Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tea parties around the world

  The world watched in wonder as youths in Egypt protested since Jan 25. The twitter feed was full of minute by minute reports of the movement. Following Sandmonkey's tweets (KFC is now the food of all revolutionaries. KFC for everyone!) provided a window into the movement, a ground report from someone who was in the middle of it.
  Do you know what they are doing today in Tahrir square? Celebrating, of course, but cleaning. They are cleaning the area where the protests have been held. Just as the mall in DC was spotless after tea partiers left, so will Tahrir be.
  They are shouting "Freedom!"
  This is no ordinary revolution. This is a tea party.
  How it will end, nobody knows, but for this moment, we must acknowledge the truth of this moment, as the urge for democracy spreads across the Middle East. Dark forces wait to pounce, but a prayer goes up that these freedom lovers succeed in their quest, even as we battle our own dark forces.
  (This not to say these freedom fighters are all necessarily pro American. Asked by a Fox reporter in the middle of the celebration yesterday what he thought of America, a fellow replied, "Eh, 50/50." 50 for the American people, 50 for American policies. Only with time will we see the fruition of those American policies.)
 Now we see a call go out in Iran for protests on Monday. 
  Algerian pro democracy forces awaken.
  And then there's Tunisia.
 Prayers go out for them this weekend.
  Cleaning up the trash in Egypt. Heh.

No comments:

Post a Comment