When Will We Learn?

By Roshaun L. Harris



When will the US diplomatic community understand that funding dictators has a tendency to bite you in the butt if your puppet looses control. The latest developments in Egypt expose a greater crisis emerging for the United States - its people and its policy makers. In a world where our diplomatic policy is garnished with fear of an Arab world uprising, the relationships the US has held with the Arab world has been of an oppressive nature. Egypt follows a paradigm where dictators are patronized - with US tax-payer money - while they funnel money to there constituents and the various multi-national vultures known as corporations. What happens on the ground is what we see in Egypt, what we're beginning to see in Yemen and in some forms, what we see in Tunisia. People see the strings connecting these puppet regimes and they want them severed. Contrary to popular American theology, the Arab and African World is not plotting to overthrow western society as we know it, they simply want respect and the right to self-determination. For those of you who don't know, self determination is the foundation of every democratic principle espoused by republican democracy. It allows for people to determine how they want to be ruled and if necessary by whom. If the US wants to do itself a big favor and not be seen as antagonizors to what, so far, have been peaceful demonstrations- the only reported violence coming from state military and police forces, just ask CNN's Anderson Cooper - Stop funding Mubarak. I wonder if Anderson was wearing an American flag lapel while being struck in the head with gear bought and paid for with his tax dollars. Hope he gets out of there OK. It is no joke for journalist trying to report the truth, a lie, or anything in between. Right now, the Egyptians and Tunisians are showing us that Africa and the Arab world are just like us - they just want their freedom.