February 28, 2011
To the brave Egyptian people: congratulations on your valiant uprising which toppled ex. President Mubarak; in Arabic: “mabrouk”. I am an Egyptian born American who is particularly proud of your achievement. Also, I wish to pay tribute to the courageous Tunisians who initiated the current movement towards democracy in the Middle East. I am hopeful that the spread of the peaceful uprising of ‘the people’ in the region and elsewhere in the world will materialize without further undue bloodshed. This being said, I wish to offer whatever assistance I can muster to support the peoples’ revolt.
I am neither a political scientist nor a political activist. However, I have been concerned for many years about the plight of common citizens, in particular the plight of many in the USA and the ME. This prompted me to apply certain lessons that I learned from my experience as a professional planner to address global issues and to write “Planning for Survival” which is promoted on this web site. The book addresses issues that are relevant to current developments aiming for democratic rule by the people for the people. The views expressed clarify the causes of problems and present proposals to address them. I also encourage those who visit my web site to use the links above. They guide those interested in the subject to pertinent sources of information and sympathetic analyses. In particular, I recommend visiting Professor Ted Becker’s web site “The Last Lost Empire”; the most recent articles posted there are quite relevant.
In recent years, I have witnessed how those in power in the USA contrived to progressively augment their abuse and usurpation of the rights of common citizens, both in the USA and globally. This is manifested in numerous conditions. For example, the wealthiest 1% of Americans now control over 90% of US assets; similar to what used to be the case with Ben- Ali, Mubarak, and Gaddafi. In addition, the most powerful Americans continue to pursue imperial domination over the rest of the world in order to take advantage of the common citizens of other countries; cases in point, the invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Thus, my work addressed critical issues in the USA, and the conclusions and suggestions for action in my book focus on affecting change in the US in the hope of solving both local issues, and global issues that ensue from American imperialism. Little did I suspect that actual meaningful change in global conditions will be initiated by the action of the people of the Middle East! I cite this in order to alert Egyptian, and other revolutionists that, should they consider the US Constitution as a model to emulate, they are forewarned that the US Constitution does not work in practice to the advantage of the common American citizen. The American Constitution needs to be tweaked to avert many problems that we are experiencing here.
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My message to my fellow American citizens is that they seem to me to be on the whole: slumbering; remember, you snooze, you lose! I suggest that they observe the uprising in Egypt, the ME, and elsewhere in the world, and consider whether they can learn any lessons from current developments. As I write this article, the people in Wisconsin seem to have grasped the parallels in the experiences of ‘the people’ in America and elsewhere in the world; they actually made contact with their Egyptian counterparts.
The leaders in Middle Eastern Arab countries got the message loud and clear: they cannot continue to lead as they have led in previous decades; some of the leadrs are gone, and others seem to be on their way out. The leaders in the USA, especially republican politicians and some of their ardent supporters need to take note of the writing on the wall. In my view, they will be shooting themselves in the foot if they continue to think that they can fool all the people all the time; or rather, as many people as necessary for them to stay in power. The leaders of the USA and Israel are beginning to come to grips with the notion that they need to reconsider the games that they have been playing for decades in the Middle East. They are advised to recognize the resilience of the human spirit which does not tolerate relentless incessant abuse.
The moral: new telecommunication technologies, the internet, facebook, tewitter, skype, WikiLeaks, etc. seem to have ushered a new era that is likely to empower ‘the people’ worldwide to better control their collective destiny. The wealthiest of the wealthy -whether individuals or corporations- and the political leaders they sustain, are advised to heed the momentous current developments and to modify their respective strategies in dealing with the common citizens of the world. Prepare for sharing some of your power and wealth with ‘the people’; you can definitely afford to do that if you can muster some control over your greed. Otherwise, you may be risking loosing it all. Last but not least, to Osama Bin Laden, and others who promote sectarian violence and terrorism: cease and desist from conducting such acts. Your action invariably leads to the death of innocent people who have little to do with your cause. Besides, your action provides an excuse for those in power to come down on helpless citizens all over the world. Please note that young people in the Arab world are in the process of demonstrating the effectiveness of an alternative peaceful approach to addressing global problems.