Overblog
Follow this blog Administration + Create my blog
August 7 2019 3 07 /08 /August /2019 15:26

Dear America - A letter from an old friend

Dear America,

Even though we don’t always wish to admit it, your cultural footprint is staggering, impacting us and the rest of the world in many ways.  We communicate in English wherever we travel and we all have a romanticised view of the southern accent. We use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram while the younger generation are regular Snapchatters. The dating scene is synonymous with tinder, while we listen to American music, and regularly binge on our cherished Netflix accounts. In Europe, everyday life is very much “made in America. “

American history is also taught in our schools, and we are well versed in how your abandonment of isolationism saved the world from an otherwise doomed fate - for that we are, from a young age, taught to appreciate that we are growing up in era where America is today’s super power. 

However, with great power comes great responsibility. The blemishes that come with global dominance are acknowledged in this part of the world.

To start with we want you to know that free public health care works - it is not a waste of tax dollars.  Please can you also stop focusing so much on same sex marriages and abortions. The entire conversation seems archaic to us and we thought it was put to rest a long time ago. Let the LGBT community be in control of their own love lives and let women be in control of their own womb.

Also, what is up with the second amendment? How one school tragedy does not make you reconsider the constitutional right to own a gun astonishes us. Seriously the “right to keep and bear arms?” It sounds so very ‘game of thrones’ like. Maybe consider changing it to “the right to safe schooling?”   Now that sounds much more relevant! We have heard the pro-gun slogans and we spend a lot of hours amused by their absurdity - our favourite is “guns don’t kill, people do” seriously America? Please keep them coming, we get a real kick out of these.  How many more school shootings or innocent bystanders will there be before serious reform?   

Also, why is your national anthem sung before absolutely every sporting event? Weirder yet, pledging allegiance to the flag every morning by small school children? Sorry but that feels a bit excessive. Most Europeans would completely oppose our kids being forced to adhere to that type of forced patriotism. That is not to say that we are not equally patriotic and proud of our countries in this part of the world, but we do it without the constant standing and saluting the flag business. Let it come more naturally, from the things that the country offers its citizens.

Talking about fairness - we all agree that the slave trade was a dark time in history - we find your united view against this chapter in American history reassuring. However, it is time for you as a nation to acknowledge that many of the legacy issues continue to impact black Americans today. No white American will understand the daily struggles of black Americans and that is ok, but every American should at the very least be empathetic and under no circumstance should anyone deny the existence of racial inequality. Indeed, the progress made since the 1920s is positive and while certain African American athletes/movie stars have plenty of money, they have still experienced social injustice - despite their wealth and stardom - and if you have a voice in society many feel an obligation to speak up. Taking a knee during the National anthem is part of exerting your first amendment right and unlike the second amendment, one we totally agree with! To us it seems absurd that some Americans claim that taking a knee during the national anthem is a crime akin to treason all while suggesting that bearing arms is a God given right.

All this leads us to your infamous president - we think he is entertaining and we have never followed a US president more regularly then we follow this one. America, while entertaining, your president bewilders us. If he visited any major European city, it would likely result in mass protests as we disagree with so much of what he stands for. He has divided your nation and from our viewpoint, he stands to be a force of regress for the whole of mankind. He has threatened to use nuclear bombs, denied the existence of global warming, derailed the journey for gender and race equality and masked his own personal insecurities behind a macho bully persona - all under the illusion that this path will make America great again?  We are perplexed by how as a nation you seem to have been convinced that by only focusing on your own wellbeing and by overindulging at the buffet, you and those around you will automatically live a better life. If you are Christian, it is frankly unchristian.

We over here don’t care much about his affairs with porn stars, or him trying to keep his ex- lovers quiet. That is pure entertainment to us on this side of the Atlantic. We are generally more forgiving of our politicians when it comes to marital deceit. But President Trump has reminded the world that fear unites, and politicians can be forgiven for any misjudgement, regardless how serious, if they are consistent in their message of fear and hate. This is alarming. Trump consistently targets any one that opposes him, labelling them enemies, including and perhaps most worrying his attack on the free press, embodied by the oxymoronic “fake news” slogan. 

Free journalism is the corner stone of a free society and something that we very much cherish. We are not naive, and while we acknowledge that every journalistic outlet can have a political angle, calling journalists the “enemy of the state/people” just because they oppose you feels fascist like. When facts no longer matter, it is a dangerous state of affairs.

