Essay: On the 'Tamarrod Campaign' in Egypt by Stefan Patterson

I have been giving much attention to these historical events that have been taking place in Egypt these past few days. It's inspiring to see people organize in effort to oppose a political party that they feel isn't representing their best interest. This restores humanistic thinking and displays the strength of the people, this will have to be respected by the next President of Egypt.

I wrote a few paragraphs on what I think we should take note of as this revolution in Egypt unravels. My essay is not discussing the political history of Egypt but rather the activism from its five originators.  Read it after after the jump.

Egypt's newly overthrown President Mohamed Morsi

 'Tamarrod Campaign' by Stefan Patterson

What stands out to me is the humble beginnings from which these revolutionary movements begin from. The tamarrod (arabic word for, 'rebellion') campaign started a little over two months ago by a group of five friends: Mahmoud Badr, Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, Hassan Shahin, Mai Wahba, Mohammed Heikal all from the ages 22-30. They started Tarod movement by handing out petitions for a early election around their city and via Facebook and Twitter, then eventually spilled to over other organizations around the country. Collecting over 22 million signatures the, "Tamarrod" campaign called for a nationwide demonstration against Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. 

I do realize that Egypt's political unrest is been lot more intense compared to America's but that doesn't mean we should look at what's going on over there as simple entertainment. Today has proved once again that it comes down to the people to hold the elected officials in power accountable. I think too many times we fall complacent about the condition of politics in America by talking about how corrupt or how irresponsible our congress is, etc. We need to begin to be more proactive about the direction we want this country to go in. If we see a problem in politics we need become involved in the decision making, not just talk about it and wait for things to get better. 

These young people in Egypt we're not wealthy, extremely articulate, or even politically active, but they still were able to make history this week. What they were able to do was find an ideology to excite the displeased people of Egypt and organize them in a effective way to change their situation. No, this revolution is not close to being perfect, so far over 20 people have lost their lives. There are a number of ways they could have gone about this revolution peacefully and that's what we need to think about. 

I personally will be working to emulate these modern revolutionary actions. I'm currently positioning myself in my local government. I encourage you to do the same. My greatest goal which I truly believe The Bold Testament could help build, is the strengthening the political voice of 18-25 demographic. We will do this by strengthening the connection between our consciousness in the form of various types of art. Black, White, Brown, Yellow, our demographic carries a certain consciousness in how we want our world to operate and what type of world we want to our children to live in. One of the most crippling aspects in our demographic is that we keep these powerful ideas and thoughts in our mind. Then we turn around gripe about the mess that has manifested from past generations. We can't move forward if we're only focused on the depth of our problems. We need to be known as a generation that created solutions, not a one that suffocated in the problems that were dumped onto them. As students we all have similar obstacles whether that be the increasing of student loan rates, slow economy, or even combating super corporations such as Monsanto. We can no longer sit and watch the news and hope these things will change. With organization and earnest effort we will become the change that we seek with our hearts and minds.

I had to get these thoughts out today. I will follow this essay up on a later date, with a more thought out approach. 

P.S i didn't have my editor with me today.. bear with me. 

God Bless. 

                                                                                    

Read an article on the 'Ongoing Protest in Egypt'