PAUL BALLES : What next?
- 07. Mar, 2011
Revolutions raise more questions than answers. The prime one: What happens after the thrill of protest victory wears off?
[ Good Question]By Paul Balles / My Catbird Seat
Zen master Alan Watts once said there are only four basic questions that apply to anything:What are we going to do?
Who’s going to do it?
How are we going to do it?
Who’s going to clean up the mess afterwards?
Protests in the streets are only part of the answer to Watt’s first question. Do the protestors know or agree upon what they want?[They know and agree on changing the regime, and they did it -removed the dictator- in both Tunis and Egypt]
The desire for some kind of change is obvious. But what change will satisfy most or all?
[What is done, so far, satisfy, all]
Peter Oborne, the Daily Telegraph’s chief political commentator says, “They have been impelled into action by mass poverty and unemployment, allied to a sense of disgust at vast divergences of wealth and grotesque corruption.”
[Peter should think why it failed to impell them into action for three decades, it failed because they considered it is impossible to remove dictators sponsored by Israel and Zionized western countries led by the USA. INSPIRED BY THE PALESTINIAN INTIFADA, AND VICTORIES OF RESISTANCE MAINLY HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH, they did it.
take it from the mouth of the horse:
"The author ( Amira Hass ) is reminded that the Palestinians are under occupation when almost all Egyptians refuse to meet with her because she writes for an Israeli newspaper." ]
Will removal of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali or Hosni Mubarak or Ali Abdullah Saleh respond to the problems of “mass poverty and unemployment?”
[It's the first step on the long way]
What’s to be done about the “vast divergences of wealth and grotesque corruption referred to by Oborne?”
What about those not actually involved in the demonstrations? How many Tunisians, Egyptians or Yemenis were actually among the protestors? Hundreds of thousands?
What about the rest of the populations (more than 80 million in Egypt)? Do the demonstrators represent them? Should the protestors make decisions about what to do simply because they took part in the shouting and waving of arms and flags?
Oborne questioned the popular belief that the revolutionary activity was stimulated by social networking.
[Yes the demonstraters represent them Oborne forget the millions of infants and children. ]
He wrote, “Far from being inspired by Twitter, a great many of Arab people who have driven the sensational events of recent weeks are illiterate.”
The last I heard, Egyptian males have a literacy rate of 83%, with females at 59.4%. In Tunisia, it’s 78% for all.
While these are a long way from the 90% to 100% rates of 98 countries, they don’t preclude the use of social media like Twitter to organize the youth.
[ Oborne should ask himself why the so-called illiterate responded to social media activists]
However, not even 83% literacy can solve the post demonstration problems. There are those who want constitutional changes. Others look for leaders who will not follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.
Then there are dreamers who hope that employment and elimination of poverty will somehow come out of a genii’s bottle.
[All want constitutional changes and leaders who will not follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.]
Protestors look back with obsessions about the ills that brought them into the streets. As long as the past commands attention, the question of “who” cannot be focused on tomorrow.
Answers to “what are we going to do?” should extend beyond cleaning the political house.
[true]
Some semblance of unity must preclude the choice of “who’s going to do it?” Things don’t simply run by themselves. Post revolutions require leaders to take over the task of putting humpty dumpty back together again.
If supreme councils or parliaments could lead, the loudly touted democracies wouldn’t need presidents or prime ministers or cabinets to run things.
[who said things simply run by themselves?]
How much do the demonstrators take into account the need for leaders with the expertise or experience necessary to make the decisions that keep a country functioning?
[Why do you think the demonistrators are still taking the streets, refusing changing an old dictator with a new one?
They, in Eygpt, refused Omar Suleiman, refused Shafik, and shall not accept the military councell for ever]
The mess to be cleaned up afterward includes recovering an economy wrecked by the revolution.
The Egyptian economy, for example, depends heavily on a tourist trade that is now in shambles.
[True. but what about corruption, and the Gaz deal with Israel?]
Dear protestors, in getting rid of one problem, you have created another that may be harder on your pocket book than the one you eliminated.
The problems you create will be greater than the ones you solve. Look at the history of any revolution. Then go home and start answering Watt’s questions.
[No sir, they have nothing to lose, the losers are the looters of the Egyption ecconomy and their master.
Are you calling for the return of the dictotors to recover the wreked economy??
Go home with Watt's questions.]
Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years. He’s a weekly Op-Ed columnist for the GULF DAILY NEWS . Dr. Balles is also Editorial Consultant for Red House Marketing and a regular contributor to Bahrain This Month.****************************
The new Egyptian foreign minister
This is the last article that he wrote for Ash-Shuruq (notice the section on the savage siege of Gaza).
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at 6:31 AM
High hopes in Gaza after Egypt names Arabi foreign minister
Mubarak regime Saved Israel Billions of dollars
"..Public opinion in Egypt is in favor of a less soft approach to Israel & better relations with Iran, Syria & Hezbollah.."
"(The Washington Post)-In one of the most significant shifts, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister since 2004, was replaced by Nabil Elaraby, a career diplomat who won plaudits from demonstrators for joining the crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square shortly before Mubarak resigned. He was subsequently appointed to the council of "wise men" named by the demonstrators to help steer the country's path to democracy...... he can be expected to abide by all of Egypt's existing commitments to Israel,.... but he is renowned for having voiced reservations about some of the treaty's clauses and "will not be willing to accept Israeli excesses in the occupied territories," said Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University."Public opinion in Egypt is in favor of a less soft approach to Israel and I think he shares this feeling," he added. "It will be very difficult for him to make the kind of concessions Hosni Mubarak made to Israel," such as during the 2009 Gaza war, when Egypt closed its border with Gaza.Elaraby is also likely to be more open to establishing diplomatic relations with Iran, improving Egypt's frosty relationship with Syria and opening dialogue with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, Sayyid said, suggesting that the new Egypt may not be as reliable an ally of the United States as Mubarak's Egypt was. ..."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 8:04 PM
Uprooted Palestinian
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