Elbegdorj Tsakhia: What Mongolia Can Teach the Middle East
[Elbegdorj Tsakhia is president of Mongolia.]
Perhaps no man has done more to change the face of the Middle East in the past 100 years than Mohamed Bouazizi. The Tunisian street vendor's ultimate act of defiance -- self-immolation in the face of continued humiliation and degradation -- has unleashed pent-up forces that are sweeping across North Africa and hold the potential for bringing freedom to tens of millions of people. As coalition forces act against the brutality of Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi and activists in countries such as Syria push bravely for political reform, the Middle East is ushering in a new age where the seeds of democracy can at last find fertile ground.
As the world watched the throngs of demonstrators in Tunisia and Egypt, I was gripped by the same feeling that swept Mongolia's Sukhbaatar Square two decades before. Back then, as one of the organizers of our democratic uprising against the communist-run government, I stood for days in the biting cold, freezing but exhilarated because the fear that our rulers instilled in us -- to bend us, and ultimately break us into subservience -- was gone. We were not backing down. There was no certainty that freedom would prevail, but in the end, it did.
To many foreign-policy "experts," especially so-called "realists," these Middle Eastern movements for political liberalization come as a complete surprise. They should not. What we are witnessing speaks to a primary human value granted to each of us, no matter the country: the desire for freedom and the urge to peacefully work to see one's values reflected in government. People deprived of this right will naturally seek it, fight for it, and if necessary, die for it....
Read entire article at Foreign Policy
Perhaps no man has done more to change the face of the Middle East in the past 100 years than Mohamed Bouazizi. The Tunisian street vendor's ultimate act of defiance -- self-immolation in the face of continued humiliation and degradation -- has unleashed pent-up forces that are sweeping across North Africa and hold the potential for bringing freedom to tens of millions of people. As coalition forces act against the brutality of Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi and activists in countries such as Syria push bravely for political reform, the Middle East is ushering in a new age where the seeds of democracy can at last find fertile ground.
As the world watched the throngs of demonstrators in Tunisia and Egypt, I was gripped by the same feeling that swept Mongolia's Sukhbaatar Square two decades before. Back then, as one of the organizers of our democratic uprising against the communist-run government, I stood for days in the biting cold, freezing but exhilarated because the fear that our rulers instilled in us -- to bend us, and ultimately break us into subservience -- was gone. We were not backing down. There was no certainty that freedom would prevail, but in the end, it did.
To many foreign-policy "experts," especially so-called "realists," these Middle Eastern movements for political liberalization come as a complete surprise. They should not. What we are witnessing speaks to a primary human value granted to each of us, no matter the country: the desire for freedom and the urge to peacefully work to see one's values reflected in government. People deprived of this right will naturally seek it, fight for it, and if necessary, die for it....