At a time when EVERYONE is writing, blogging, following, taping, and harboring desires to emulate Egypt....I would like to write about something else. But I can't. What Egyptian citizens did over the course of the past 3 weeks, has been earth shattering. I cannot go through the laundry list of implications, globally, for the Arab world, and of course America's relationship to Arab world, Israel, Palestine. I cannot go through this, mostly because I lack the brain cells, and let's be honest, there are far more articulate, brilliant, analytical and more trusted journalists and academics writing about this daily.
I suppose there's not a lot of humor that can be pulled out of the situation in Egypt. A repressive dictatorship has never been "funny," and not even I, someone who has made it their life goal to be wildly inappropriate and make people uncomfortable, cannot create any framework for the uprisings in Egypt...and yes you too Tunisia, that would be gigglable. So I guess this post as most of these have been, is merely an opportunity to just write something because it's been so long. And to at least be able to tell people, I wrote about Egypt.
In all actuality, I have a deep amount of admiration for the organic flow of the Tunisian, then Egyptian uprisings. I celebrated my 30th birthday in Acapulco a few weeks ago..I was actually in Mexico when all of this "started." This is just to say I WAS IN MEXICO WHILE EVERYONE ELSE HAD TO BE HERE IN BUFFALO..and I'm 30 and this is the first time I've seen a movement like this (not to say it hasn't happened, only that maybe this is the first time I've given a shit) The shared collective consciousness that launched them into action is something we could learn a lot from. The ability to say enough is enough...not just from the comfort of their living rooms, their arm chairs, their cafes or places of employment. I am not saying we live in a dictatorship, but I am saying that the banking industry rules our worlds and I am pretty sure that they are not necessarily doing to ensure that we collectively benefit.
Point is, I was in Mexico, you were not, we have an obligation to speak truth to power in oppressive situations, and I think that we can learn a few things from the individuals and communities in Egypt that finally said Ya Basta! It's an inspiration to watch people essentially defy gravity and in a few short weeks, shift the course of her/history.
So, Egypt thanks for your uprisings and thanks for those pyramids...I havent seen them yet in real life, but I saw the Mummy with Brendan Fraser.
