We Are All Khaled Said!

Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian from the coastal city of Alexandria, Egypt, was tortured to death at the hands of two police officers. Several eye witnesses described how Khalid was taken by the two policemen into the entrance of a residential building where he was brutally punched and kicked. The two policemen banged his head against the wall, the staircase and the entrance steps. Despite his calls for mercy and asking them why they are doing this to him, they continued their torture until he died according to many eye witnesses. Khaled has become the symbol for many Egyptians who dream to see their country free of brutality, torture and ill treatment. Many young Egyptians are now fed up with the inhuman treatment they face on a daily basis in streets, police stations and everywhere. Egyptians want to see an end to all violence committed by any Egyptian Policeman. Egyptians are aspiring to the day when Egypt has its freedom and dignity back, the day when the current 30 years long emergency martial law ends and when Egyptians can freely elect their true representatives. Full Background story: http://bit.ly/8YR4LA http://www.elshaheeed.co.uk/

Tunisia’s People Power revolution: A lesson for Nigerians and the oppressed world over!

Tunisia’s People Power revolution: A lesson for Nigerians and the oppressed world over!

“Every Arab leader is watching Tunisia in fear,” tweeted one Egyptian commentator. “Every Arab citizen is watching Tunisia in hope and solidarity.”

I’d say every repressive and corrupt African leader is watching Tunisia in fear and every African is watching Tunisia in hope and solidarity.

When we speak of a peoples’ revolution; where the oppressed and exploited take to the streets to protest, fight and make their grievances known notwithstanding the tyrant and its army, notwithstanding the powers that be and their weaponry, where people are willing to lay down their lives for freedom, for what they believe in, for their own emancipation. People around call us crazy; call us violent and the likes. Well, we have come to understand that when the oppression and repression advances the people rise and fight back, fight back with all they have got, not minding the power of the opposition, not fearing anything, but having their eyes and minds set on the final goal, the big picture which is their true independence.

Over the last five months we have seen the people power revolution sweep through France, Britain and now Tunisia. People have taken to the streets to make their own voices heard, to fight for what is rightfully theirs and take back their country from various inhumane reforms and tyranny.

As Richard Spencer of the Telegraph UK wrote:

In the 21st century things will be different. The internet has brought people closer to their leaders. It is they who will determine their futures, not the ambitions and ideologies of their generals.

Mr Ben Ali may also have been the first victim of Wikileaks. Cables by an American ambassador giving colourful descriptions of the lives of luxury pursued by his family, and the business empire it controlled, were eagerly emailed around the country, despite a repressive system of censorship.

Descriptions by other ambassadors of other leaders’ political and personal attitudes have not been much less graphic.
On the plus side, protesters also seemed to understand that despite the deaths of scores of rioters, there were limits to how far modern leaders could go in maintaining their rule by force.

Tunisians have kick started the people power revolution on the continent. They have shown that the power of the revolution still is with the people, the exploited and oppressed.
As a Tunisian youth put it:
… We do not live, but we think we do. We want to believe that all is well since we are part of the middle class, but we know that if the cafes are packed during the day, it is because the unemployed are there discussing football. The first nightclubs open their doors and we begin to go out, to drink and enjoy the nightlife around Sousse and Hammamet. Other stories are circulating – about a Trabelsi who gave someone a horrible kicking because he felt like it, or another who caused a car accident only to return home to sleep. We exchange stories, quietly, quickly. In our own way, it is a form of vengeance: by gossiping, we have the feeling we’re plotting…
… And then, WikiLeaks reveals what everyone was whispering. And then, a young man immolates himself. And then, 20 Tunisians are killed in one day.
And for the first time, we see the opportunity to rebel, to take revenge on the “royal” family who has taken everything, to overturn the established order that has accompanied our youth. An educated youth, which is tired and ready to sacrifice all the symbols of the former autocratic Tunisia with a new revolution: the Jasmin Revolution – the true one.

And for the first time in a state where there is estimated to be one police officer for every 40 adults, two thirds of them in plain clothes, and people are afraid of even discussing politics in private for the informers on every corner as reported in The Guardian UK – people took to the streets chanting: “Ben Ali out!” and carrying banners saying “Ben Ali murderer!” They railed against his family and that of his loathed wife, Leila Trabelsi, seen as a cross between Imelda Marcos and Catherine de Medici.

Even with over 23 civilians killed in the protests, the people marched, they never gave up, and they never looked back. And today they can say with their heads held high: Victory is ours!
“The fear is gone, the people have put away their fear. I’ve been waiting 20 years for that day,” said Sana Ben Achour, of the democratic women’s movement.

A Tunisian demonstrator holds a placard reading “Game Over” during a rally in front of the country’s interior ministry. The president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, has relinquished power after weeks of protests. Photograph: Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images.
Now what lessons can we draw from this victory in Tunisia as a nation, as a people as the oppressed and exploited of the world over. The power of the revolution lies within us, with us and only and until we decide to rise up and stand our grounds for our rights; until the day when it is said of us that “For this great humanity has said “enough” and has started to move forward. And their march, the march of giants, cannot stop, will not stop until they have conquered their true independence, for which many have already died, and not uselessly, they will die for their never-to-be-renounced, their only true independence.”

This should be the new will of a whole continent, Africa, showing itself in the cry proclaimed daily by our masses as the irrefutable expression of their decision to fight, to grasp and deter the armed hand of the oppressive and repressive corrupt governments. It is a cry that has the understanding and support of all the working class and youth of the world.”

That cry is: “Our country or death.”

Hasta La Victoria Siempre! La Revolucion Sigue!
By Teekay: Akin[ Akinyemi : Adeseye]
14/01/11