4th of July. Requiem for a dream.

The day has arrived once again. The day when the world’s first democracy celebrates its national day. The day of independence. The day that represents, more than anything else, the superiority of democracy and an end to occupation. It is the day that should represent that a better world was to come. That from then on man (not women) was free.
This year it is hard to celebrate. Once again the Algerian syndrome has been reawakened in Palestine. Iraq remains as removed from a democratic state as ever. The democratic development that was to sweep the Middle East like a positive domino effect has turned sour. It has become the realization of the domino effect of a bygone era. The Middle East has become less democratic. Lebanon seems to be heading towards another major crisis. Palestine has become Gaza and the West Bank – two governments, one people under occupation and no future (unless the world applies pressure in the right direction – that is against the occupier and not against the occupied). Then of course there is Iraq – where to begin? Sure the KRG works, but that’s about it (and what will happen if they demand Kirkuk?).Then there is Syria – vilified (well deserving, but it is still irresponsible) and hence forced to ally with Iran. Oh and then there is Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Our friends in the region. The ones who receive subsidies so that they can keep oppressing the people we don’t like. And of course Israel – in the words of UN special advisor John Dugard: occupier, colonizer and apartheid governor. When our friends are as bad as our enemies and we (the west) block all reforms for fear of the unknown, we have a tendency to shake our heads and say that the region is hopeless. But we cannot Pontius Pilate our sins. We invaded Iraq. We support oppressive regimes. We tip the balances. We boycott elected governments. We sell weapons to dictators. We drew the maps. We looked the other way when civil society was destroyed. We do nothing when walls are built. We ignore the UN-resolutions. We blame the victims. And then we wonder why it doesn’t work the way we wanted it to. Are we even sure how we want it to work? Do we have the right to decide how it should work?
And then back to the 4th of July. President Bush made his idealistic export turn sour and in the greatest irony of all, turned it sour in his own country as the paranoia kicked in. Yes I am talking about the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay and the “fuck-Kyoto-why-take-care-of-the-future-?” stance. And et cetera et cetera ad nausea.
4th of July should be a beautiful day. I beg of you – all Americans out there – make it beautiful once again. It will require a great effort, a cleaning of the closet and at least one election (great inshallah factor there), but for the sake of making that great day valiant again it is worth it.