America, to summarise, you are now acting like the ultimate bully in the classroom and because of your size you think no one will dare disagree with you for fear of an ass kicking (sanctions, trade barriers, nuclear bombs etc). While this behaviour is making you appear respected, you are slowly losing all your old friends. You are instead spending your energy trying to make friends with the other bullies in the classroom (Russia) - but please can we remind you as your oldest friends to govern with the values that once made you an inspiration to the world.

Your oldest friend

Europe

Share this post
Repost0
Published by Real Opinions - in Economics-Finance Politics trump america europe Creative Ideas
write a comment …
July 5 2013 5 05 /07 /July /2013 02:19

Egypt's Revolution 2.0

The euphoria that surrounds Tahrir Square has reached new heights, new levels that exceeded those even experienced back in February 2011 when President Mubarak was ousted. Again, the army has chosen to back the people, placing Mohamed Morsi as well as other senior Muslim Brotherhood officials under house arrest and swearing in a technocratic interim government. 

Despite obvious comparisons with the historical 2011 movement things are very different this time around. Although Egyptians remain uncertain on what the future holds the majority of voters will no longer dare to mix politics and religion and in that lies the biggest improvement in Revolution 2.0.

One dire situation however, that requires immediate attention is the poor health of the economy. The Egyptian economy has taken a severe blow under the guidance of the brotherhood. Egypt’s economic reality after revolution 2.0  is much worse. The country is suffering from rocketing inflation levels (18%), a growing budget deficit (40bnUSD), depleting currency reserves, severe gas and oil shortages, a depreciating currency, crippling IMF conditions, low FDI and record high unemployment.  The list is long and can be extended by selecting any economic indicator of your choice. Whoever plans to take the country forward, needs to address this economic ticking bomb.

So how can the interim government or any government for that matter ensure a path to economic stability? The most crucial step starts with bringing back security to the country.

As many protesters have voiced,

“At least under Mubarak we were safe, under Morsi we’ve become hungrier and now on top of that we are scared”

A weaker police presence has resulted in a rise in unprovoked crime. Looting and assaults have become recent phenomena in Egypt. A weakened police force was the product of the first revolution, memories of police officers shooting live rounds at demonstrates has not yet evaded the minds of the people. The police have since struggled to re-enter the hearts of the Egyptian people. In stark contrast, the army has come out as the knight in shining armor, and surely they will not repeat their catastrophic snail pace in handing over power and ensuring a democratic process. The army must ensure that the electoral transition takes place much speedier this time round and avoid past criticism that they are masterminding their own power drunken agenda.

A cloud remains on how the Brotherhood will react to all of this? One can imagine they would be feeling hard done by, let us not forget that they were democratically elected. Some western leaders have condemned the recent activities as a “military coup” – strictly speaking a democratically elected government was overthrown by the military and surely such behavior cannot be supported as per democratic ideologies. However, in Egypt’s young democracy the majority of Egyptians will take no notice of such claims. Western leaders instead are faced with a dilemma in setting their standpoint on how they position themselves with an ousted democratically elected president (who they don’t really like) versus an ousted dictator (who they really liked).

When Egyptians stormed the streets again, with some sources stating 33 million protestors, one might suggest that the military merely acted to defend the collective will of the people. The military in Egypt is seen to have a dual role – naturally and as in other countries across the world, they must defend the country from external attacks. However, and as we have seen they also take action when the people voice their anger with the internal governing body - be it democratically elected or not. Such a process will make tomorrow’s leaders think twice once in power. The process in Egypt seems more like a dynamic form of democracy and not one where the people's voice is only heard every four years in the ballot boxes. 

Thus far, the ousted President Morsi has denounced the use of violence. Despite his call for peaceful support some of his followers have instead insisted that this is a direct attack against Islam. I spoke to a young anti-government demonstrator and asked him if he was not scared of going to the streets? He replied calmly: 

"They have already killed my future (the brothers), if I die on the streets then at least I will die a respectable death"

Such polairised view points would suggest that we can expect the number of clashes and the death toll to rise in the immediate future. The interim government needs to unify Egypt and include the brotherhood in future dialogue.  Their exclusion would enhance radicalism. Political dialogue or rather the lack of it is what led to demise of President Morsi. Tomorrow’s elected government must not repeat the same mistakes as President Morsi.

In conclusion, revolution 2.0 bares unforgiving resemblance with the events that saw the end of President Mubarak’s’ 30 year stronghold. Mr Morsi did not have the same longevity, but in his short span of time at the helm he has managed to divide the country by setting policy purely oriented towards his own party’s political motives, and in the process he created an economic bomb. Now, the interim government is to defuse this bomb; and the most important starting point is to ensure security and to unite the Egyptian people. Although Egypt’s economic reality has never been worse, the country is uniquely positioned in familiar territory having come out of a revolution only 30 months ago.

