Sunday 20 February 2011
Uselessness
There are so many kinds of different people in this world. There are some who have the Midas touch and can do anything in this world; while there are others who are just poor at everything they do. Some would like to say that ‘so what if they are not good for anything, at least they are good human being’. How does it matter whether one is good or not? If someone is poor at everything they do, how will they ever put their goodness to use or be bad? They will be a failure in either case. On the other hand if one is good at everything, he or she will gain acceptance everywhere – does not matter whether he is good or bad. Such people have friends around them, enjoy the goodwill, respect and attention of everyone around them, and are useful to others. How can you be friends with someone who is useless, someone who cannot do anything right, someone who always embarrasses you because he or she cannot do anything properly? How long can you just forgive someone’s blunder by saying that the person is good? Such people who are good at nothing find no acceptance anywhere and fail as friends. The only way out for them is to find the thing that they are good at, for I believe that everyone is good at something or the other. Once they find it, they should stick to it and not venture to do stuff that will embarrass them. Finding what you are good at is the real thing.
Saturday 12 February 2011
'Egypt is Free'
Mubarak has quit. The dictator is no more. In a strange turn of events President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down after making a firm stand that he would not step down till his term ends in September. Egyptians are jubilant. They had marched on to the Presidential palace and surrounded government buildings, and lo and behold, Mubarak flees with his family to a Red Sea resort. So the people have triumphed. What next?
This is the question in everyone’s mind and academics and scholars all over the world are sweating over “what-ifs”. The enthusiasm of the Egyptian people has reached a fever pitch. Their belief in themselves and their ability to bring change is soaring high. Whoever now comes to power needs to take this into consideration. Maybe after a year or two or even earlier than that the people of Egypt might go back to their stance of accepting without protest whatever is meted out to them in the name of politics by those in power; but not in the next few months. This is a new chapter in Egyptian history. No one can say what will happen the next moment. I believe there is no point in losing one’s sleep over what will happen if Islamic fundamentalists take over power. What if they do? They won’t be having any worse influence on international politics compared to the dismally flawed US policies in the Middle-East. If we can give the US all the scope to exercise its idiotic (I need a stronger word here) foreign policies that has had disastrous effect on the international political arena; I believe that we should give the Egyptians a chance to prove themselves. At least they have earned it.
This is the question in everyone’s mind and academics and scholars all over the world are sweating over “what-ifs”. The enthusiasm of the Egyptian people has reached a fever pitch. Their belief in themselves and their ability to bring change is soaring high. Whoever now comes to power needs to take this into consideration. Maybe after a year or two or even earlier than that the people of Egypt might go back to their stance of accepting without protest whatever is meted out to them in the name of politics by those in power; but not in the next few months. This is a new chapter in Egyptian history. No one can say what will happen the next moment. I believe there is no point in losing one’s sleep over what will happen if Islamic fundamentalists take over power. What if they do? They won’t be having any worse influence on international politics compared to the dismally flawed US policies in the Middle-East. If we can give the US all the scope to exercise its idiotic (I need a stronger word here) foreign policies that has had disastrous effect on the international political arena; I believe that we should give the Egyptians a chance to prove themselves. At least they have earned it.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Egypt Rising
Everyone is talking about Egypt these days. I thought it was so obvious why people should be so concerned over the protestations in Egypt. It dawned on me very recently that the importance of the events in Egypt was not so obvious to most when my brother asked me why I was “wasting” my time reading about a couple of people shouting slogans in some other country. That is when I decided to pen down my thoughts in a reasonable manner for all to understand.
So what exactly is happening in Egypt? Well, to put it lamely, most Egyptians do not like their president, Hosni Mubarak, anymore and wants him to quit but the fellow will not quit. That is what all the raucous is all about. On a more serious note, Mubarak has been literally ruling Egypt since 1981. He used to be an air force officer and became trusted associates of both Nasser and Sadat, who were in power before him. He has survived six attempts on his life and has been ruling like a dictator ever since 1981. The government under him is corrupt and no attempts at reform have been made. The economy of Egypt has not crashed but wealth has been concentrated in very few hands with the number of poor and unemployed rising every year. Mubarak, in the spirit of a true dictator, did not allow any criticism or opposition. The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the main oppositions, was also banned. But matters became critical after allegations that a recent election in Egypt had been rigged by Mubarak. The frustration of the people burst forth this January, having been influenced by the events in Tunisia (where protestors forced their president, Ben Ali, to quit office). Events in Tunisia had a domino effect and protests erupted in Cairo and other cities of Egypt, aided by the media. The army refused to get involved and the protestors are still shouting slogans to force Mubarak to quit office. We are still waiting to see what happens next.
So what? How does this matter to anyone other than those Egyptians? Well, for one, the events in Tunisia have started off a domino effect with protests erupting against dictators and kings in various countries of the Middle East, like Jordan and Yemen. If Egypt falls tomorrow under the pressure of the common people, the rest will follow soon, bringing a change to the area which is regarded as the centre of Islam and accused of being the heartland of terrorism.
