After Tunisia: Mourid Barghouti on Palestine

[Joanne98]

"Nothing goes off suddenly; even the earthquakes set in motion from the depth of the earth to the rooftops of villages."

This line from a poem I had written two decades ago jumped into my mind when the youth of Tunisia turned their ruler from a mighty dictator into a frightened rat looking for a place to hide and, in a month of civilian protests, managed to change history.

As I write these words now, images are coming from Cairo where the anti-Mubarak demonstrators are waving the Tunisian flag and chanting the most famous line of Tunisian poetry: "When the people decide to live, destiny will obey and chains will be broken."

The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, embattled after the al-Jazeera leaks revealing its co-operation with the Israeli occupation, opted to show no enthusiasm for the Tunisian revolution but could in no way condemn it as the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shamelessly did. "We are not Tunis," shouted the other ageing Arab dictators who are all fond of dyeing their hair and moustaches. But they are. And they are really shaken, puzzled and afraid.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/28/after-tunisia-mourid-barghouti-palestine