Interesting times
The people of Egypt are living in interesting times. The Swedish Foreign Ministry are now recommending that people do not travel there, and planes are going empty to Egypt in order to pick up tourists and bring them back home. On the news yesterday (or day before, I can't remember), the radio news crew had interviewed some would-be Swedish tourists who'd had their holiday in Egypt cancelled. What did they have to say? To quote from memory:
"We're disappointed that our holiday has been cancelled, but I guess that with the disturbances down there, it's better that they don't let us go, in case we ended up in some trouble."
Meaning: "Damn those Egyptian people fighting for freedom and democracy right when we were about to spend our holiday in their warm and sunny, albeit undemocratic and oppressive, country!"
I for one find the events taking place in Tunisia and Egypt right now absolutely spellbinding. People rising up -- mostly through peaceful mass demonstrations -- to protest against their oppressive and corrupt governments, and demand freedom, justice and democracy. It pains me how silent and unsupportive the western world has been when it comes to this, and how insular and narrow-minded (some of) the Swedish would-be tourists seem. Think about it: wouldn't you feel just a little bit better spending your holiday in a warm, sunny and democratic country instead?
Also, it's really fascinating that the internet and online social networks have played such a pivotal part in these revolutions. Pivotal enough for the Egyptian goverment to block internet in the entire country! And go Google for making it possible for Egyptians to phone in their tweets instead -- that piece of news was awesome.
This entry was originally posted at http://therru.dreamwidth.org/339447.html. Comments are read in either place.
"We're disappointed that our holiday has been cancelled, but I guess that with the disturbances down there, it's better that they don't let us go, in case we ended up in some trouble."
Meaning: "Damn those Egyptian people fighting for freedom and democracy right when we were about to spend our holiday in their warm and sunny, albeit undemocratic and oppressive, country!"
I for one find the events taking place in Tunisia and Egypt right now absolutely spellbinding. People rising up -- mostly through peaceful mass demonstrations -- to protest against their oppressive and corrupt governments, and demand freedom, justice and democracy. It pains me how silent and unsupportive the western world has been when it comes to this, and how insular and narrow-minded (some of) the Swedish would-be tourists seem. Think about it: wouldn't you feel just a little bit better spending your holiday in a warm, sunny and democratic country instead?
Also, it's really fascinating that the internet and online social networks have played such a pivotal part in these revolutions. Pivotal enough for the Egyptian goverment to block internet in the entire country! And go Google for making it possible for Egyptians to phone in their tweets instead -- that piece of news was awesome.
This entry was originally posted at http://therru.dreamwidth.org/339447.html. Comments are read in either place.