Excellent! President Mubarak stepped down; another step to towards democracy. Not unlike so many of you, I've been watching things unfold in the nations of Egypt & Tunisia as its citizens continue to press for a government reflective of the people's sensibilities. It is a privilege to bear witness to passion, momentum and resolve. However, as I watch what is taking place in Egypt on the global main stage my mind continually returns to the young Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi who on December 17, 2010 poured gasoline on his body then lit himself on fire in protest of oppressive governance practices in his native Tunisia. The 26-year-old was the sole wage earner for nine family members. He sold fruits and vegetables from his cart at the market. He was routinely harassed and sometimes physically abused by the police in his home town. On this particular day police overturned his cart making it impossible for him to earn a living that day. It was too much. After receiving no aid from officials inside the local municipal building he went out front of it and light himself on fire in protest. Six days later he died from the resulting third degree burns.
From what I understand, many Egyptian citizens were inspired by Boazizi's astonishing protest, so much so that it helped sparked resistance in Egypt now at the forefront of global news. Regardless of how everything plays out in Egypt, the citizen driven protest will undoubtedly be a defining moment within Egyptian history.
I cannot help but ruminate over the circumstances which ultimately led to Mohamed Bouazizi's singular protest. What depths of helplessness and despair must one feel to bring about one's own excruciatingly painful bodily harm, in protest against political injustice? What impressions of helplessness were with him that day? Can many of us even imagine experiencing that level of gall and affront?
These questions are not a call to judgement of Bouzizi's methods of protest, allowing the conversation to linger there is to miss a larger and more meaningful statement. The statement being: the impact of the pursuit of justice and equality sometimes requires the use of only one person's breaking point to facilitate large-scale change.
As we continue to watch the momentum of resistance efforts in Egypt build, this author invites the reader to seriously consider this: there's something safe and protected about recognising and identifying a momentum driven effect. It's almost as though the uncertainty of the cause's validity is eradicated with momentum, making it now okay to "weigh in", as it were. Since "push back" of the Egyptian people began days ago, every manner of media outlet and purported expert has done just that: weighed in on the resulting momentum. However, let us consider this: when Mohamed Bouzizi set himself a blaze that Friday morning he did not have the external validation of a grassroots nation wide solidarity, or media coverage. In that moment he had only his "breaking point" and the abiding, all consuming resolve that trends of injustice in his lived experience must end immediately. How was he to know that his actions would fuel national and international shifts? He wasn't, and, he didn't.
The history books and media coverage will speak at length of the momentum, the collective sustained human resolve for betterment in Tunisia and Egypt, as they should. However, this author feels compelled to suggest that it may be in our collective best interest to be equally mindful of the Bouazizis of the world whose personalised, immediate calls to action allow the former to exist.
To the family of Mohamed Bouazizi and others like him, know that this author is not the only one aware of the impact of their monumental sacrifices, and, more importantly of their lives.
Further, let us hope that all governing autocrats are exposed (and by some miracle affected), even briefly, by the lengths to which their countrymen will go to end these counter-productive reigns.