Arab Intifadah

Terrorism, fundamentalism,coups,sporaidic revovlts,sectarian strifes and other bloody events have always been the face of Middle East in general and the Arab world in particular.That in a sense has been the tragedy that has plagued the Arab world since the withdrawal of colonial powers.Violence is so normal in this part of the world that a blast or sucide bombings or assasinations are dismissed as daily events and a part of day to day Arab life.Infact if there is no violence or killings on a particular day then it becomes a "breaking news".
The Arab world has been ruled by despots who treat the nation as their personal fiefdoms and the national property as their personal  property.They continue in power for decades.This is true of Saleh of Yemen,Mubarak of Egypt,Ben ali of Tunisia,Gaddafi of Libya ,and other countries like Syria,Jordan ,Oman or Qatar.These grandpas of middle east dont have a retirement age and the national income is their income.But what was sad was that the common Arabs were an absorbing lot(like we Indians) and did little to change the situation.Until december 4 2010. When ordinary Tunisians woke up from their slumber and decided to change their country's future little did they realised that they were starting an intifadah that would engulf the Arab world.
It is not that regime change had never taken place in Middle east. Infact the region is replete with examples where a dictator is overthrown  eighter by military or by a  extremist party(both claiming to have popular  support of course)only to be replaced by another bloodthirsty monster who then ruled the nation for decades before the same process repeats itself.It is said that history  repeats itself and this cannot be more true than in midlle east.If this is so then why so much importance to the current uprisings in the Arab world? What is different now?
The difference is  that the persons bringing about this change are not militias, militarymen or any one party affilated to the military. It is the common Arabs that have decided to change the destiny of their region.The people on the streets are not armymen,gun totting mujahadeens but students,workers,middle class people who have taken it upon themselves to be the change they wish to see.The fire that one indviual set to himself in Tunisia has spread throughout the region and is giving nightmares to leaders in Egypt,Yemen and Jordan.Anger at years of reppression,corruption,nepotism,inflation and poverty is boiling down on the steets of the Arab world.However it is important for the protesters to keep the fire burning. Unlike Tunisia other Arab leaders will not go down without fighting.Moreever the army and police which have been the bastions of these rulers might not side with the protesters unlike in Tunisia.Moreever it is also important that power vaccum should not result in fundamentalist hijacking the agenda and attempt  usurping power.
One must also look at the role of the major powers like EU, China,US and India during these tumultous times.The western powers prticularly the US has a vested interest in ensuring status qou in the region as the current rulers were serving the US interests.It is interesting to note that when there were protests in Iran against the regime the US openly supported the protesters as the Iranian regime was anti-US.Although the US has publicily stated that it suppots the aspirations of the people yet no  meaningful support like in case of Iran is seen as yet.Egypt is a major US ally and it would like President Mubarak to stay in power.These double standards does not look well for a country that calls human rights as a cornerstone of its foreign policy.Human rights are not available only to American citizens but to the world in general.
Last but not the least the Arab Intifadah has shown the growing importance of  Media in general and Social media in particular.It is no wonder then that some thinkers are calling this revolution as the "Twitter Revolution".Social networking sites like Facebook,Twitter have played a crucial role in disemmineting information across the world.This means that a person sitting in one corner of Yemen or Egypt can express his opnions or give his suggestions to another person sitting in remote corner od Tunisia or any other part of the world.Following the protests in Egypt the government ordered a shutdown of the internet and jammed mobile services.But this could not prevent the information from spreading in other parts of the region.Overwhelming support to the uprising has been possible due to Social media.
Our India as always has not made any statement.But one can hardly complain since our father of the nation told us that "silence is golden".Hope he would have also said that "it is a sin to remain silent when you must protest".But thats not our style.At the time of writing, protests are raging in Egypt.Curfew has been imposed in many cities. But the days of President Mubarak are numbered and the sacking of his cabinet is the first sign of it.You can kill people but you cannot kill their ideas.This time around,the Arabs are not going to be fooled by cosmetic changes.Hope the youth in the Arab world sustains this fight against tyranny and are able to bring about real and meaningful change in the region that will help it to realise its full potential.My Blog