Winds of Change

“For time and the world do not stand still, change is the law of
life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain
to miss the future.”
-John F. Kennedy.

December 2010 – A 26 year old unemployed college graduate in Tunisia is denied a

permit to sell fruits, his family’s only source of income and is insulted and assaulted
by the police in the process. Mohammad Bouzizi, in protest set himself on fire.
Sharing his plight, the entire nation sprang up in protest of the 23 year old autocratic
rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime. The rest, as they say, is history. Some of the
most despotic regimes in the Middle East have since fallen, under pressure from
popular revolt, and the Arab Spring is far from over.

If there is one thing common about the awakening from the streets of Tunis to
the cybercafés of Cairo and the battle-fields of Libya, it is that it is all spearheaded by
the youth. Men, women in their 20’s, teenagers in shades and designer jeans, this is
the face of the uprising.

Mohammad Nabbous, a 28 year old was the man who threw light on the horrors
of Mu’ammar Qaddafi’s 41 year old dictatorship. Set in Benghazi, the first city to be
liberated by the Libyan Freedom fighters, he rallied scores of people to rise up for
democracy and freedom. However, it was not to last, on March 19, he was shot dead
by a Gaddafi sniper. He always said “I am not scared of dying, I am scared of losing”.
He is one of the martyrs of the struggle and he will never be forgotten. May he rest in
peace.

It may seem strange to us, why give your life like this? Why die for democracy?
We will never understand, because it’s this freedom to speak, to express opinion that
we take for granted. In Qaddafi Libya, there is no speaking without first honouring
him, forget even criticising him. A man in Bengahazi said “Freedom, freedom is the
most important thing. It is what we have been denied for years. These boys wearing
American jeans, talking internet, Facebook, we made fun of them, but they proved
their dignity, they have got this freedom back for us.” This is why Libya AlHurra the
first private TV channel in Libya, started by Mohammad Nabbous was so incredible
for the Libyans. Expressing your opinion in public, much less on TV was unheard of.
 AlHurra’s videos on YouTube are taken right from the midst of battle, in places
where journalists cannot reach. On an average each video garners around 10,000
views, whereas teenagers who sing, frankly, a few horrible songs, shoot to instant
popularity with 100 million views. If you ask a random 8’th or 9th grader in our school
about the Libyan Revolution, there’s a good chance he won’t make heads or tails of it.
Perhaps, we are too busy listening to all the latest songs, and trying to be ‘cool’ to
know what’s happening around the globe.

These revolutionaries have, by taking matters into their own hands, to an extent
changed the world. Changed the Arab Worlds image, changed the worlds outlook on
the Arab world, on the Arab youth. In general, changed the worlds outlook onto the
youth, on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. And most importantly, they’ve
changed regimes. These are winds of change, and the world will never be the
same.

- VEDANT BAHL.