A Christian Response to Protests in the Arab World, part 1
Over the past few days, we have seen massive protests in North Africa. The Arab countries of northern Africa have dictators and pseudo-dictators who have ruled their countries for decades. The economies of these countries have been improving in recent years, but most people still live a hardscrabble existence. Young people feel especially despondent. Even those who are fortunate enough to study often graduate to a stagnant job market that favors cronies rather than the talented and well trained. Anger against these regimes has been simmering below the surface for a long time.
A self-immolation in Tunisia started this wave of protests. A fruit vendor in Tunis, the capital city, had his goods seized by police because he did not have the proper permit to sell fruit. This man, frustrated and angry that he had no way to provide for his family, set himself on fire in protest. Remember this man's name, Mohamed Bouazizi, because he will likely be in the history books one day.
If you don't believe me, then you don't know the story of Jan Palach. In 1968, the Soviets and Warsaw Pact troops occupied Czechoslovakia and ended the Prague Spring. The Czechoslovak state had inched away from Communism and was rejoining Europe by opening its borders and restoring human rights. The communist bloc countries of Eastern Europe, led by the USSR, were fearful that this type of freedom might empower their own peoples, so they decided to clamp down on the Czechs and Slovaks.
Jan Palach, a university student, decided to protest the occupation of his country. On Jan 16, 1969, he doused himself with gasoline on Prague's Wenceslas Square and lit himself. He died three days later in a Prague hospital.
Now let me make one thing clear. I do not hold self-immolation to be a valid form of protest. It does, however, capture the attention of people. Although Czechoslovakia remained communist for two more decades, Palach's death was a constant rallying cry for opposition groups, especially students.
Mohamed Bouazizi's final act was certainly a bold one, and it seems to have lit the tinder box of Arab discontent. Our Christian faith promotes the sanctity of human life and therefore cannot condone such an act of self-destruction. At the same time, we recognize that certain individuals sometimes suffer so that entire nations can be set free.
And so we wait and watch. More to come...
A self-immolation in Tunisia started this wave of protests. A fruit vendor in Tunis, the capital city, had his goods seized by police because he did not have the proper permit to sell fruit. This man, frustrated and angry that he had no way to provide for his family, set himself on fire in protest. Remember this man's name, Mohamed Bouazizi, because he will likely be in the history books one day.
Jan Palach, a university student, decided to protest the occupation of his country. On Jan 16, 1969, he doused himself with gasoline on Prague's Wenceslas Square and lit himself. He died three days later in a Prague hospital.
Now let me make one thing clear. I do not hold self-immolation to be a valid form of protest. It does, however, capture the attention of people. Although Czechoslovakia remained communist for two more decades, Palach's death was a constant rallying cry for opposition groups, especially students.
Mohamed Bouazizi's final act was certainly a bold one, and it seems to have lit the tinder box of Arab discontent. Our Christian faith promotes the sanctity of human life and therefore cannot condone such an act of self-destruction. At the same time, we recognize that certain individuals sometimes suffer so that entire nations can be set free.
And so we wait and watch. More to come...
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