Visual Aids for Politically-Challenged Americans

This is the coronation portrait of King George III which has had a face lift; that is, the face of that (in)famous king has been removed and replaced with the face of Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt. I have done this specifically to assist Americans who are having difficulty following the events that are going on in Egypt. The Egyptian people have had to contend with the “tyrannies,” “usurpations” and “abuses” by Mubarak and his regime for thirty years and even longer if former regimes are brought into the equation. These terms are used in our Declaration of Independence to refer to the actions of George III in order to justify the extreme step that our revolutionaries took in taking up arms against that king. Looking back today, of course, George III appears a kindly gentleman in a wig who had some bad advice and even worse public relations. But whatever he was guilty of, the American revolutionaries turned those abuses into the basis for a rhetorical flourish that to this day has left us both wonderfully inspired and terribly confused. On the one hand, the Declaration of Independence establishes the equality of all persons (using the term “men” to mean persons, we think) and yet countenances the continuation of slavery on the other. Be that as it may, what has this to do with Egypt?

The Egyptian people today are fighting an even graver battle against a dictator and regime certainly as ruthless and brutal as the redcoats of almost 250 years ago. Americans supposedly have been committed to the principles of freedom and democracy by virtue of the way that the United States came into existence. Shouldn’t the Egyptian people, or any people for that matter, have our sympathy and support when they seek the same freedom? There are, however, unfortunate barriers preventing this simple logic from operating. Those barriers include a distance in religion, ethnicity and even race, coupled with a sorry apathy among Americans that extends even to their own political and economic situation. It is my firm belief that what is going on in Egypt is a watershed moment, not only in the history of the Middle East, but in the history of the post-modern world.

The scenes out of Egypt over the past two weeks have exploded a narrative that has held sway until now without successful challenge. It includes the idea that Arabs are incapable of understanding democracy or the institutions that support it and that their Muslim faith is antagonistic to those institutions. What we witness instead is a generation of tech savvy people coming from all walks of life, from all faiths and degrees of faith, from various political shades of opinion, from all socio-economic strata, of all ages, men and women, together in a form of solidarity that is impressive by any sociological standard. The energy that we witness on the streets of Cairo and other cities wants its chance to affect events in Egypt and the world beyond through a democratic process. You hear calls for social justice because Egypt is a country with social inequalities even greater than those in the United States, and those inequalities are something with which it is difficult to compete.

Another part of this exploded narrative concerns the proclivity of Arab populations to engage in violence and terror to secure change. Concomitantly, the Muslim world has been taunted after 9/11 for calls to demonstrate that it contains moderate masses, disconcerted by the violent events in the world. Well, here is an eloquent demonstration of non-violent Muslim, even Arab, masses laying down their lives in the name of freedom. The tables are now turned. Where are the Western masses raising their voices in concern and support? Where are the Western voices taking responsibility for supporting for thirty years a regime and security service that engaged in every form of brutality? Where are the Western voices acknowledging that the Egyptian regime was a handy client who provided a venue for torture and mischief that could not be conducted on the soil of supposedly more civilized environments? Those voices until now seem rather silent.

Egypt is a nation of great contrasts and difficulties and the road to democracy is not going to be an easy one. The Muslim Brotherhood has its eye on capturing events for its benefit. But why is the Muslim Brotherhood any more dangerous than the “Christian Brotherhood” which operates under a hundred different names in the United States, is as retrograde and which supports violence against its “enemies.” Right now, we witness events which should fill us with hope and inspiration. If good people on all sides of the various divides in the world make common cause on those things with which they agree, maybe the divisions will seem less important. There are too many critical problems that need a remedy. Inflaming sectarian passions certainly is not a solution. Fostering democracy and eliminating injustice seems more apt to move us in that positive direction.