November 24, 2011 - An earlier entry may be found below for today, a memory of my Cousin Peter... I felt the two entries should be separate. This, then, some other thoughts for these past six weeks... More to come about music soon.
I wrote last month about Egypt. About a world of burning wood and ordered chaos, of people struggling to build a nation from the remains of 60 years of authoritarian rule, of a people who cared enough about democracy to die for it... And so, this week, they have.
This is the last, best effort to build a peaceable national democracy in the heart of Islam. A democracy that could look after its poor and its minorities and afford the right to self-determination to all of its people, regardless of their gender or religion or who they know or who they are related to... A dream we are supposed to have been conceived in, a pursuit to which we as a nation are bound by history and purpose. And yet we watch as this experiment in democracy starts to descend into an unnecessary cycle of violence and repression - its pattern and progress almost predictable in its slow downward trajectory. But it need not be this way. We need not let it happen. It need not always be the choice of geopolitical imperative outweighing the lives of people.
It is not in the interests of our allies to ensure a free Egypt - whether run by the Muslim Brotherhood as some think, or the secularists like the Free Egyptians (those I know there) as others do. In either case the repressive monarchies and authoritarian states we call our friends are threatened - whether from a repressed Islam, or a powerful secular voice. In all instances, if Egypt were to succeed, it would indicate to others in the region that this country - this 7,000 year old symbol of culture and humanity - has found a different path than either repression or self-immolation upon which to build a society. These allies would never like that. So in Washington diplomats and experts whisper threats of what democracy might bring to those who know no better. They haven't been there, or if they have, they have wined and dined with the military rulers who control 40% or more of the economy and repress their people in the name of righteousness, while threatening any who speak ill of them. No, they haven't been there, but I have.
Today the military has chosen to allow chaos to rule the streets by not protecting those who assembled and demanded civilian government. They've chosen to shoot them and tear gas them and use nerve agents to permanently harm them. They've lied about what they have done and been caught in those lies. They've cut a deal with the Islamists to avoid losing their monopoly. These are our friends - the allies that promote stability? Since when did stability look like a state that kills its people, and promotes a party that will threaten the rights of one of its nation's genders and its religious minorities? We cringe at pepper spray in California, sprayed in the eyes of peaceful students. In Egypt the police have aimed at the protesters eyes when they shoot, permanently blinding those who survive.
These are grim thoughts. I was there a week ago, and I left with a different feeling. I was watching a democratic process unfold before me. I watched a Facebook page turning with new "likes" at a rate of 100 an hour - not to find out about the latest casualties, but to discover who their candidates were, the latest political ad, the latest party statement. I left a country that hoped for a future - and planned for an election November 28th. I landed in the U. S. and saw on the news a country convulsed in the reality that the secularists just might do better than it was thought, that the alliance between the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), just might not succeed. The reality that the ruling status quo might be broken. And then all Hell broke loose.
As I have watched this all unfold, I have been on my music tour, set up well before I knew I would be in Egypt. And, while the tour has been good (kudos to Randy and Denise Renter in Dallas and Mike and Carol Wofford in Oklahoma City for throwing great events - more on them and their events in the next entry), I have been troubled by all of this and stunned at the surreal contrast of the world I've played for here and the one I played for there. But I have not lost hope. I have spoken to some in Washington and have been on the phone with friends in Tahrir Square and I believe it may still be possible for a new Egypt to emerge. And while I recognize that "Black Friday" will dominate the news in the States - as we run from bargain to bargain, that day will take on a whole other meaning in Egypt if we do nothing. As more than a million people crowd the streets again on Friday asking for the right to be governed by themselves, their rulers, the SCAF, will face a choice and will have to determine which side of history they will come down on. And, in what we say to them, what words our government whispers into the ears of the SCAF, we too will have to decide on which part of history we'll come down.
It is in our interests as a free people - and as members of humanity - to care. We should. It is not just about Egypt, its about whether or not there will ever be a third way in those nations where a majority of the people practice Islam. A way that could well lead to the end of our never-ending war on terror. A world that promises a future for those who have no hope for one.
In January, while visiting my Mom in Carson City, she turned to me as the people filled Tahrir Square. "I wish I could go", she said... "I wish I could be there too" she finished. We were watching history unfold. And while she can't be there, she inspired me. I can't stand back and watch, I've engaged. Will you?