Friday, Mar. 4, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Given a chance, they want to be freeBy BEN NELMS The world is on the fast-track to shrinking to the size of a microchip. There is no greater evidence of this than what is happening right now in the Middle East. For those in power in so many of the former sheikdoms (and perhaps their foreign handlers), the exponential increase in information and communication is worse than any computer virus and much more volatile. It threatens to infect their hold on power and destroy it. The virus is not organic. It is a concept. It is freedom. Though our freedom in America is diminishing, the liberty we have here is light-years ahead of what is experienced in many lands. Here are some examples from the past couple of weeks, just in the Middle East. Lebanese demonstrators, 25,000 of them, waved flags and chanted Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence and sang We are all, Muslims and Christians, against Syria in their expression of a growing sentiment that calls for Damascus to get off their backs and out of their lives. Those demonstrations were at least partly responsible for the resignation Monday of Prime Minister Omar Karami and his Syrian-backed Cabinet. Even the French joined the chorus, with Foreign Minister Michel Barnier stating, The Lebanese want to be the master of their own state. Demonstrations broke out soon after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister and billionaire businessman Rafiq Al-Hariri, a staunch critic of Syrian occupation. Amidst all the flag-waving in Lebanon, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says democratic elections will be held there later this year. The House of Saud says it will allow a more active role for women in government (well see). Last weekend, Syria turned over the half-brother of Saddam Hussein and 29 others associated with attacks in Iraq. And in a handful of locations around the area, girls are now being allowed to play soccer. Not a bad beginning, though it only scratches the surface. All these reform movements have a common theme. It is the evil (from the regimes perspective) notion of increased personal freedom. There is no way of knowing if the cries for greater freedom for the people of these lands will result in the realization of their dreams. Likely they will be dashed. Yet perhaps like the foreign and domestic variables that helped Polands Solidarity Movement become ultimately successful, the time may be right for the freedom-seeking people of the Middle East. Like little kingdoms with power and wealth concentrated in the hands of a very few, the Middle Eastern regimes continue to have a vested interest in maintaining their control. Oil and its offspring, money and power. So what examples from history might the masses in the Middle East look to for guidance? One is America. Prior to the American Revolution (and remember thats what it took) the colonists had for a century experienced significantly greater freedom over what they had experienced in their former homes across the Atlantic. The point here is not that the circumstances of the colonies then and the Middle East now are identical. It is rather that the dreams of possessing greater personal freedom transcends borders and barriers and time. The history of humanity has been written in blood with examples by the millions of people who were willing to die to be free. And like America securing critical support from France and others in the late 1770s, the people of the Middle East and elsewhere will require assistance in some form from others. And of course, like with the French in the American Revolution, the others today have their own vested interest. So perhaps we have to ask ourselves, whose vested interest do we prefer? Or maybe we should look to the citizens of the Middle East and ask what they want. They may not share our political or religious ideology, but growing numbers are tasting the waters of liberty from oppression. Our shrinking world ensures it. Look at their eyes, hear their voices. The history of humanity is clear. It is unmistakable that given a chance, they want to be free. |
|
Copyright 2004-Fayette Publishing, Inc. |