The supposedly unthinkable is happening once again: people are rising up for freedom. In Tunisia and now in Egypt, people have had enough of poverty and oppression, and they’re doing something about it. Will they succeed immediately? Unknown. In Tunisia, the powers that be are trying to placate the people by switching around a few ministers and getting rid of a few faces, but not changing anything essential. So far, no-one’s buying it, but we’ll see. They’ll try the same in Egypt.
But it’s happening, even though all the self-important oppressors, all the glib rich assholes who run this world, thought it was impossible… it’s happening. And it will happen again. And again. And again. And the more they take away people’s rights, the more they force the poor to work for the profit of the rich, the more it will happen. Because there always comes a point when too much is too much. When another day of the many starving while the few feast is no longer bearable. When another corrupt politician selling out the country to greedy corporations cannot be tolerated. When another innocent beaten to death by police officers can no longer be accepted.
We need to express our solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunisia. They are fighting for freedom – they are dying for it. But where are all the voices that went crazy for the US-sponsored “Green Revolution” in Iran? Where are the celebrities changing their location to Tehran? Is freedom only worth fighting for when it involves cosmetic changes, like replacing Ahmadinejad with equally foul Mousavi? This is where the wheat is separated from the chaff. Don’t be fooled by their occasional progressive-seeming comments. They only speak when Hillary tells them to.
If we truly want change in the world – real change, not the same old shit with a different colour – then we must support people when they struggle for freedom, no matter which part of the world they’re in. We must not allow their struggle to become isolated and inwards-turned. They must know that their struggle is part of something bigger; not a nationalist fight for a better leader, but part of the worldwide struggle for equality and freedom. Without that greater perspective, without the acknowledgement of our common human history, we are too easily led astray.
Our assessment is that the Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.
– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
