein and the determination to force it on Arabs will turn out to be America and Britains biggest mistake ever.
But its not just the U.S. to blame. Britain under Tony Blair was a prime mover in overseeing the brutalization of the Arab world.
The UKs intelligence service, MI6, drew up plans to help the Palestinian Authority crush the Islamic political movement Hamas and resistance groups in the West Bank.
Documents -- part of nearly 1700 transcripts and emails leaked to the Al Jazeera network documenting more than a decade of Israeli-Palestinian talks -- shed light on a little-known role played by British security services in shoring up the corrupt PAs security apparatus. It was all done on Blairs watch.
The West has bribed, bullied, and cajoled Arab leaders into accepting the vile Zionist regime, to the detriment of their own people, and this is now coming back to haunt them.
The movement of the masses isnt just about oppression under tyrants, it is also about the creation and maintenance of Israel and the unconditional support it is given by the West and the Wests puppet leaders in the region.
Well, the sleeping giant has finally woken up, and when the people start to lead, their leaders will and are becoming irrelevant.
Israels biggest ally Mubarak must now be planning an exit strategy, wondering where he can flee to -- or even if he can rely any more on his Western puppet masters. They all turned their back on Ben Ali, didnt they?
In Lebanon, Americas friends are folding as a prime minister is appointed who will support Israels archenemy Hezbollah, and from the West Bank to Gaza, Hamas is seen as the peoples choice. The Muslim Brotherhood is being re-energized in Egypt, where it has been robbed of election victories over the years. They would be the ruling party if free and fair elections had ever been allowed.
And in the coalition unity government of Tunisia, alliances may well be made with returning and previously banned Islamic political parties.
Its only a matter of time before the rest of the tyrants come tumbling down like a pack of cards.
The game is up. It is over.
The Arab world is going to start to choose its own leaders. We in the West might not like the choices of the people, but we should respect their wishes.
Western leaders have a great deal to think about in the coming weeks as the Arab people decide how to shape their future in the Arab world.
But the first thing to do is send Air Force One around the region to collect all the dictators, tyrants, and despots on the U.S. payroll and take them back to Washington.
Like pet poo in New Yorks Central Park, you have to take responsibility for the mess your dogs make.
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KhanHaripur
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
KhanHaripur
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Re: Solidarity with the People of Egypt
