WE SHOULD care about the historic and dramatic developments in Egypt and Tunisia. While the loss of life and looting is lamentable and should be condemned, there is an enduring lesson in the manner in which the protesters demonstrated their resilience and objections.
I am particularly impressed that while the mass protest was going on in the streets of Cairo, some opportunists tried to trash the museum, ruin and steal a pivotal part of Egyptian history and heritage, and the protesters said "not in our name" and actually mobilised to prevent the looters.
That is commendable. HBut my point here is about the bigger picture of the protest and what that reflects about how nations everywhere should relate to their governments.
And, of course, how governments should regard and relate to the citizens they lead - not rule, lead!
Someone asked me, after 30 years of tolerating Hosni Mubarak and 24 years of tolerating Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, why are they kicking them out now?
I imagine 19th century poet James Russell Lowell's skeptical declaration that "democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor" may apply here.
There are many ways in which we become our own oppressors - tolerating and putting our faith in leaders who just do not want to vacate their posts is one such example of self-oppression.
While these countries had the façade of a democracy, any country led by anyone who has been a president for so long is nothing but a dictatorship. It cannot be that in 30 years, not one person has emerged who displays the aptitude and ability to be a president.
It is impossible for Mubarak, Ben Ali and every dictator in the world to argue that they are the only people capable of heading the governments of their countries.
But history has shown that somewhere along the line, a new generation of restless citizens eventually finds the gusto to be active shareholders in the management of their countries.
While this may be a very tumultuous time in the history of these countries, it is also a sacred moment of rebirth.
Veteran American journalist Sydney J Harris, aptly described democracy as "the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be".
This is the responsibility that we all have as citizens of the world. To blindly put the future of our countries and well-being in the hands of the governments is to err greatly.
What the developments in Egypt and Tunisia must teach all of us and our respective governments and political parties is that any country does not and should never be allowed to belong to the president, his sons, prime minister, government and political parties but to the people.
What we are witnessing right now is the tremendous manifestation of people-power. Bravo, I say!
In changing the course of history and forcing concessions from their leaders, the protesters have inadvertently also proved that the downward spiralling of any country can never ever be blamed on the government alone.
Without our complacency, apathy and misguided reverence, obstinate leaders will not survive.
Even if they do, their hold on us will be temporary and precarious.
As with Mubarak, he may still be the president for a few more months, he may still enjoy widespread support but close to two weeks of an unprecedented uprising has surely left him in no doubt that his time is up.
The legacy he leaves behind is not clothed in glory. All the good he may have done has been tainted.
Why? Because he thinks he is more important than the people he leads; because after 30 years, he still thinks he deserves to be the president.
When is it ever enough, for goodness sake?
South Africa is a young democracy but we have acquitted ourselves well in some respects.
While Thabo Mbeki may have sought a third term as ANC president - something which the ANC constitution actually allows - I am yet to hear any proposals to change the country's Constitution and make way for longer presidential terms.
If it does happen, we must never allow it because this is our country.
Lessons from Cairo
WE SHOULD care about the historic and dramatic developments in Egypt and Tunisia. While the loss of life and looting is lamentable and should be condemned, there is an enduring lesson in the manner in which the protesters demonstrated their resilience and objections.
I am particularly impressed that while the mass protest was going on in the streets of Cairo, some opportunists tried to trash the museum, ruin and steal a pivotal part of Egyptian history and heritage, and the protesters said "not in our name" and actually mobilised to prevent the looters.
That is commendable. HBut my point here is about the bigger picture of the protest and what that reflects about how nations everywhere should relate to their governments.
And, of course, how governments should regard and relate to the citizens they lead - not rule, lead!
Someone asked me, after 30 years of tolerating Hosni Mubarak and 24 years of tolerating Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, why are they kicking them out now?
I imagine 19th century poet James Russell Lowell's skeptical declaration that "democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor" may apply here.
There are many ways in which we become our own oppressors - tolerating and putting our faith in leaders who just do not want to vacate their posts is one such example of self-oppression.
While these countries had the façade of a democracy, any country led by anyone who has been a president for so long is nothing but a dictatorship. It cannot be that in 30 years, not one person has emerged who displays the aptitude and ability to be a president.
It is impossible for Mubarak, Ben Ali and every dictator in the world to argue that they are the only people capable of heading the governments of their countries.
But history has shown that somewhere along the line, a new generation of restless citizens eventually finds the gusto to be active shareholders in the management of their countries.
While this may be a very tumultuous time in the history of these countries, it is also a sacred moment of rebirth.
Veteran American journalist Sydney J Harris, aptly described democracy as "the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be".
This is the responsibility that we all have as citizens of the world. To blindly put the future of our countries and well-being in the hands of the governments is to err greatly.
What the developments in Egypt and Tunisia must teach all of us and our respective governments and political parties is that any country does not and should never be allowed to belong to the president, his sons, prime minister, government and political parties but to the people.
What we are witnessing right now is the tremendous manifestation of people-power. Bravo, I say!
In changing the course of history and forcing concessions from their leaders, the protesters have inadvertently also proved that the downward spiralling of any country can never ever be blamed on the government alone.
Without our complacency, apathy and misguided reverence, obstinate leaders will not survive.
Even if they do, their hold on us will be temporary and precarious.
As with Mubarak, he may still be the president for a few more months, he may still enjoy widespread support but close to two weeks of an unprecedented uprising has surely left him in no doubt that his time is up.
The legacy he leaves behind is not clothed in glory. All the good he may have done has been tainted.
Why? Because he thinks he is more important than the people he leads; because after 30 years, he still thinks he deserves to be the president.
When is it ever enough, for goodness sake?
South Africa is a young democracy but we have acquitted ourselves well in some respects.
While Thabo Mbeki may have sought a third term as ANC president - something which the ANC constitution actually allows - I am yet to hear any proposals to change the country's Constitution and make way for longer presidential terms.
If it does happen, we must never allow it because this is our country.
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