maandag 25 april 2011

Revolutionary diarrhea

Hi there,

Long time no write, at one point you get in a rhythm of work work and work, and now the time has come to snap out of that.

When you come to Egypt, for me that was 7 months ago, time goes indeed fast, there is one thing you should not do, and that is drink water from the tap. That's when you end up at the rest room, more than once a day, and when leaving you think someone else had been sitting there. The same goes for Egyptian food, like Aatz and Fool. First time eating, you end up in the rest room next day.

Ok, strange context, a revolution is on going, how on earth can I think about going to the rest room. Well, it's not about the rest room, however there is a point where enough is enough. Or can you just not say that. It has been almost 3 months ago and still the revolution is on going, can we have a rest please. Every Friday after the prayer, people go to the Tahrir square to demonstrate. It has become a rhythm as well: Oh it is Friday, I have nothing else interesting to do, let's go and protest on the Tahrir square. This all happens in the light of the revolution, the point to move to a democracy. Though not all protest are about democracy, many of the protest nowadays are about money, more specifically getting more money for yourself.

Is this really how you can view a change process from dictatorship to democracy. Are protests the roots of democracy, and because of having protest you could say I am living in a democracy. At the moment it is clear that many things need change. The old rulers have to be removed, this goes beyond governmental posts, this includes the paper, the television, the big companies, everywhere the corruption that was introduced by Mubarak can be found and needs to be removed. Next to that at the moment there is only one party, Mubarak's party. New parties need to be set up, which is not easy. This needs to be done before the elections in September, and they should reflect all flavors of Egyptian society. Time is gaining on Egyptians, before you know the elections will be starting. And all of this is just a beginning, the process has started, however where is it leading.

Patience is not one of the main virtues of mankind, though this what we ask from the Egyptian people,  making sure that not everyone is going to the restroom and flushing the revolution down the toilet.

Greetz,
Mark

Note: For those who didn't notice, I have switched from Dutch to English, this to satisfy the many requests for readability outside Holland.