I am back but may be I Should Not
I got back home yesterday from a wonderful and exciting but very exhausting vacation…it was such an adventure… we saw some great nature, enjoyed the exposure to different cultures and learned so much history and how people flourished and built marvels during their peak days…The Andes mountains were a blast….I was in a totally different world, away from the bad news of the middle east. It was such a good feeling to be somewhere very very far; so many people did not know what Syria is or where it is…shocking but good, no need to talk about politics.
But the first 10 days of the trip coincided weirdly with political campaigns. They were in the heat of campaigning for elections and the whole drive was a joke. I was laughing and ridiculing their political fanaticism and campaigning. Cars were honking for different candidates even at 2 am (so annoying), candidates wasting the whole nights for empty speeches and promises. Crowds of people being drawn to listen by different bribes such as political fiestas, bingos, competitions, bike rallies, you name it.
So much money was paid out and it was so obvious. I could just look around dirty cities and poor people and laugh when candidates were promising to clean and modernize the place and find jobs…why wait till elections to promise, why laugh at the people. I talked to so many educated people and it seemed like the whole campaign was just pure entertainment, everyone agreed that it was all empty promises and politicians forget everything they promised after winning.
The irony is that everyone was forced to vote in their historic area, mainly where you are from (so you have to go back to your native area), otherwise you pay a huge fine. The taxi driver that we hired in Cusco came back that Sunday with purple fingers after rushing to vote since he is leaving the city for the rest of the day. If that is democracy in the 3rd world, then I don’t want it…people had choices between different parties and personalities but it was all the same. Reminded me of Syria before any fake elections…where all the festivities happen but nothing changes…people are enslaved to their poor conditions and change for the better is always a dream. Peru is a rich country but full of poverty, greed, ignorance and economical problems (kind of like Egypt). I hope Syria is a different situation although it is getting poorer and the enormous human population growth does not help…we are slowly approaching the status of being stuck in the mud.
There are so many similarities between South America and the Middle East, both in history of civilizations and modern political struggles…it seems like South America is on a much better path. Terrorism there is on the decline and foreign investment is happy to be there.
I was totally in a different world, being on vacation gives you a great feeling and take you away from your world of worries or problems. I gladly avoided the internet and news as much as I could. That is why last Saturday I was in extreme shock and very saddened when I found out that Pierre Gemayel (Allah Yirhamo) was assassinated. I became really angry; I mean what did the guy do to be killed??? And the assassins keep escaping justice!!! It was like having my heart being ripped off!!!!
Bush and USA screwed up big time by invading Iraq and it is now more obvious than ever. But what makes it worse is that Lebanon is paying the price for Iraq…the Palestinian people are paying heavy prices for the west indifference to them which makes them solicit the help of opportunistic regimes such as Iran and Syria. Iran and Syria powers are rising and so is extremism and terrorism. Anyone who thinks that Iran and Syria are standing up the west is really very naive. These regimes do not care about anything except staying in power. They are ready to starve the whole region and rob it from its wealth and resources. US dominance is a bad thing but Iran and Syria plus Islamic fundamentalism is even worse.
Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and the whole region are paying with their blood and nothing will improve. There is no hope and may be I should stay away. I guess people are hostage to political conflicts and they will never have enough guts to follow logical people who want better human rights and more prosperity chances.
Just remember while enjoying my declaration of defeat, that Pierre Gemayel, Gibran Tueni, Rafic Harriri and everyone assassinated by the forces of darkness, Michel Kilo, Kamal Labwani, Aref Dalila, Anwar Al bunni and everyone jailed by the forces of slavery could be ANYONE OF US. Remember that if we don’t do anything to stand up and refuse this barbaric control that no one will stand up to help us. Remember that cheering on any injustice means that we will never become a civilized nation regardless of how glorious our past was. Remember that we control our destiny and we choose our end.
The US destroyed Iraq but extremism destroyed the region…so enjoy the chaos and laugh at wise people like us.
4 comments November 30, 2006
