Revolution to build, not to revenge by: Mohamed Kamel
Revolution
to build, not to revenge
Mohamed
Kamel*
October 22nd,
2011
It has been
almost a year since the explosion in the Arab streets. In what has become known as The Arab Spring, a
movement that is still spreading in the Arab streets from one community to
another and from one country to another.
This
movement raised many questions and created strong waves of action and dialogue,
locally and internationally. It has proven
that the real globalization is the people’s globalization where the modern
means of communication started to turn the table on the corporate and the special
interest groups becoming servants to the people’s movement.
Some feel
it is not a revolution, forgetting that a revolution is a change and that
change is never momentary, but rather a series of actions that change people’s
life, and that the 1st action, the revolt, is an action that started but didn’t
accomplish its mission yet.
Some feel
that the revolution failed, claiming that no real change has happened yet or even
started and the deterioration of the economical situation is their proof. Which is contrary to the reality, in Egypt
and Tunisia, the old regimes are gone and will not be able to come back. This is where the change started but has not reached
full speed yet. A change will be
achieved by the second phase of the revolution.
In Yemen,
the revolution is standing strong in front of a broken president. In Syria, the
revolution is growing in front of the brutality and unintelligent president who
had the best opportunity to be on the history’s side. In Bahrain, it is not
over yet as long as there is no justice and there is no wisdom.
How can it
not be a revolution when the entire world became inspired by this movement? Where Occupy Wall Street, a nail in the Capitalism
coffin, is now in every city and all of them are calling their squares “Tahrir
Square”.
Living in frustration
pushed people to hope for a quick change and a quick victory forgetting that
the tyrant is not a person but a mass number of beneficiaries and a well
established school of thought, active in an underground and an anti-revolution
movement.
Revolutions
need at least two years to turn from revolt into a positive constructive
change, and at least ten years to arrive at the last station in achieving
people’s well in a stable democratic and just society.
During this
trip, revolutionaries will strike steps of success and constructive actions and
will fail in some, which is normal and acceptable in a time when revolutionaries
are facing the internal struggle between the emotional calls for revenge and the
rational calls for building a just society.
In Tunisia,
the rationality and the wisdom won when they decided to expel the ex-president,
but political adolescence won when both the religious movement and the left
progressive movements was not able to work together for an inclusive new
Tunisia.
In Libya,
the uncivilized desire of revenge won by killing Gaddafi while in custody forgetting
the real goal of the revolution and the basic ethics.
In Egypt, one
of the greatest successes was the rational relation between the three
transition partners (people’s movement, the prime minister and the army). This relation started to crack due to emotional
reactions to some nonsense pre-orchestrated crimes, while neglecting the main
issues.
Revolution
is a movement to build the future while learning from the past not a movement for
revenge. This is the lesson that we
should learn from the successful transition in South Africa, a transition that
has been built on reconciliation.
The reconciliation
is a healing process that grants amnesty to the ex-regime members who come
forward with information that help in healing and building the future.
Are we
going to learn from the success or the failure?
It is up to us, the Arab people!
* Mohamed S. Kamel: is a
Freelance writer, the editor of http://forafreeegypt.blogspot.com/,
he is a professional engineer, a LEED Green Associate and a recognized project
manager professional, he is Member of several civil society organizations, a
co-founder of the Canadian Egyptian for Democracy (CEFD), National Association
for Change in Egypt (Taghyeer – Canada), Association of the Egyptians of
Montreal (AEM), Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM), , Quebec Antiwar
movement “Échec à la Guerre”, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine
“CJPP”, ex-president and co-founder of the Canadian Muslim Forum (CMF), member
of the board of trustee in the Canadian Muslim for Palestine (CMP) and
Community Center for Montreal Muslims (CCMM) . He could be reached at public@mohamedkamel.com
posted by Mohamed S Kamel @ 9:59 PM
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