What has happened in Tunisia and what is happening in Egypt at the moment cannot be dismissed simply as a security problem, as the tyrants and their western bank rollers would like as to believe. The unfolding events in North Africa are results of decades of political repression, economic injustice and the pillaging of their countries’ resources by ruthless dictators like Hosni Mubarak. For far too long the United States and western governments implemented democratic discrimination against the people of the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. The tacit belief that the people of Africa and the Middle East cannot handle democracy, or they are not mature enough to freely elect their own governments, is a continuation of western colonial mentality that serves as a pillar of dictatorial regimes supported by western powers. Clearly, the protests in North Africa are a clear indictment of misguided and dangerous western policy directions that marginalize the vast majority of the people and prop up the tyrannies that are obstacles for the advancement of genuine democracy.
For more than half a century the United States foreign policy has served as an obstacle to the development of true democracy in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. Such policy that is attached to a false sense of ‘stability’ and ‘security’ has proven to be futile and the consequences quite dangerous. This sense of ‘stability’ and ‘security’ does not address the political, economic and social security of the people.
When US President Bill Clinton travelled to Africa in 1998 he enthusiastically called the current ruthless tyrants the “new generation of African leaders” and he pledged his support to these regimes, providing financial and military support which continues to this day. Emboldened by Clinton’s endorsement and support from successive US administrations, the tyrants consolidated power, intensified their repressive rules and institutionalized torture and extrajudicial killings.
The irony is that while these popular uprisings against tyranny and oppression are sweeping the streets of Tunis, Cairo and elsewhere, another known tyrant by the name of Meles Zenawi is wining and dining with western policy makers in Davos, Switzerland, discussing the future of the world’s economic future. Meles Zenawi, who personally ordered the brutal murdering of 200 protesters in Addis Ababa after the 2005 national election continues to receive military and economic support from western governments. In the recent national ‘election’ Meles Zenawi claimed to have won 96.6% of the votes. By any template of analysis, whether political, economic or social, Meles Zenawi cannot win 96.6% of the vote in Ethiopia. In fact, if there were a free and fair election in Ethiopia, Zenawi would never maintain power.
The complete disregard for the voices of the people and their concerns has been almost deafening for a very long time. People in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere have been pleading with western policy makers, saying that we are not asking you to fight our fight for democracy, all we are asking is for you not to support dictators and provide them with weapons so that they can squash our struggle for freedom and liberty.
The lid that kept the masses muzzled and impoverished is coming off, and it is coming of fast. The tyrants and their western supporters are playing catch up with people. The revolution that is sweeping North Africa cannot be reversed or sabotaged by western governments, their blood thirsty tyrants or other regional players. As one of the slogans shows, ‘Game Over!’ The era of business as usual with dictators and their western supporters is over. As the people wake up from their long slumber, they are determined to choose the path of their future. The message they are sending is clear–this is our time, and this is our future. The fire that was first lit on the streets of Tunis will not stop in Cairo; it will spread to Khartoum where the Blue Nile and White Nile converge. It will spread to the Streets of Addis Ababa and cities across Ethiopia, including the city of Bahir Dar, a city a stone’s throw away from the source of the Blue Nile. In the end, the demand of the people is for the era of dictatorship to end and the start of a system of government of the people, by the people, and for the people! Zenawi, Mugabe, Al- Bashir, Kagame, Museveni, Bouteflika, and so on, MUST GO! And they must go Now!
