ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — The steets are going wild.
There are cars honking, people chanting in joy and men and women in balconies and windows yelling ‘Victory!’
Egypt is in an ecstatic state.
There are no words to describe how happy people feel right now.
Personally, I am overcome.
Victory is here. The heroes of the youth revolution have done it. The men, the women, the children and the elderly who have day after day demanded change have finally removed the head of the regime after 18 days on the streets.
No one believed they would live to see this day.
Egypt got its soul back today.
Welcome freedom. Welcome liberty. Welcome justice.
As I write this there are still tears of happiness in my eyes.
From now on, “walk like an Egyptian” will mean walk tall and walk proud.
The revolution is victorious.
‘Egypt Got Its Soul Back Today’
By Jessica Elsayed
Senior reporter
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Youth Journalism International’s annual journalism contest is underway. See www.YouthJournalism.org for details.
Love it! So happy for u Jess!!
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, Mubarak shouldn't have stayed in power so long. It was absolutely wrong of him to do it and it is not democratic at all. On the other hand, I am not a fan of the Muslim Brotherhood. I have received emails from Christian correspondents in Egypt and they are worried about this. Furthermore, no doubt Israel will be boned by this particular "extremist" group. If only we could turn back the clock to twenty or twenty-five years ago. Things might be very different! =)
This is a great day for freedom.
Now will come the hard part, including divesting the military of the thousands of businesses that they have created to put the money from the U.S. in.
Normal businesses cannot compete with subsidized ones, which are an open door to graft and corruption, as well. This is the hidden crime of the U.S., to pour in the money so long as the politics go as they want, without worrying how that money will distort the economy or impact the poor Egyptian farmer, having to compete with both subsidized food imports from the U.S. and then also with those who are in favor to get a cut of the $billion+ payoff.
No wonder that half the population is living on $2 per day. I suggest finding that money and putting it into things like microloans to put the farmers and small businesses back on a solid finacial footing. Let the Army's businesses survive on their own. If they can, more power to them, but end the theft of Egypt's future.
One resource that has been helpful in getting markets started is the International Society for Individual Liberty – google on ISIL. They provided all kinds of help to both freedom oriented political activists and people starting new businesses in the former Soviet Union, immediately after its collapse. I sent several computer systems to Russia through their pipeline around 1991.
Now taking it on the road:
The solution to the Libyan crisis is the Egyptian army.
In brief, it hit me right as I awoke this morning. The Egyptian Army is staffed mainly by conscripts and officered by U.S. trained personnel. As recent events in Egypt have shown, the military can be largely depended upon to act conservatively and minimize violence, unlike Gadhafi.
What better way to promote their position with the Egyptian people than to move in support of another popular uprising right next door? Gadhafi has paved the way with his brutal bombing and shelling of peaceful protestors, and the Egyptian workers fleeing en masse from the situation are a potential Sudetenland excuse. If the Libyan government cannot protect them (and in fact is killing them wholesale in indiscriminate slaughter along with everyone else), then the Egyptian army can claim a right to protect its own nationals in the clear and present danger.
I would guess that even most of Gadhafi's supporters would be happy to lay down their weapons if they were faced with the excuse of overwhelming force, which the Egyptians could provide. They are probably fighting on now out of desperation, knowing or suspecting that they will be paying a high price if Gadhafi loses. Given the excuse and incentive of facing a real, serious military machine, they would probably fade away as fast as legs could carry.
In a longer term perspective, this would provide the Egyptians with a kind of Napoleanic opportunity regarding the rest of Africa or their neighboring autocracies to the North and East. If they entered Libya as peacekeepers foremost, to the joy of the beleagured popular uprising, and kept firmly to that role, it would likely trigger even more uprisings, spreading in a wave of hope down through Africa and up into the Middle East and the Arab realms. With the hope of a savior spurring them on, this could be something really big for the region and the world.
Imagine a popular army of liberation, aimed at simply bringing democracy and accountability throughout the African continent, spearheaded by Egyptians. There is nothing short of possibly South Africa on the continent that could stand against them, and the South Africans would likely applaud them.
And, the U.S. would have little choice but to play along. The Obama State Dept. must be in a frenzy of joy over Libya. AT LAST something that ISN'T OUR FAULT! Judiciously supporting a move by Egypt to stop the violence could at least defuse some of the worst anti-Americanism in the region. And, what other choice do they have?
And that's my thought for the day. For the record, I DID get it right in 1978 with the Hostage Crisis – convincing Elliot Mintz to make his call from KPFK to the American Embassy, which led to the Teheran media circus, which led to Carter going into the Rose Garden, which stopped any possible war. And Humberto Ortega can verify how I convinced him of my plan to block Reagan's invasion of Nicaragua.
Later.