Joie De Vive

http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/01/30/1225996/918792-greece-egypt-protest.jpg

January 28th, 2011
Mass protests erupted in Egypt, in response to protests against the government in Tunesia. People have finally gotten sick and tired of being abused by the people in power and have pretty much said "bring it on".

January 28th was known as the day of rage. There were mass calls for President Mubarak to get out of office immediately. As a result over the next few days, the government of Egypt shut down the internet, cell phone services and started cracking down on it's own people by using police force and hiring thugs.

Tomorrow, Friday - January 4, 2011 is being called the Day of Departure, in the hopes that Mubarak will finally leave.

I've had the opportunity in the middle of my daily routine with the baby, to get back on to my twitter account. Technology never ceases to amaze me honestly. Here I am in my comfy apartment in philadelphia, talking to someone on twitter, in egypt - in the midst of the protests in Tahrir Square. I was hearing about gunshots at protesters before the news was even reporting it.

In this day and age it's very hard for governments and news agencies to spin stories when the average man/woman/child have access to the internet and social media sites like twitter.

I've been watching mothers, fathers and children stand for hours on end, suffer rocks and malative cocktails being thrown at them - all for the sake of freedom and the right to democracy.... and honestly its been beyond pissing me off how apathetic people here are. On facebook there are updates from people about their dogs, their cats, their nails, their jobs, their cars, the snow, their boyfriends/girlfriends - all this while an entire nation of people is fighting a revolution for their freedom. The same freedom the United States happily walks all over the earth claiming to cherish. I guess when push comes to shove.....

I was told by someone I knew that they thought it was unfair that all the pressure to help was on the US and not Europe as well.... I can understand her anxiety over this. However, I have to ask... do people here in the US not have any idea of their own foreign policies? It is very common knowledge that egypt gets the second most amount of aid (military included) in the world from the United States. Israel is the first. This unique bribery based relationship has allowed israel and the US the ability to dictate Egyptian policy in regards to the Gaza strip, their own internal and external policies.

So yes. I do expect the US to man up and say something about the dictatorship having to come to an end and to protesters not being shot at by thugs hired by Mubarak. To ask Israel to do the same would perhaps, be asking too much. This girl complained that no one else was condemning the situation either - at which point another friend of mine pointed out that the UK and Turkey already had - its just unfortunate the the United States media hasn't seen fit to report such things.

Apparently Lindsey Lohan's latest stint in rehab is much more pressing news.

There was a time growing up that I dreamed of coming to the US - this was the land of opportunity, of equality and change for good. Where I live now is the exact opposite of all that and I cringe at the thought of raising our little girl in the midst of all this. I want her to grow up knowing there is a world outside of these borders and that the world does not revolve around America and it's citizens. There is such a thing as global responsibility.

Most importantly, I want her to know that to be apathetic is not okay.

The day the state of my daughter's nails are more important to her than keeping up with the revolution happening overseas - and her not even considering going to a rally or a protest - is the day that I'll know that I've failed in my job as a parent to her.

This might sound harsh... but if everyone acted the way they do today, back during the Vietnam war, that movement might never have happened.

It's not always a good thing to be a fat happy well fed cow in your allotted little plot of land - sometimes its good to jump the fence