Egypt has been a major leader of the Arab world. With a fascinating history, it has a tradition of pursuing an independent policy as opposed to the other Arab countries who try to emulate Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, Egypt was the first country to proclaim a parallel Caliphate that challenged the authority of the Caliph in Baghdad. It was also in the forefront when it came to reducing the violence in the region by negotiating a peace treaty with Israel in Camp David. It also showed its grit by successfully opposing the military takeover of the Suez Canal by Britain and France. Many Arab countries look up to Egypt for inspiration.
Many scholars argue that Mubarak is responsible for the stability of Egypt. While other Arab countries have floundered, the economy and society of Egypt has remained stable under his ruthless regime. So, these scholars are scared that without Mubarak to hold everyone together, Egypt will decline into a chaos which will be exploited by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which will try to create a Koranic-regime as opposed to the secular regime of Mubarak. This might be true but there are other possibilities we need to look at.
The protests in Egypt is spontaneous and being led by the common people and the civil society activists and not any religious fundamentalist leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. They may be instigating protests at some places but as a whole the agitation is largely leaderless. This shows the frustration the common man feels and how far they can go. They are desperate. If they are able to successfully oust Mubarak, they will be hungry for something better. Any attempt at reigning them by the fundamentalist policies of the Muslim Brotherhood would result in renewed protests, much more vigorous than at present. The onset of democracy in Egypt will also inspire people in other Arab countries to aspire for it. There will be a domino effect. But if the people lose today, the dictatorial and princely regimes in the region will clamp down on the common people much more tightly than before.
The Egyptian people have come a long way to think of consequences now. They just need to stand their ground and see that their demands are met. Viva La Revolution!!! Viva La Egypt!!! Change is at hand…
So what exactly is happening in Egypt? Well, to put it lamely, most Egyptians do not like their president, Hosni Mubarak, anymore and wants him to quit but the fellow will not quit. That is what all the raucous is all about. On a more serious note, Mubarak has been literally ruling Egypt since 1981. He used to be an air force officer and became trusted associates of both Nasser and Sadat, who were in power before him. He has survived six attempts on his life and has been ruling like a dictator ever since 1981. The government under him is corrupt and no attempts at reform have been made. The economy of Egypt has not crashed but wealth has been concentrated in very few hands with the number of poor and unemployed rising every year. Mubarak, in the spirit of a true dictator, did not allow any criticism or opposition. The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the main oppositions, was also banned. But matters became critical after allegations that a recent election in Egypt had been rigged by Mubarak. The frustration of the people burst forth this January, having been influenced by the events in Tunisia (where protestors forced their president, Ben Ali, to quit office). Events in Tunisia had a domino effect and protests erupted in Cairo and other cities of Egypt, aided by the media. The army refused to get involved and the protestors are still shouting slogans to force Mubarak to quit office. We are still waiting to see what happens next.
So what? How does this matter to anyone other than those Egyptians? Well, for one, the events in Tunisia have started off a domino effect with protests erupting against dictators and kings in various countries of the Middle East, like Jordan and Yemen. If Egypt falls tomorrow under the pressure of the common people, the rest will follow soon, bringing a change to the area which is regarded as the centre of Islam and accused of being the heartland of terrorism.
Egypt has been a major leader of the Arab world. With a fascinating history, it has a tradition of pursuing an independent policy as opposed to the other Arab countries who try to emulate Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, Egypt was the first country to proclaim a parallel Caliphate that challenged the authority of the Caliph in Baghdad. It was also in the forefront when it came to reducing the violence in the region by negotiating a peace treaty with Israel in Camp David. It also showed its grit by successfully opposing the military takeover of the Suez Canal by Britain and France. Many Arab countries look up to Egypt for inspiration.
Many scholars argue that Mubarak is responsible for the stability of Egypt. While other Arab countries have floundered, the economy and society of Egypt has remained stable under his ruthless regime. So, these scholars are scared that without Mubarak to hold everyone together, Egypt will decline into a chaos which will be exploited by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which will try to create a Koranic-regime as opposed to the secular regime of Mubarak. This might be true but there are other possibilities we need to look at.
The protests in Egypt is spontaneous and being led by the common people and the civil society activists and not any religious fundamentalist leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. They may be instigating protests at some places but as a whole the agitation is largely leaderless. This shows the frustration the common man feels and how far they can go. They are desperate. If they are able to successfully oust Mubarak, they will be hungry for something better. Any attempt at reigning them by the fundamentalist policies of the Muslim Brotherhood would result in renewed protests, much more vigorous than at present. The onset of democracy in Egypt will also inspire people in other Arab countries to aspire for it. There will be a domino effect. But if the people lose today, the dictatorial and princely regimes in the region will clamp down on the common people much more tightly than before.
The Egyptian people have come a long way to think of consequences now. They just need to stand their ground and see that their demands are met. Viva La Revolution!!! Viva La Egypt!!! Change is at hand…
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