Fortunately for the world, the events in Egypt have shown that there is such a thing as universal human rights and freedoms, despite what the multitude of crony-fied regimes dotted across the world will tell us. In reality the only people who prophesize about “how certain races are not suited to individual freedoms” are those regimes that personally prosper and enjoy unlimited freedoms at the expense of others.
It’s a myth that Chinese, Egyptians, Asians or Arabs can’t have democracy, as it doesn’t suit their cultures.
The Egyptian Revolution is a triumph for humanity. Of course, there is still a long, hard road for the Egyptians to enjoy to greater freedom. One could say that the journey has now, only just begun, and it could still be hijacked by those with darker, authoritarian ambitions. However, this does not take anything away from what was achieved in the past 18 days. The right to express oneself, choose life, live in peace, free from fear or harassment from others or the state is a basic human right. Democracy may have its short-comings, but at the moment it represents the best way to achieve these freedoms. I am truly happy that we didn’t see another Tiannamen Square disaster. On many occasions young Chinese people have asked me what really happened at Tiannamen and it’s hard to convey to them the events and the way the world saw it back then. But now we can. For those Chinese who were lucky enough to watch the revolution in Egypt on TV, then I can say, it was almost the same. The only difference was that in 1989, we also had to watch all the peaceful protestors die as the square was brutally cleared by an army that had been ironically created to protect the people. Those that can remember Tainnamen, worried that we would be seeing this all over again in Egypt in the 21st Century, but fortunately it didn’t happen, and instead of shock and digust, we’re witnessing happiness and revelry.
In reality, authoritarian regimes are the product of the Cold War. Propped up in order to preserve one side’s interpretation of the status quo. Hopefully we’re seeing a re-shifting of this mentality. For China, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) heady-dream that economically viable, authoritarian regimes were the future of the world in this century is now dead in the water. It remains to be seen whether the CCP can be adaptable, as is the Chinese way, and truly create meaningful reforms towards democracy and dual party politics that truly represents the views of the people. The CCP craves multi-polar politics and denounces hegemony in the international environment, but it can’t see that it is its own party hegemony that is getting in the way of China achieving its 21st century potential.
Unfortunately, I very much doubt this will happen. Just like Mubarak, the CCP truly believes that it is China and without it, there will be chaos and it spends a lot of time and effort convincing ordinary people that this is the case. The CCP truly believes that it is the protector of the people. But as we saw in Egypt, the creator of chaos was the very system itself. The people did not need protection from themselves. They only needed protection from the vicious one party state system that breeds corruption and violence.
What created the stunning Chinese economic miracle was the act of giving the Chinese people FREEDOMS. It is the people of China, and not the party that made the confident, modern, prosperous China we all know and respect.
With political freedoms as well as economic freedoms the Chinese will be unstoppable. The CCP just needs to get out the way.
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