In the last 3 months we have seen in the news changes in Tunisia, Egypt and revolts in Libya, Bahrain, Syria and Yemen, Morocco and Algeria. What is amazing about all this upheaval is that contrary to what most news media in the West would assume, it is not about Islam, but about democracy, economic opportunity, respect and human rights and the basic right to live your life in peace without fear of some crazy dictator who thinks he can stay in power for ever and then have his family continue to rule after his death with the help of the police and army. The youth of all those countries are the majority, are under 30 years of age, they are tired, they want a future like any young person anywhere. What we take for granted they do not have. Little is understood of how anyone can live in such a country with constant repression and fear. We have the luxury to say whatever we want, we live in a system of law and order, checks and balances, where politicians are accountable and can be voted out of office. But they live in total fear of the dictator and the police, where you are at the mercy of the arbitrary.
However it is interesting to note how for commercial interests many Western countries are very reluctant to support any popular upraising in the Maghreb, the Middle-East or anywhere else. Better for politicians to protect commercial interests of a few companies lobbying Western Governments than stand-up for what we preach about democracy. It is almost as if democracy is only for certain people in the developed world and not for others who live in the developing world.
ARTE, the French-German television network which broadcasts in Europe had a very good news report on those events, sometimes graphic and disturbing, but it did give you a very good understanding of the violence dictators are willing to unleash on their own people just to remain in power at all cost. In the last few days, Libya's Ghadaffi has been using cluster bombs to attack civilian targets. Such weapons are totally forbidden in numerous international treaties and to use them against civilians is a major crime against humanity and a war crime. Needless to say that his doing this now has basically condemn him to the rank of evil dictator, if anyone believed that he could be salvageable as a politician. In Syria, President Assad says he regrets all the deaths of civilian demonstrators, he is the one ordering the troops to shoot on his own countrymen, his father did the same thing before him.
All of them invoke the fact that if they should step down, chaos and trouble will ensue. What a lot of nonsense, also to scare people, the dictators like to point the finger at the boogeyman, Al Quaeda or Islamist elements, the Egyptian Brotherhood, they are behind all this unrest. One has to be a simpleton or very poorly informed to believe such lies from men who have been in power for more than 30 years and are basically incompetent and corrupt. The source of all their troubles is exactly the misrule of their regimes.
Difficult for us to understand such political systems where one man rules by decree with the help of a puppet parliament. But nothing last forever and the youth of all those countries are tired of the same old songs and now they have a real chance to change it all for the better. We should do all we can to support this Arab Spring and put greedy commercial interests aside. After all are we not the ones always ready to give lessons in democracy and human rights.
However it is interesting to note how for commercial interests many Western countries are very reluctant to support any popular upraising in the Maghreb, the Middle-East or anywhere else. Better for politicians to protect commercial interests of a few companies lobbying Western Governments than stand-up for what we preach about democracy. It is almost as if democracy is only for certain people in the developed world and not for others who live in the developing world.
ARTE, the French-German television network which broadcasts in Europe had a very good news report on those events, sometimes graphic and disturbing, but it did give you a very good understanding of the violence dictators are willing to unleash on their own people just to remain in power at all cost. In the last few days, Libya's Ghadaffi has been using cluster bombs to attack civilian targets. Such weapons are totally forbidden in numerous international treaties and to use them against civilians is a major crime against humanity and a war crime. Needless to say that his doing this now has basically condemn him to the rank of evil dictator, if anyone believed that he could be salvageable as a politician. In Syria, President Assad says he regrets all the deaths of civilian demonstrators, he is the one ordering the troops to shoot on his own countrymen, his father did the same thing before him.
All of them invoke the fact that if they should step down, chaos and trouble will ensue. What a lot of nonsense, also to scare people, the dictators like to point the finger at the boogeyman, Al Quaeda or Islamist elements, the Egyptian Brotherhood, they are behind all this unrest. One has to be a simpleton or very poorly informed to believe such lies from men who have been in power for more than 30 years and are basically incompetent and corrupt. The source of all their troubles is exactly the misrule of their regimes.
Difficult for us to understand such political systems where one man rules by decree with the help of a puppet parliament. But nothing last forever and the youth of all those countries are tired of the same old songs and now they have a real chance to change it all for the better. We should do all we can to support this Arab Spring and put greedy commercial interests aside. After all are we not the ones always ready to give lessons in democracy and human rights.
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