Saturday, February 19, 2011
Editorial

For decades, the Arab world has often been referred to as a “region of turmoil,” but what is taking place today makes the turmoil of yesterday look quite tame in comparison. Groundswells of widescale and fierce protests against ruling regimes have spread like wildfire, affecting Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Djibouti and Iran in the Middle East alone.

The common chant, of “down with the regime,” continues to enrage most ruling systems, which are fighting back, and producing a growing list of casualties. In Libya, home of the one of the world’s longest-serving heads of state, there have been reports that mercenaries have been enlisted to defend the regime.
Some leaders have made promises to launch reform, in a flagrant admission that corruption has prevailed as a style of rule. And even when presidents have been toppled, as in Egypt, the masses continue to gather, to demand that the process of change continue.

Ruling regimes might resort to any measure to cling to power, but history, and recent incidents, indicate that this will be a losing effort. The cries of young people and others who have taken to the streets have become deafening, and change has become imperative.

The remedies of the past, wielded under duress, are no long viable or acceptable to the people in the streets. Police, armies and militias might be deployed against the protesters, but in some instances they are refusing to participate in the knee-jerk response of “round everyone up,” or worse, and are defecting to the ranks of the people.

Replacing lower-ranking officials and blaming international conspiracies are non-starters. The peoples of these regions have “discovered themselves,” as it were, and have focused on their common, legitimate grievances, which also unite them as members of national communities. One piece of evidence has come from Egypt, where a country that only recently suffered from sectarian tension has suddenly produced a formidable group of people – called citizens of Egypt – who possess formidable strength, courage and unity. In almost every instance, the protests are uniting people across sects, occupations, classes and regions, and ideologies.

It is truly a time of change, and regimes that believe in the old methods to put out the fire will soon find themselves overcome by the flames. Dictators who want to cut their losses, and the losses of their people, have one option: leave, sooner rather than later. Trying to buy time will only increase the level of hatred, and the bloodshed.
Those who try to stand in the way of history will end up losing the battle, if not peacefully, then by force. In today’s “region of turmoil,” there is another valid cliché: The writing is on the wall.