A Title, Untitled

It’s been almost 3 months since I’ve last written anything. That is of course after over 2 years of very irregular and quite rare occasions of writing, within which I switched to this “new” blog. Time has passed. Looking back, it almost seems that I have been so uninspired that I have lost my voice.

I have been changing non-stop, perhaps faster than my mind has been able to grasp. Whether this change was positive or negative, I cannot yet tell. It scares me. Stopping and halting my baby (or grown up?) steps towards anywhere to evaluate this continuous change scares me. As much as I know I need to let everything go and be myself, I cannot help but worry about what people around me expect of me, and what I expect of myself. Now I’m not sure if it means anything to rant about social expectations and whether or not I, like you, should work on fulfilling them.

A few years back, I had begun a journey to find myself.. in others, in music, in movies, in books. This journey, I am certain, had begun farther back than I can recall, but it only hit me as I entered university. If there’s anything I have learned from university, which usually doesn’t feel like that much, it is to question everything and everyone. To question myself. If there’s anything that my involvement in activism and my rising interest in politics has lead me to do it is to appreciate differences amongst people, amongst ideas, and within my very own self.

Yet, all that aside, I had managed to convince myself that I lost my voice a very long time ago. Now, the reasons for that I’m not sure of. Some people I surrounded myself with definitely were a factor. Yet again, since my performance at a local event (Arabian Night) last March 2012, I suddenly felt my voice was coming back to me. Yes, I was still as nervous as I ever could be. And of course, everybody listened to my “nervous voice” as opposed to my “singing-in-the-shower voice”. But it all came back to me. I suddenly found myself being invited to perform at event after event. And I must admit, with music, I have found my inner voice. For that I am very grateful to every criticism I received, negative or positive, to every compliment, to every invitation, and to every facial expression I have laid my eyes on while I was singing… at home in front of family, with friends, at rehearsals, and during performances. These faces are ones I could never forget.

Now as I am writing this particularly to be published on this blog, I wonder why I am writing. What the purpose of this post is. Why anybody would be bothered to read it, let alone to react to it in any way. I wonder. Then I wonder if it even matters. If it matters to have a clearly written purpose. If it matters if this is read or not. If it matters if anybody reacts even if emotionally.

And I wonder if I even need to worry.

Bouazizi is alive

“How do you expect me to make a living?”

These were the last words believed to have been uttered by Mohamed Bouazizi before he set his body aflame on December 17, 2010. With only a cart of vegetables, the 26 year old supported his family of eight. Earlier during the day, he had gone about his daily routine only to be met with a police officer who confiscated his scale, allegedly slapping him, beating him, and insulting his dead father. When he went to formally complain to municipal authorities, they refused to meet him.

He took to the street, and sparked a fire that is still burning today. He has become a hero, a legend, and a symbol for what the world was bound to witness.  Simply put, Tunisians, Egyptians, and Yemenis have overthrown some of the most long-standing dictatorships of the region.

Immediately following his self immolation, men and women from his small hometown Sidi Bouzid protested the injustice that Bouazizi experienced on the day of the incident. Demonstrations spread like wildfire across Tunisia, and following former President Zineldine Ben Ali’s self-exile, to Egypt and then Yemen. The next dominos to fall were former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, later followed by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The cause of the protests was clear. There was a myriad of Bouazizi’s in the region, all of whom became victims of injustice every day more than the day before. Rising poverty rates, unemployment rates, illiteracy rates, corruption, police brutality topped with nearly non-existent political freedoms made the revolutions inevitable.

Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen have arguably passed through a year of relative progress. Tunisians have elected an assembly in November, which has voted for human rights veteran Moncef Marzouki as Tunisia’s first interim President after the revolution last week. He is due to appoint a prime minister from the Islamist majority party, Ennahda, while the assembly drafts a constitution.

About 2000 km away, Egyptians continue to fight ongoing corruption, oppression and violence, this time personified by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the army. In the meantime, parliamentary elections are currently in progress. Two out of three rounds have been completed and so far, the Freedom and Justice Party (the Muslim Brotherhood) are ranking quite high in this popularity contest. Other major players are ElNour Party, which follows Salafist ideology, the largely liberal Egyptian Bloc, and the Revolution Continues Coalition, which brings together Islamist, socialist, and liberal political parties. However, SCAF members have stated in a press conference that this parliament will not be representative and that SCAF holds all final decisions on all matters to be discussed in parliament.

In Yemen, current President Saleh is scheduled to leave his post and cede all his powers this December 23, following negotiations brokered by the GCC. His deputy would then assume responsibilities of the president until elections take place. In return, President Saleh is granted immunity from prosecution, which undermines the forming of a new non-corrupted justice system.

Precisely how far the people of Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen have come to gain their rights and privileges as citizens remains unclear. The initial demand throughout the mass demonstrations across the region had boiled down to a complete and grassroots change of regime, hence the revolutions.

Also witnessing mass demonstrations are Syria and Bahrain. Under a media blackout inside and out, specific details about demonstrations in Syria remain vague. We do, however, know that there are Syrians who are massacred in large numbers on a daily basis, with Al Assad’s regime showing no signs of collapse and no will for negotiating with protesters. In Bahrain, demonstrations at Manama’s Lulu Roundabout escalated in March, then quieted down following a serious crackdown by Bahraini authorities. Bahrainis continue to organize demonstration in protest.

Yet, evidence indicates that poverty and unemployment rates remain relatively unchanged. Authorities are still continuously abusing citizens. Human rights violations have not come close to reaching their end, and not without reason. So far, the journey has been a complex obstacle course, characterized by international pressure on governments in an attempt to secure foreign interests. Another factor significantly hindering progress is the absence of leaders or spokespersons to clearly list demands of protesters and to sit at the bargaining table when and if necessary. Furthermore, one of the factors that has proven to be a big obstacle is that most demonstrations are peaceful and most demonstrators are unarmed, and may be armed with nothing but rocks. Because a state, represented by the oppressive regime, is by definition the entity that holds a monopoly over violence, the basic survival and endurance of the unarmed protesters becomes a significant challenge. The figureheads currently in power in the region have become preoccupied with securing their own interests and are continuously trying to defenestrate the demands of the demonstrations. Instead of investing in the struggling local economies, heads of state are betting on suppressing the demonstrations and undoubtedly violating principles of human rights.

How long it will take for the revolutions to be completed is difficult to foresee. While a revolution may change a regime and its figureheads overnight, social change may require quite a few years to bloom. Any nonpolitical change needs to start from its seed to ensure that change is in fact deep-rooted. While Tunisia seems to be undergoing a relatively speedy transition, the year ahead of the rest of the MENA region will most likely be a continuation of the obstacle course that has begun earlier this year as signs of deep-rooted change and democratic transition seem obscure.

One year ago, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze out of frustration and despair. Today, economic, social, and political conditions in the region have not been fully altered to benefit their constituents and ameliorate their frustration and well-founded concerns. As the future of the region remains uncertain, a cool breeze is yet to blow strongly enough to put out the flame first lit one year ago. In memory of Bouazizi, the struggle to make a living remains.