First published in the Backbencher April 23 2013
Revolutionary Egypt
Revolutionary Egypt
Revolutions tend to follow a pattern – the
situation becomes intolerable for too many people, leaders emerge and the old
regime is thrown over. Not long after, the revolution goes bad as the new
leaders introduce worse conditions than existed before and lives are thrown
into brutal disarray. The seeds of anarchic self-destruction are somehow built
into the revolutionary project from the beginning although rarely recognized at
the time by those who are living through it. The legacies of Robespierre,
Stalin and Mao are well known cautionary tales for the youthful would-be-revolutionary.
So what of the recent revolutionary ‘Arab
Spring’ in the Middle East – does it fit the same model? We should first note
that the term ‘Arab Spring’ carries western assumptions that imply an eventual
goal to grow to look like western summertime democracies. We – or at least
western media – continue to read the events of other cultures through a lens
configured by our values and our history. Our default assumption is that what happens
will be right if it fits our model and wrong if not.
Such cultural imperialism is either niave
or ideologically contrived. We are not simply witness to the unfolding of these
events, we are instrumental in it – economically, militarily and
historically. The track of global
capitalism lead by the west is not optional, it is causal and structures the
possibilities for the ‘Middle East’ – again a term configured by its position
relative to the West. We would like to believe that the blood is not on our
hands and we try our hardest to preserve that illusion, but we are wrong.
I travel to Egypt quite regularly and have
several Egyptian friends – what do I see when I look in their eyes a few years
after their revolution? I see increasing anxiety, fear and despair. They don’t
know where the revolution is going and they imagine the worst. The Muslim
Brotherhood led by Mohamed Morsi has suggested that Palestinians could live in
the Sinai – a suggestion treated with horror by the people who live there. Unemployment
is high and the streets of big cities are no longer safe. Even more ominously
the pay of military personnel has been increased nearly four times – a move
clearly intended to buy their loyalty. My Egyptian friends comment with a
measured degree of humour, on the irony of this because the revolution was in
large part a revolution against the oppressive military – but it is the
military that ends up being heavily rewarded! Buying off the security services
clearly fits the pattern of the big revolutions – it expresses the fragile
paranoia of a marginal leadership.
I tend to move my conversations quickly on
to brighter subjects when my friend’s emotions rise and their eyes beginning to
water, but the fact that I have to do this worries me even more. The fears they
are dealing with are not mere abstract cerebral matters for political
discussion, this is their lives and the futures of their children at stake and
there are very few positive indicators. On the occasions – usually when there is
no one else around – that our conversation does go to speculate the future,
their talk is bounded by hope and faith rather than reasoned speculation.
And there is perhaps the nub of the matter.
We assume that the affairs of humankind should and could be led by careful
equity structured reason. Sadly and especially when we are pressed in to
conflict, reason seems to fail us and we reach for something else.
What is it? Prayer?
It is nice to hear that you are experimenting new techniques to deal with your child and increase her thinking power.
ReplyDeleteHere the link is
The effectiveness of IEEE Project Domains depends very much on the situation in which they are applied. In order to further improve IEEE Final Year Project Domains practices we need to explicitly describe and utilise our knowledge about software domains of software engineering Final Year Project Domains for CSE technologies. This paper suggests a modelling formalism for supporting systematic reuse of software engineering technologies during planning of software projects and improvement programmes in Project Centers in Chennai for CSE.
DeleteSpring Framework has already made serious inroads as an integrated technology stack for building user-facing applications. Spring Framework Corporate TRaining the authors explore the idea of using Java in Big Data platforms.
Specifically, Spring Framework provides various tasks are geared around preparing data for further analysis and visualization. Spring Training in Chennai
best essays discount code is really better for specially client or other. When they will use this service then they will get cod for easy use this service. I hope this service helpful for all.
ReplyDeleteIn the wake of being rejected for the house advance I had been depending on, I did innumerable hours of research on the Internet and understood that I have to expand my financial assessment and afterward attempt again later for another advance. cash advance
ReplyDeleteYour salary must be at or over a specific sum for every month. You should consent to get basic protection. The JumpStart is not to be utilized for empty land, a business contract, or where the home will be possessed by an organization, trust or some other kind of corporate vehicle. Cash Advance San-diego
ReplyDeleteEnter your points of interest into a terrible credit database which may restrict your ability to money/compose a check for business purposes.File a lawful protest for ricocheted check charges that may leave disdainful data on your credit document. payday loans corona
ReplyDelete