I remember being in high school and thinking that Anwar Sadat was a good man. A man who was making peace in the world’s implacable places. I remember thinking the same thing about Henry Kissinger.
I later heard that maybe Henry Kissinger didn’t have the good of the people in his sights in the way I had believed. I heard that Hosni Mubarak, though harder for us to deal with, might better represent the will of the people than Anwar Sadat had. I’ve come to think it’s very hard to know what’s true about what’s going on in the world.
The people in Egypt seem to be exhilarated by their successful uprising. It’s hard to know how it all will come out. When Gorbachev dismantled the Soviet Union, I thought it would be a good opportunity for democracy to take hold. But instead of offering support in the building of democracy’s infrastructure, we offered hyperselfish capitalism – the worst possible influence of the west. The rhetoric at the time was that we were being ambassadors for western freedoms. What we sold, in a new package, was the same old freedom to exploit. At least, that’s what it looked like to me. What do I know?
The best I can do is hope that the time is really right for the freedoms the Egyptian people are tasting, and that we don’t somehow go barging in there to mess things up.
In Egypt they rejoice to see a change
Though what will come of it is far from clear
What power moves to fill the vacuum may
Be those who subjugated folks before
And yet the people say the fear has lifted
That now, no matter what, they know they’re free
They feel their noble hearts will work a shift
Towards openness and greater equity
Perhaps it’s in their power to redeem us
Wake us from our jaded cynicism
The waning comfort of complacent lives
Make us stand with them, now that they have risen
Truth over comfort could yet make its claim
We could learn courage once again from them.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 12, 2011
