Friday, January 28, 2011

Chickens come home to Cairo


News junkie now, watching Al-Jazeera's live feed and twitter feed. Came in halfway on a commentator that was not identified who said: Tunisia was an important outpost for CIA, so when its government fell, this was seen by the masses as a tiny light at the end of the tunnel.

I am watching as, en masse, they fling themselves toward the light. You can really feel their joy and exuberance on video and in interviews.

In Tunisia and elsewhere, the U.S. is deeply complicit in these falling dictators. (Mubarak just came on t.v. and pretended not to notice he was falling. But he fired everybody else.)

The Egyptian government's complicity against the people had been revealed by their role in maintaining the Gaza open air prison, in collusion with Israel and the U.S. A fact which was already clear even before WikiLeaks Cablegate provided evidence.

A former ambassador on HuffPo: “No one in Washington should have been surprised how upset and angry average Egyptians are at their government.”

Agreed. But then he loses me:

“Given the choices, Washington is going to have to decide whether it is going to bet on ElBaradei, Suleiman, or the younger Mubarak, each of whom bring their own considerable political baggage.”

You know whose face I would like to see up there in place of Mubarak's?

One million women's faces of various ages, creeds and sects. Grandmothers, housewives, healers, singers, editors, farmers, cooks. Students of all ages.

The collective wisdom of women now needs to take its rightful seat at the peace table.

Uphold UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

Let lots of women participate. Young women, old women, 'tween women.  Let women's groups nominate them while female IT types set up a digital direct democracy system so all of them can vote.

And the army can keep the peace while the women figure out how to birth a workable government, of, by and for the people.




Indian women dancing

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