Recorded history tells us that the world is always divided. When we were young, we studied about the Greeks and the Romans, and before that, Athens and Sparta within Ancient Greece itself. We then lived to see the world split between the socialist camp (Eastern bloc) and the capitalist camp (Western bloc), or the Warsaw Pact countries and NATO. Communism fell, and Russia today almost competes with Saudi Arabia in oil production, and China is almost catching up with the United States in ‘business,' and will no doubt overtake it soon. With this and that, there was also the First World, and the Third (and Thirty-Third) World. The socialist camp was supposed to be called the Second World, but it refused and the term was not used. After the fall of communism, the divide between East and West disappeared, and we started hearing about North (rich) and South (poor). The divide then eroded, with countries in the Global South like Brazil, Argentina, and India catching up. Today, there is a new division: Countries being migrated from, and countries being migrated into. A ship carrying illegal Lebanese immigrants to Australia sank, followed by a ship carrying illegal immigrants near an Italian island, with hundreds of them dying. The whole world has progressed except us. The Quran states: "Are those equal, those who know, and those who do not know?" The time when we used to know and export knowledge is gone, and today, we learn from others, and some of us even refuse knowledge and perhaps consider it to be heresy. Today, everyone emigrates. Or more precisely, everyone who can emigrate does, from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Arab Maghreb. A century ago, the Lebanese would emigrate intending to return home. Arabs in every country used to immigrate to Egypt to succeed, and their success in their own countries would not have been possible without an Egyptian degree. The Sudanese used to immigrate to Egypt, and today, they live in half a country, while the Egyptians are looking for a country to immigrate to. The Greeks and the Italians used to come to Egypt to work as chefs or waiters, and now, some of us seek to become servants in their countries. Today, the Lebanese emigrate and do not want to return. The Egyptians compete with them, and prefer Canada, where winter lasts for 10 months, over Egypt, ‘the mother of the world.' Iraq is exporting engineers and doctors to the world, while those who stay behind are being killed. And how many Moroccans, Algerians, and Tunisians have drowned on their way to Europe, even as they know that Europe does not welcome them? We are a nation that once was the breadbasket of the world, and now, we import wheat, corn, rice, and every other food. We gave Europe everything we knew so that it may emerge from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, but then we slept. We are a nation that exports people. We export people who received higher education or succeeded in business, and who have the ability to emigrate in search for better opportunities. Or we export young people who want a better life. So who is left behind in the country? The illiterate, the poor, the needy...and...the Supreme Leader. "You were the finest nation brought out for mankind." But now? You are the last nation. I am not old enough to remember the colonial era, but I grew up hearing stories about it from my elders. They were horrific stories at the time, but we did not imagine that we would live to see worse things happen. "Raise your head, brother, the colonial era is over." Shall I say "Lower your heard, brother, you are in the independence era"? Am I calling for the return of colonialism? No, but I say that colonizers were strangers, and now we have an enemy, or many enemies, from among ourselves. God have mercy on us. [email protected]
