Tunisia, Egypt, and The Muslim World

(Remi Ochlik in a single photo is able to capture the frustration, sadness, and anger of the whole Muslim world.)

There has been a political shift in the paradigm of the whole world and to not write about it would be tantamount to insanity for any philosopher.

A 30 year dictator has stepped down after 3 weeks of political wrangling. In one month two such dictators fell, both near to each other and both near to the heart of the Muslim world.

What were their demands, what sparked this, and why was it so surprising?

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Past

Previously governments, especially the U.S and the U.K, endorsed security before democracy. Yet how can a society be secure when it's freedoms are so stripped and laid bare? How can you call a society secure when it's people revel in the idea of freedom? Where is the security in a so called President that pockets billions of dollars of money that does not rightfully belong to him?

Any sane and just man knows that this is an INSECURE society. As for our political lay folk, they seemed too busy "establishing" security in the Muslim world, rather than understanding the insecurity they were seeding and the dissatisfaction they were feeding.

At the end of the day, they got neither security nor democracy nor peace, as former U.S Secretary of State Condelleza Rice pointed out.

The cause of this revolution was simple, injustice.

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Suprise

So why was this so surprising to the common lay political folk in Washington? Why was their instability machine not the answer they had hoped for.

Simply, they underestimated the power of regular people. Although a government may crush a person or try to ruin their credibility(Torture and Rendition), and although a government may ban a opposing political organization (Muslim Brotherhood), it can't change it's people or kill them all.

The old political folk assumed they could suppress their people and time and time again history teaches us the same lesson, always to the same people unwilling to learn it. Simply, you cannot truly control the lives of millions of people and bend them to your will. Eventually you will break and the bend of Justice will catch up with you, even if it takes 30 years, as in Egypt's case.

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The People

Part of the reason this happened now was the people themselves. According to a Qatar University graduate that went on Al-Jazeera, he mentioned that the people are now Educated, Wealthy, and unwilling to accept less than they deserve.

He continued saying, they did not want a government to serve but instead they wanted the government to serve them and nothing less than that would be acceptable.

There was no leader, but each individual working for the whole, and there was no whole, except each individual working for the betterment of the other.

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Not So Bloody Revolution

Although sadly around 300 people have died, considering what occurred during other revolutions, this wasn't as bad.

One of the main reasons was for the Just actions of the Egyptian Military. They deserve no less than praise for their restraint. They were the true stalwarts of peace and their actions saved countless thousands and possible millions of lives.

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The Spark

The powder was already set, it just needed the proper spark. Or another way to think about it is that the glass was full of injustice and this was the last drop that made it overflow. Finally it can be though of as that old idiom of the straw that broke the camels back.

What was that spark? Mohamed Bouazizi. His story can be read here. It's a great article written by one of my favorite magazines, Time.

How can humans allow such corrupt governments to perpetrate such actions? The answer was that they wouldn't and the people rose up.

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Final Thoughts

Unjust governments cannot be propped up. There is no security unless the people are treated properly and are given their rights.

Bribery, extortion, torture, political wrangling, and oppression will be overcome.

Justice will prevail as history has a long arch that always bends towards it.

May all people, all over the world, live in security, with dignity, with proper human rights and with true economic Justice, under our one merciful and compassionate God that we all believe in and turn towards.

May all the oppressors remember this day, as it has been repeated in history countless times; that they will perish, their wealth will crumble, and their heads will eventually bow in shame.