Freedom for Egypt, Hope for All

Emilio Morenatti, Associated Press

“Mass hurra, Hosni barra!“ (Egypt is free, Hosni is gone!).

This is the chant reportedly being sung throughout the night sky across Egypt this evening, and in some form, across the world.  And it is in that light, that I would like to take the chance to thank the Egyptian people for giving me, and hopefully many others, a real sense of belief, hope, and inspiration.  Belief in the power that we, as people, hold.  Hope that this power can actually effect real change.  And inspiration to go out and make that change happen.  Thank you Egypt.

But what is this feeling of gratitude anyway? Why am I, and the rest of the world, so happy for a people we‘ve shown little interest in for the past thirty years?  Afterall, Mubarak was our ally wasn’t he? We haven’t spent the last thirty years trying to get rid of him. Instead he’s been helping us fight the war on terror, keeping “peace in the middle east“.  So why are we celebrating?

Last night I thought I knew the answer. I was going to write about the romance of revolution.  But now, I think perhaps that is making things too simple.  Perhaps the real romance that is drawing people to watch the Egyptians overcome tyranny, is the idea of democracy itself, the idea of self-rule, ownership, participation, of living without fear. Freedom.  Those of us that have it, know what it’s like, and we know, regardless of what our own leaders national interests might be, this is what all people deserve.  We know it makes the world more peaceful, we know it brings real stability, we know it brings real security. And so, when we see the Egyptians fighting for their freedom, we are looking a little bit at ourselves.

But, even that is not going to cut it, is it?  No, I think this love afair is likely about more than just the idea of freedom for the Egyptian people.  This is about the Middle East, and what a revolution there means for democracy worldwide.

By standing up to Mubarak, the Egyptians have proved to the world that the Middle East yearns for the right to freedom just as much as the rest of us do, and that, despite our western fears, their freedom is peaceful, pluralistic, and liberal – pretty much everything we are told in the west the Middle East is not. And due to the dilly-dallying, and the disapointing support of fascism by our own leaders, not only were those fears struck from the record, the lies behind them were exposed too.

Where were the crowds when Saddam was toppled?  Where has the revolution been in Afghanistan?  The past decade has shown us that fear doesn’t bring freedom, and instead, in only a few short weeks, the people of Egypt and Tunisia have shown us that being courageous can.  If 9/11 started us down the path of fear, than this revolution is the end of that road.

There are other acts of courageousness that must be acknowledged too. Ones that show us signs of what the future has in store, and ones that can allow us to believe in a world in which all people are free.

Al-Jazeera. While having already covered events in the Middle East for a decade, with Egypt, they’ve shown themselves not only to be a valuable source of news, but have demonstrated the value of a free press.  Despite intimidation, it has presented issues, topics and coverage that go beyond party and national lines and have been fearless in presenting it.  Our tax dollars should fund these kinds of initiatives, not wars.

Wikileaks. No one can say that the leak of US diplomatic cables led to the revolutions, but they have been shedding light on the systems of power every step of the way.  The U.S. says they have a trusted partner in Omar Sueliman, and Wikileaks reveals to us why.  Say what you want about Julian Assange, Wikileaks is the context the world needs when lies get told.

Social Media. And I don’t mean Mark Zuckerberg, but the people who use the tools.  The Green Revolution in Iran showed how great a tool social media networks can be for organizing people, and the people who continue to use them at their own peril (like the Google Inc executive, Wael Ghonim, who was detained and blindfolded for 2 weeks for starting an anti-torture facebook group which helped start the Egyptian revolution), have demonstrated again how important and powerful these tools are for the new democracy.

Protesters. Again, as they did in the lead up to the Iraq war, people worldwide backed this movement.  They wrote to their politicians, they tweeted, they blogged, they talked, and they took to the streets.  They too, showed that fear was not going to control them.  And, although we‘ve had to endure the Iraq War for almost a decade, tonight we too won a battle.

And so yes, maybe it is romantic. But maybe the romance comes because what’s going on in Egypt really is “Farewell Friday“. But farewell not just to Egypt’s fears, but to our own as well.  The tools are growing, the power is being chipped away, and we have the Egyptians, and the Tunisians, and the Iranians, and the other fearless people of the world who promote freedom and democracy, to thank.  They are spreading the idea, and you can’t kill an idea.

Finally, let me offer a final tiny detail of this revolution, which I think fits the new age we live in so well.  Wikipedia, a non-profit volunteer based charity, open-source in nature, and the 7th most popular site in the world, had within minutes of having stepped down updated Hosni Mubarak‘s profile to read: “former President of Egypt, serving from 1981 to 2011“.

No more lies.

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