Like many people across the globe I was inspired by the solidarity, determination and passion shown by the Egyptian people during the last two weeks. As a friend of mine posted on my face book wall, “6000 years of history changed in 6 days.” From the Pharaohs who used the poor to build the massive monuments we view in awe today to Mubarak who garnered billions while he suffered his people to starve, Egypt has suffered at the hands of autocratic leaders. Yet, on last Friday Egypt, the cradle of civilization, finally changed their history. They said no to an autocratic leader….and amazingly he heard.
Tunisia as well, after years of leadership by an oppressive authoritarian leader rose up as a people and said enough is enough. Like Mubarak, Ben Ali also heard the people. Sudan, after decades of war, has brokered a fragile peace agreement – separating the two warring factions, the north and the south into two countries. There are other examples of countries that have recently begun to revolt against the powerful elite who has for years waged war against the average citizen. They wage war by depriving them of their basic human rights such as their right to a job that pays a livable wage, a decent home, health care, and food to name just a few. These countries have not entered a period of utopia, and their journeys have only just begun and will be fraught with difficulties. Yet, the people spoke…and the oppressors heard. There is power and hope in that.
Yet, as we in the western world view the rise of the people in North Africa against their autocratic leaders, I wonder how many of us see that we, just like they have been oppressed? Perhaps many don’t feel it. Yet, as a person who strives to live simply, to reduce my carbon footprint, and not get into further debt with predatory lenders, I gave up my leased vehicle and have recently begun to take public transportation. In the morning, I see the picture of oppression…of people who are struggling to survive. I listen to the conversations and hear people discuss how to make a comfortable pallet on the floor because bed bugs infested their mattress and they can’t afford a new one. These are not the deserving poor. For I don’t believe there are any deserving poor in this country – most people I have met would love to have a job that would pay enough to keep a roof over their head. I don’t know of a person who likes not knowing where their next meal is going to come from, or if they will be able to pay the next month’s rent. Having been in both situations before, I can tell you the feeling ain’t so pleasant. So yes, there are oppressed people in this country – and they don’t deserve to be so. Not when the CEO’s of companies that send jobs overseas get tax breaks, or when the finance companies that helped create the 2008 financial crisis get bonuses while the people they have gotten rich from are booted from their homes.
Did you know that that 1% of our population holds 42% of the wealth in our nation? Did you also know that while some of us voted for a president who we thought would bring change, he actually appointed many people who were major players in the 2008 catastrophic debacle? Goldman Sachs has several former employees, from Robert Ruben to Timothy Geitner in the Obama Whitehouse. If 1% of our population holds 42% of our wealth then you can also bet you bottom dollar that this same 1% has significant say in the direction of our country. Our country is run by market financiers, and corporations though we elect what we suppose are change agents. Do I hear autocracy anyone? Perhaps it’s not an autocracy as in one single person, but it does appear to be a single group of players pulling the strings…corporations.
I believe that today, in the American mindset, the revolution is not being televised, as Gil Scott Heron wrote in his legendary piece. Yet, as our current budget continues to be cut (cuts that will affect social services that assist the poor) – in the face of continued tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, and as the cost of living continues to rise, and the wages continue to stay the same, the revolution will burst forth from the hearts and minds of America’s people and like Egypt we will demand justice. We will demand that our human rights be recognized, that our democracy be one that is truly by the people, and for the people…not by the few or for the few. This is not simply a political awakening that will happen friends, but a spiritual one. When we as a people unite against the corporate tyranny and speak out not just for ourselves, but every low income person standing on a bus stop, or waiting in line for food stamps, then we are joining in a cause that is Divine.
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