After a long walk in the early hours of Sunday morning trying to adjust my body clock to the one hour change from Greenwich mean time to British summer time, I was thinking of the words an Israeli friend wrote to me just a few days ago in response to my blog Liberty and Lightening.
" as to the content I endorse your proposal to give people the rights they seek. It is a real necessity around here. The problem is that " people " is not a unified entity, and each one understands the term " rights" in a different manner. I am sure that you and me understand it in the same way, but we are fortunate. It looks different from the prosperous Mayfair or Ramat Aviv neighborhoods then the rundown sections of Cairo or Gaza."
Wise words , but it puzzled me why our expectations or hopes should be different,nothing is as precious as one's freedom. Dreams, aspirations, and ideals mean nothing if one does not have the freedom to pursue them without fear of repression or reprisal.
The Arab Spring seems to be suffering from revolution fatigue as there are many forces at work that are afraid of change.
The Americans have stated that the brutal suppression of dissent in Syria is unlikely to evoke the same response as Libya.
The same applies to the Gulf countries where staunch allies are suppressing their people's right to economic and political enfranchisement and therefore the international community is prepared to allow their vassals to continue their rape and pillage of universally acknowledged principles of human rights for short term benefits.
Do not be fooled the ball has started to roll and regime change now only becomes a question of time.
The regimes that have managed to cling onto their seats by colluding with the west at the expense of their own peoples aspirations and desires are short lived.
When the late King Farouk of Egypt said "In a few years there will be only five kings in the world the King of England and the four kings in a pack of cards," he was not wrong.
With the advent of the information age , with the relative ease of discovery of information and the visual medium of television giving both news as well as lifestyle imagery it becomes so much harder to keep people in the dark.
It is true that we may manage our expectations differently but we all desire the same basic principles of self determination and freedom of choice.
When Ronald Reagan said "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same",he was right and so was Nelson Mandela when he said there is no such thing as part freedom.
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
And while we either participate , encourage or turn a blind eye to the suppression around us then we are all as guilty as the ruler who turns his guns on his own people or the countries that use force and fear to humiliate our natural desire to be free.
" as to the content I endorse your proposal to give people the rights they seek. It is a real necessity around here. The problem is that " people " is not a unified entity, and each one understands the term " rights" in a different manner. I am sure that you and me understand it in the same way, but we are fortunate. It looks different from the prosperous Mayfair or Ramat Aviv neighborhoods then the rundown sections of Cairo or Gaza."
Wise words , but it puzzled me why our expectations or hopes should be different,nothing is as precious as one's freedom. Dreams, aspirations, and ideals mean nothing if one does not have the freedom to pursue them without fear of repression or reprisal.
The Arab Spring seems to be suffering from revolution fatigue as there are many forces at work that are afraid of change.
The Americans have stated that the brutal suppression of dissent in Syria is unlikely to evoke the same response as Libya.
The same applies to the Gulf countries where staunch allies are suppressing their people's right to economic and political enfranchisement and therefore the international community is prepared to allow their vassals to continue their rape and pillage of universally acknowledged principles of human rights for short term benefits.
Do not be fooled the ball has started to roll and regime change now only becomes a question of time.
The regimes that have managed to cling onto their seats by colluding with the west at the expense of their own peoples aspirations and desires are short lived.
When the late King Farouk of Egypt said "In a few years there will be only five kings in the world the King of England and the four kings in a pack of cards," he was not wrong.
With the advent of the information age , with the relative ease of discovery of information and the visual medium of television giving both news as well as lifestyle imagery it becomes so much harder to keep people in the dark.
It is true that we may manage our expectations differently but we all desire the same basic principles of self determination and freedom of choice.
When Ronald Reagan said "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same",he was right and so was Nelson Mandela when he said there is no such thing as part freedom.
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
And while we either participate , encourage or turn a blind eye to the suppression around us then we are all as guilty as the ruler who turns his guns on his own people or the countries that use force and fear to humiliate our natural desire to be free.
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