With the ousting of the President of Tunisia, has created hope for downtrodden people in a great swath of the world, transforming discontent and disaffection into full out protests, crossing borders and building in intensity. Then President Mubarak of Egypt resigned. Let's hope the armies flinch in the other nations. People say a lot of things about what the future may hold for these braves protesters who are risking their lives and the lives of their loved ones so that their societies might be transformed into something better. We should remember the lot of the ex-Soviet empire and take pause. Their fate after the Berlin Wall came down has been a mixed bag at best. A great place to learn more about this is in the book Globalization and Its Discontents by economist Joseph Stiglitz which has a chapter that is a case study on Russia and Eastern Europe's shock ride into Capitalism, where too much of the economic infrastructure was torn apart and sold off. This was in complete contrast to the graduated economic development plans of China. Another great read is Emerald Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekeran, where the same ideological imperatives were wrongly, carelessly, and stupidly effectuated in the American administration of Iraq, despite the dismal track record in other places.
The bottom line is we don't know what is going to happen in the coming months. While many people in these nations might agree on leadership change, I doubt that there will be much consensus as to what the future form of government will be. And these places are not clones of each other just because they share a common religion. There are other factors, these places have their own histories and traditions. After being run by dictators for so many years, I can't imagine they would want to be dictated to from some other part of the Arab world. Though in some cases you may wonder whether the old strong man will be replaced by a kindlier gentler strong man instead of the creation of a better more egalitarian society.
In the old days it seemed like as long as a new regime came in with free elections and a free press, everything was OK. But we understand now what we didn't acknowledge back then, that there are many components that are needed to create a thriving democracy, not a democracy in name alone, hiding behind a well meaning but impotent constitution. You need economic development, education, a fair legal system, development of infrastructure, and creation of opportunities for more people. I'm not sure how far it will go in some of the countries, but greater freedoms and opportunities for women are important also. In countries with a large population of young men and high rates of endemic unemployment I'm not sure this would be welcomed, but in order to be competitive in the world you can't eliminate half the population from consideration without negative consequences. It's not easy.
These are tense scary times, but also days of hope, days of excitement. Things could go in a lot of directons here. And please, let's not credit our past President too much for these events. Don't call him a visionary--nation building and making people free was just one of many alibis that came up, when all the other rationales for war came up hollow. If you want to give him credit, view him as an "Inspector Clouseau" of international affairs, who with bumbling indifference and ignorance stumbled into a solution. So don't laud him, just say "Good work, Clouseau". Besides these popular movements are arising from within, not from without. It's not always about us you know.
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| When El Casbah's a Rockin', Don't Come a Knockin'. |
But what I am trying to say is that these are moments to celebrate. And what a better way to celebrate than with Rachid Taha and his excellent Tekitoi (Who Are You) album from 2004. It is filled with punk and funk and importantly for me there is a lot of Algeria blended seamlessly in here, as far as I can tell. So it is a great melange of styles combined with the intensity and passion of Rachid. I can't help but think of current events, when Taha sings Lli Fat Mat!(What is Past is Dead and Gone!). Or H'asbu Hum (Ask Them For An Explanation). And he sings with a true air of defiance.
From Safi! (Pure);
Our Culture is a one party system
Our Culture is not democratic
They have neutered the people
All the people, everything is locked up.
As for me, my heart is Pure!
From Stenna (Wait)
Wait! Your time will come
Be patient!
Paradise will open up
Be Patient!
Your Time Will Come
Their Time Will Come
And of course.......a superb cover song. Revolution or not, this is an excellent album well worth seeking out.
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