At the beginning of the so-called Arab Spring, many in the Arab world had thought that it would bring an end to the dark night of suffering and the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity.
The so-called Spring only brought gloom, death and destruction and dashed all hopes of the unassuming Arab masses. Actually, the word spring means revival or a new life after a dry season. Unfortunately, the Arab Spring proved to be impotent because our lands needed loving farmers not adventurers and traitors.
Had they really wanted spring to come, they should have placed their ploughs aside and waited till the produce had blossomed. But they plowed what they had sown once again before letting the seeds taking roots. It’s just like the camel’s plough, as the Arab proverb goes. If they truly loved their homelands, they should have showered it with love rather than bullets and bombs. If they truly love their homeland, they should love the land and its inhabitants. True patriotism means keeping national interests above personal gains.
Those who have watched the movie, Omer Mokhtar, starring Anthony Quinn, might remember well when the protagonist said to his hangman: “We die, but we do not surrender.” Omer Al-Mokhtar, as you might know, was a real freedom fighter who sacrificed his life to liberate Libya from Italian occupation. This is what true patriots always do. They fight their enemies but not their countrymen.
Sad enough, those who came after Mokhtar betrayed him. Muammar Gaddafi was an example. So paranoiac and schizophrenic as he was, he declared himself an absolute dictator as if Libya was his personal property. He also authored a book that’s full of his hallucinations — the Green Book — and introduced it to the Libyans as if it was a divine book. He didn’t stop right there. He went on to buy the title “the king of kings” from chiefs of the primitive poor African tribes. The one-eyed among the blind is a king, they say and that is what he did. Not only this, but he named the country the Great Libyan Socialist Jamahiria while in fact it wasn’t socialist, nor a republic, or great either.
His own people killed Gaddafi in a humiliating manner, which we abhor. Be it any dictator, he/she deserves punishment through fair trials. The man was a mystery and how he came to power in the presence of the largest American airbase on the Libyan soil is yet another mystery. The man is dead now. The puzzle was buried with him. But the land and its inhabitants continue to remain oppressed. We were hopeful that the “revolutionaries” would let their country’s wounds take time to heel, and start rebuilding it following the horrible destruction. But what they did was that they stabbed it in the heart. Why are they fighting among each other? What do they really want? What are their plans for salvation? Where are they taking Libya to? All these questions remain unanswered. If they really love their country, they should abandon fighting. If they are true Arabs and Muslims, they should listen to reason. But they are not, because you don’t destroy the place, which you pretend to be in love with. This is not love. This is hatred. It is a war by proxy. This is not what Omer Al-Mokhtar had died for.
Whatever they do, they will ultimately perish and their country will always be there. But it will never receive their dead bodies lovingly, because the homeland loves those who decorate it with roses, not those who water it with their brothers’ blood.
