The democratic Alternative; A Clash of Generations.

Snippets:

The “snippets” series will be sporadic posts commenting on random issues, what’s the difference between them and regular entries, you may ask……well the difference is hardly significant, however snippets as the name implies are generally very short entries on topics that need more elaboration that might or might not come in future entries.

Snippet # 1 : 

The democratic Alternative; A Clash of Generations.

A few days ago, a coalition of the Sudanese opposition as well as the vocal political forces joined hands in signing a charter titled: The democratic alternative charter.  Ok, so first things first, on so many levels, this is a significant initiative, it indicates that the opposition has some sort of faith in the recent uprisings,  fact that this acknowledgement came over two weeks into it is besides the point, or is it?  The charter is eloquently articulated, offering a comprehensive agenda to address the situation post revolution. The status quo of the political scene in The Sudan is deeply polarized as a direct result of the current system’s effort to paralyze the effectiveness of the opposition. The signing of this charter triggered different responses from the youth and the older generations, resulting what can only be described as a clash of generations.

Now all political correctness aside, the charter wasn’t received as well as expected by the youth for several reasons, but one reason that seems to be agreed upon almost unanimously is the fact that youth groups like “Girifna” and “Sharara” were marginalized in the sense that the charter wasn’t signed by representatives although a clause in the charter stated the importance of involving nameless “Youth groups” in the transitional government and what’s to come. There groups serve as an umbrella of unity uniting the raging youth who come from different backgrounds under the common goal of ousting the current oppressive regime! Social media outlets were bustling with dissatisfied youth debating a more optimistic group regarding the level of faith in the opposition and the charter. The charter acknowledges the presence of youth groups, but their role in the stages following the downfall of the regime wasn’t explicitly specified resulting in the skepticism and a fear of marginalization in future endeavors to rebuild the nation.  

The older generation received the charter with great enthusiasm and was very disheartened at the fact that the youth didn’t come running with open arms to embrace the charter and offer their unconditional support!  Which brings this rant to a significant point…..The older generation though supportive of the youth is still skeptical and critical of their approach to revolting, which is understandable because this same generation witnessed and led the previous popular uprisings , but it is unfair to expect identical approaches when everything is different, the times, the tyrant and the mentalities ! 

Adam and myself are torn, on one hand we think the charter is a great initiative , its addresses key points and it’s a testimony of the support of the opposition and a form of positive feedback to the recent uprisings , however, the skepticism is absolutely legit and justifiable , because as of this moment, the opposition had been all talk .  All in all though, we take a stance of support to everyone who comes along under the common goal of toppling the tyranny. 

The mindset of Tyranny

The mindset of tyranny

Not that optimism is a bad thing, nor do I mean to say that I was never a proud optimist booing away realists and fighting pessimists with all my might, but I had realized, or rather learnt by experience that there is much to it than meets the eye and trying to effectively pick a side is next to impossible because there can’t and won’t be a shear right or wrong when it comes to this and no, realism is not the middle ground despite popular belief. You know what it’s like? It’s like those questions in surveys, you know the ones, the ones with six options ranging from extremely decisive to I just want to be nice because I don’t know what to say, when you have six options, and there is no middle option, you’ll have to pick a side, visual demonstration below :

That middle right there is where I believe realism lies, its not neutral, a realist has already taken a turn to the dark side, not to be confused with a pragmatist or a cynic. Ok ok I realize I have strayed away from the main topic, the mindset of tyranny. Ok here we go, so the other day Adam and I sat down to watch the announcement of the results of the first free and fair presidential elections in Egypt. The event is huge, all aspects aside, it’s big, it's elections and they're free AND fair.  Without going into the publically available details of the presidential race and all that went down, Morsi won the Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Yep, you heard right.  In case you’re not familiar with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, it’s the underdog, the looming evil that everyone fears and that the country was fending off for ages. Opinions are torn between those glad that military rule is finally gone and those scared of a doomed fate under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.  I will be commenting on the latter group.

For years, under the Mubarak rule, the Muslim Brotherhood has been excessively feared and demonized in every media outlet, movies, series, soap operas and pretty much any method of communication accessible to the public. Not here to discuss whether those efforts were legit or just “efforts” to fend off any sort of potent opposition facing the Mubarak regime.

 The fear of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood is legit regardless of whether the reasons were fabricated or exaggerated. Similar experiences have failed, the most appropriate example would be the “Islamic Movement” in the southern neighbor “The Sudan” , but that’s a different entry.  Ok, so where was I…right, Muslim Brotherhood…bad idea! I say not necessarily, and here is why:

To come up with this analysis I had to combine what I know about optimism, pessimism and realism, so I can assume the mindset of a potential tyrant, here is what I came up with:

The optimist in me, wanted to believe that the revolution didn’t go to waste and wasn’t aborted in its final stage of the rough thorn rimmed route, I mean come on, long days of continuous protests, bravery in the face of brutality and a lot more details that are abundantly available in Aljazeera archives (Possible Entry) .  But the realist and the pessimist soon joined efforts to deflating that wishful thinking, basing their arguments on the saying that there is no sandstorm without dust or something to that effect, that all these years of Muslim Brotherhood phobia need to have stemmed from genuine reasons. After all was said and done, and” the said” was disproportionally greater than “the done”, I had figured it out, the peace treaty between all three, and finally some self-induced peace of mind. It is simple! No really! It is… ! If I were a tyrant , who’s  been warned against for ages, this is how I would proceed, for the first years of my administration, I will work hard to try and reverse as much as possible of the effects of the previous failed system, fix health, education and economy, things that will get people comfortable and silent! Gain their trust, maintain the momentum while “postponing” the big changes, to be able to use the time factor card, with visible progress and unsaid promises of more lurking in the horizon can guarantee a pass to the next round. This is when true colors emerge, subtle at first, but increasingly aggressive as time goes by until it gets to a point where I'm superglued to the chair with every law surprisingly on my side!

The optimist in me insists on having the final say, I guess nature topples nurture! If the above scenario is to go down, the people will get improved living conditions, the brotherhood will be exposed and the shackles of fear had already left with Mubarak and it can be done again and again and again……