Its only a mistake if you do not learn from it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this post
Repost0
Published by Real Opinions - in Politics
write a comment …
February 11 2011 5 11 /02 /February /2011 15:16

EGYPT - Be Careful What You Wish for because you Might Just get it...

 

Dēmokratía or as we know it “the rule of the people” has long been hailed as the political framework backed and supported by politicians and great scholars alike. People have lost limbs and lives in pursue of democracy. Everyone’s voice has an equal weight, despite social class and intellectual attainment. The democratic process ensures that the median voter gets their way: under a fair and balanced democracy decisions are generally a representation of what the MEDIAN voters wants. Allow me to expand on this concept: Suppose the choice of a tax increase is in debate? For the sake of simplicity imagine we have 7 voters- The opinions are: Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No- under a democratic process the median voter gets his way. In this case the tax increase is approved. The expected outcome of any true democratic election is equivalent to what the guy in the middle wants. An old trick in politics is to win the heart of the median voter, and you will succeed. This might seem like the right thing to do, fighting for the voice of the man in the middle does have its limitations. My concern is that the median voter might be depressed, frustrated, unemployed and fatigued- Let us not forget that Adolph Hitler, Hamas, Ahmadinejad, were all somewhat democratically elected, all elected when the median voter was frustrated. The extreme electors merely represented the state of mind of the median voter. Democracy is ideal when the median voter is stable. In many western countries the median voter has the basic necessities required to facilitate a stable democratic outcome. In Egypt the median voter is far from stable. People are frustrated, unable to afford the simple rights in life that have been stolen from them. Unable to find a job, unable to afford marriage, unable to keep up with the rise in basic commodity prices and certainly unable to keep up with the rise in property prices- these “unable” people, turn on the television to the tune of state propaganda on how the country has grown over the last 30 years- the numbers do not lie- GDP has grown at an impressive rate – But this growth was facilitated by the rich for the rich. The growth never rippled down to the people, on the contrary, it made the divide between rich and poor even worse. State television never reported Egypt’s disgraceful Gini co-efficient or how 53% of the population survive on less than $2 a day. The divide got worse and the “unable” people of Egypt took to the streets. With the recent developments in Egypt, I fear that democracy might be coming. Normally I would rejoice this development, but not today- not when the median voter is depressed, with the voice of his frustration potentially being represented in the next democratic election.

 

God Bless Egypt and may the grace of God help the Egyptians lead their own way.

Share this post
Repost0
Published by Real Opinions - in Politics
write a comment …
October 12 2010 2 12 /10 /October /2010 23:11

Increased Tuition - The Baby Boomers Have The Last Laugh

The move by the government to increase tuition fees is a major blow to generational equality. The baby boomers will once again have the last laugh. As they sit on their lucrative pensions, live in their appreciated homes, and look back at their free degrees- they laugh loud and they do so by favouring an absurd rise in tuition fees. The same people voting for an increase in tuition fees voice concerns relating to the National Deficit- “an ongoing deficit will cripple the economy” they say-  they demand action and come up with policies where payments are made from those who do not yet have any voting rights. I understand that the current university tuition system structure is not sustainable, and I appreciate the government’s attempt to tackle this. Universities in this country need more funding in order to compete in today’s increasingly competitive and global market. But before picking into the pockets of everyone why do we not ask all those who attended universities for free and with total wealth putting them in the top 20 percentile of the population pay back to the system that so positively benefited them? Surely that is the “fair” thing to do. Lord Browne speaks about fairness, but he is so out of touch with reality that fairness is merely a selling point in his campaign. The real dillemma is that the people setting policies are the very same people who have undoubtedly disproportionally benefited from the system and contributed to the deficit. Now they would like a quick stop to “cheap” tuition fees- this would be their last attempt to keep the status quo of their beloved children unchanged. Affordable higher education is a wealthy mans only threat to the prevention of transferring real wealth to their children. Education provides hope for the poor and a threat to the rich. An educated population can not be exploited. University is the only place where everyone is equal, where social class is put aside and an individual’s abilities outshine their social background. Fairness at Eton College is different to fairness in the United Kingdom. Mr Cameron putting his daughter in a public school is top class marketing- but let us see where she goes to college?  Education should not be an exclusive experience for the wealthy, a mechanism in which the wealthy can signal themselves as exactly that creating a unique networking opportunity for the rich. Let us please put equality and hope back in the University system. Let us start by recouping fees from the baby boomers, and for once ask those that benefited to pay for what they received.

Share this post
Repost0
Published by myopinion - in Politics
write a comment …