Tuesday, March 1, 2011

on let's hope that when our time comes for big action, our hearts don't become small.

There's an interesting point to be made from the recent uprisings in the Arab World. I envy them (is it because i'm slightly anti-establishment? maybe, just maybe) People who live in wars and oppression have living hearts, so the saying goes. Unlike Malaysians who tend to be shy-shy lor. The first time i joined a protest was on behalf of the Palestinian Society, to protest against the Israeli Foreign Minister giving a speech at the LSE.

What was interesting was that most of the pro-Palestinian supporters were White, in the traditional usage of the word. I am considered Yellow, to be politically incorrect. And trust me, i was so unused to the whole tradition of protest that it felt awkward to be shouting out slogans (Free! Free! PALESTINE! became free, free, palestine~) And on the other side of the road were 3 guys holding the Israeli flag, shouting at the top of their lungs. They sure had a lot of guts. This is not anti-Semitism, just an appreciation of courage.

What was my point again? I just love to beat around the bush don't I.

About the uprisings. If you look carefully at the situation, you'll realise that it is a regionwide trend.

Dark green-promised reforms
light green- some protests
yellow- sustained protests
orange- menacing protests
red- regime toppled

And so it goes that something beginning with the self-immolation of Bouazizi could topple decades-old regimes like dominoes.

These major historical shifts have major impacts on the times we live in. Like post-World War 2 for example. The financial and military strength of the colonial powers were emaciated, supranational authority in decline, and some people decided to take this opportunity to push for independence from their colonial masters, and soon whole nations were involved in the revolution. Conditions were, at the time, ripe for uprisings of the nationalistic sort. And so does God proceeds with his servants.

Just like the end of physical colonialism, the liberation of Soviet satellites and the popular democracy movements in the Middle East, once the tipping point is reached, change comes in waves and nothing the old guard does could prevent the sea of destruction. No cause-and-effect now. Even a million-strong Interior Ministry vanished when faced with the wrath of ordinary, stepped-upon Egyptians. God warns us of his unstoppable might, with the story of prophet Moses confronting the disbelief and injustice of the Pharaoh.

"So Allâh seized him with punishment on Earth and the Hereafter. (25) Verily, in this is a lesson for whosoever fears Allâh.(26) Are you more difficult to create, or is the heaven that He constructed? (27)" (An nazi'aat: 25-27)

So conditions were ripe for those things in those times. Creating a United Ethnic National Organisation does not necessarily lead to independence. Be a good servant and be grateful will we. 

As we learnt in LSE100, great events usually have multiple causes, what an Australian philosopher called INUS, a set of 'insufficient, non-redundant, unnecessary but sufficient' causes. Which in English means that take one domino out, and the tumbling will not be complete. 

So do not think that we are high-and-powerful and that if you eat a lot of rice, you will be full. That is up to God to decide. In the end, it seems, we have only two choices to make.

"And He inspired him his Wrong (Path) and his Righteous (Path)"
(As Syams: 8)

Follow the righteous path, and He leads us down the path of success and gives us the tools for it. If only my people knew, said a righteous person in surah Yaseen. Who cares if you're White or Yellow, in the end it's your belief and deeds that will be counted, and if you have Iman you're my brother it don't matter if you're Black or White.