Madina Newspaper“O Lord! You know all the hidden things, so save us from what we fear.” According to Al-Jabarti, the Egyptian historian, Egyptians used to say this prayer over two hundred years ago whenever Napoleon's soldiers bombarded them with shells and missiles. Today, Egyptians at Tahrir Square repeat the same prayer while they are bombarded with choking tear gas canisters which are meant to disperse them and drive them out of the square. Egyptians are not afraid of bombs as much as they are scared of the unknown future. That is why most Egyptians including those of the Couch Party or the silent majority keep repeating the same prayer. However, nowadays Egyptians are not the only people saying this prayer. Bombs are falling on all Arab Spring countries. The question that poses itself is why we of all the people in the world are engaged in a dialogue with violence and weapons? Why does change have to happen through bloodshed? A few weeks ago, I said that the global financial crisis was one of the catalysts of the Arab Spring. But let's consider another question: Why do Europeans change their governments through votes and without any violence while the governments of the Arab Spring countries change through bullets and bloodshed? For the last two years, Europe has been suffering a financial crisis which has resulted in the collapse of eight governments and may undermine the entire European Community. Last week, the Spanish people decided to punish the socialist government led by Jose Zapatero; so they went to the ballot box and the power was transferred smoothly to Mariano Rajoy, who belongs to the right-wing party. A few days before that, Italy removed the billionaire Silvio Berlusconi from the government and appointed the technocrat Mario Monti. And a few weeks ago, Greece removed its Prime Minister Papandreou from power and appointed instead Papademos following threats from Europe that Greece might be removed from the European Union. Greece had to choose a new prime minister within 24 hours. The winds of change that came with the global financial crisis and its repercussions have reached the governments of Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Denmark and Slovakia while French President Sarkozy is struggling for survival. The British economy is about to destroy Cameron's government in light of increasing unemployment rates while the British government insists on cutting public spending in order to face the crisis. It is the economy, then, that is the issue. And it is supported by the tools of globalization with a view to affecting social and political affairs from Tokyo to Wall Street where riots started because of the large gap in the distribution of wealth. One percent of America owns everything while 99 percent own nothing. The number of Americans living below the poverty line has jumped to over 40 million people. The economy is the culprit. It is what has made communities and countries opt for political action, characterized by violence in the Middle East and by democracy in Europe. It is going to make other countries take action too. That is why economic reforms are important, reforms that seek to improve the living standards of the poor. This is the most practical solution regardless of how high the cost may be. __
