For the past few weeks Egypt has been in the middle of a crisis.
People have been killed, injured in loots and riots, the reason-being fed up with their government. The Egyptian people want President Hosni Mubarak gone to put it plain and simply. So much so that they have been chanting things such as “We are not getting tired at all, freedom can’t be obtained for free, Down with Mubarak, down with the tyrant.”
For better understanding here is a little background information on Mubarak. He was appointed president of Egypt in October of 1981 following the assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat. Making him Egypt’s longest president. But the Egyptian people are not tired of him for this reason. Under Mubarak there has been numerous reason why he may seem tyrannical, for instance the “state of emergency” law the government has the right to imprison individuals for any period of time, and for virtually no reason, thus keeping them in prisons without trials for any period.
Now, for most of us non-Egyptians we are sitting by on the side line all this unfold from our couches via TV, newspaper, and online. And there are even those wondering “why does this matter to me? I’m not affected by this” making the crisis in Egypt on level with Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding.
But truthfully this does matter to us as Americans, why? Because there are American citizens in Egypt who are being caught up their fight for freedom from “the tyrant.” And because we are always in other country’s business that’s why. And when a country is in the middle of a crisis, whether political or not, it becomes our problem.
Yeah, Mubarak has decided not to run for president again. But that is not all they want. They want him to in a sense “hang” – I use that term loosely- himself and disappear forever from the eyes of the Egyptian people, state, and government. I hope and pray that the Egyptian people succeed in getting what they want, minus more violence