“I’m on a rooftop and in every direction I turn I see clouds of smoke rising, they’re really targeting every1 #bahrain“
- Angry Arabiya (@angryarabiya), tweet dated 10/02/2012
As an keen follower of the Middle Eastern ‘Arab Spring’, I find it helpful to log-on to Twitter and read the latest tweets posted by many of the activists and democracy-yearning Arabs that I am following. Don’t get me wrong, I read articles from the BBC and The Guardian to get the fundamental low down and analysis of major events during this time of uprising, but admittedly, to read the personal experiences of the people that are actually engaged in these protests…is it comparable?
I sit and read the tweets posted by my friends in Bahrain, about how they can see smoke looming from all angles, tear gas being pelleted at them by security forces whose job it is to maintain law and order and not violate it. Reading these tweets describing their struggle against the people up-top and ultimately their struggle for freedom, has had a profound effect on me.
In essence, it has brought me back down to Earth, and has made me realise how lucky I am to be living in the UK, to be given the right to practice my religion freely and openly and, as the grandson of an Indian immigrant, to be given the same rights as those whose families have been established here for centuries. I realise how lucky I am, to be able to say what I want, to think how I want, and to believe what I want. There is a law, yes. But this law applies to everyone, not just a minority of people.
The way I see it, despite all their weaknesses, faults and mistakes, and despite the fact that they are single handedly pushing for the extinction of my NHS, I still give credit to Cameron and his minions. Why?
Because they still allow me to travel to the mosque freely. Because they still allow me to vote for whom I want. Because I have the same rights and same status as everyone else.
I read the tweets posted by my friends and family here in the UK, and most of them are about how their day went, or how miserable the weather is. In these tweets, one cannot possibly imagine any sense of danger looming over the heads of the author.
Then I read the tweets posted by my friends in the Middle East, and instantly you realise ‘wow’. You realise that the security of these heroes isn’t guaranteed. In fact they are endangering their lives just by letting us know what is really happening. Opinions are carefully formulated, which is understandable, especially if you live under a regime that detains doctors for merely treating wounded protesters.
When we live in an unequal society like that of the present day, we must endeavour to forget about the minor hickups and misfortune in life, and turn our attention to those who have it a whole lot worse than us.
Their freedom might be imprisoned.
But mine isn’t.
Viva Syria. Viva Saudi Arabia. Viva Filestine. Viva Bahrain.
#Unity4ever.
