Dictators can often get way and for long time with treating their people like subhuman entities; so long as they can provide the basics, their people, for a variety of reasons, might tolerate their oppressive ways. But when they cannot even provide that, those hurting will begin to fight back, to reject, and they can bring the house down in time, no matter how violent the crackdown against them is.
For people did not put up with their dictators’ oppressive treatment of them because they are mere cowards or because they lack dignity; they did it, because they knew that the price for their rebellion would be high. For this, they deferred the showdown to the last possible instance in the hope that their rulers would, by some miracle, change their ways on their own. But once this proved impossible, and they were forced to take to the streets, because they no longer had anything to lose, they could not be brought to heel by mere promises of change; something tangible needs to happen, no matter how horrendous and counterproductive it might initially seem.
When people move history shifts, and the nature of the shift cannot be assessed in the first few years, or even decades. And the long awaited historical shift in our part of the world is happening now; it’s been quietly building up momentum for decades, and will continue to unfold for decades. The current players taking advantage of it are not necessarily those who will emerge victorious at the end. The main beneficiaries will be the children of those currently burning like so much fodder in front of our disbelieving and mesmerized eyes. Today’s fodder is tomorrow’s empowered citizens. History does make sense in time, and sacrifice, even if unintended, does pave the way for the better, because we need it to, and because we are constantly the ones who are making it, even if in spite of ourselves, as often the case seems to be.
And there will come a time one day when the only tyranny with which humanity has to contend is that of Nature, and its blind forces. We will one day become wise, even if today continues to be shaped by our follies.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 