Opinion

Time of change!

November 18, 2019
Time of change!

Hussein Shobokshi



The Arab world today or, more precisely, the Middle East has become a region of transformation. Regardless of its style, manner and direction it must be described as a transformation.

The great Czech writer Franz Kafka once asked: “How did I become the person I am? Am I really myself, or am I made by others rather than the person who is me?” And what applies to people also applies to peoples and nations. In the past hundred years, the Arab world and the Middle East have lost the ability to exercise tolerance in the midst of the growth of hate speech in the name of religion.

The region, which was the cradle of civilizations, cultures and religions, has become a threatening center for what the French-Lebanese writer and novelist Amin Maalouf calls “the sinking of civilizations.”

There were injustices that swept the Arab world at the beginning of the last century, because the Arab world refused to respond to the real and sincere calls and projects of reform and renewal and considered them to be merely shining slogans and as a result chose the wrong path full of intolerance and narrowness.

The excuse for this has always been the fight against colonialism and occupation along with the existence of the Zionist entity.

Arab countries became independent and got rid of the colonial hegemony, but soon gave rise to corrupt and authoritarian regimes that ruled their people with an iron fist, which allowed the radical fundamentalist movement to expand.

Today, the Arab world follows news of the broad popular movement of the people who love Lebanon and who seek freedom in a civilized and peaceful manner, while a man leading a terrorist organization militia, Hassan Nasrallah, echoes religious phrases and raises his voice threatening participants in the movement, without having any official status in the official Lebanese state.

This scene embodies in detail the symbolism of the tragedy experienced by the Arab world today between its dreams and the aspirations of its youth and between its frightening reality and its painful past.

There is a clear conflict between the dreams and the values ​​hoped for, on the one hand, and the forces of darkness on the other. Whoever is eventually victorious will determine the direction of the future of the region. It is a bitter and difficult time. Hate wrestles with hope in the transformation arena.


November 18, 2019
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