And now...?

So what’s next? The western world seems to hesitate as if they didn’t want to spoil the sweetness of the moment. Twittering teenies taunting terrible tictators. In a way we all want to be part of it, support, embrace and empower...but then, what exactly do we expect to happen?

Of course, what we want to happen is democracy and free speech, market economy and stable oil prices, but how likely is that to happen? History has taught us after all that revolutions tend to bring forward the next strongman, the next silver back who leads the way, his way, the next loud mouth who knows how to rally the masses behind him.

I wonder what Obama is thinking these days. Has he placed his bet yet? It will be interesting to see what his next moves are.

...no chance!

I wonder whether our parts of the world will see a revolution again. Civil disobedience in western democracies doesn’t seem to go beyond strikes and demonstratrations and occasional clashes with law enforcement - usually following European football matches.

Seemingly functioning electoral systems have absorbed the major currents in society. All western democracies have left and right leaning groupings in their party landscapes with minor eccentric parties on the margins.

With plenty of bread and games there is no reason really to risk once life in the name of... say a better world. Granted, some people are better off than others, have better opportunies to move ahead and stay ahead, but generally speaking, very few are starving.

There are state funded schools everywhere, miserable as they may be, thrift shops pick up where more high end retail doesn’t want to go, and there is plenty of nonstop diversion around, for everything else there are drugs.

So, my bet is that we are done with this kind of bonding experience.

Bonne Chance!

Revolutions, when they happen, are an amazing event. The momentum of a feeling turned cause and finally movement is a great manifestation of our humanity.

Two years ago we watched students in Iran stand up against a corrupt and brutal government. We all were frustrated when their courage didn’t meet with success, when they became victims instead of victorious.

But in the end, their voices reverberated in the hearts of many and helped to unite people across the region to stand up against suppression. How wonderful would it be if what happened in these past weeks across the North of Africa would travel like a tsunami accross the rest of the continent where brutality of a few limits the life perspectives of so many.

Play it Again...

As we decended through the evening sky and swooshed over a land that I knew only form memory, I was taken back in time. Immediately the beauty and otherness conjured up the bliss and ease that were once mine. A life time and a time of life. It was so good to return to Marrakech after all these years. And before we even had touched ground, I leaned over to Matt and whispered, “I want to do this again and again...”

4,000 Camels

...and five admittedly pretty tea cups were offered in exchange for lovely me. Matt politely declined. I on the other hand, if asked, would not have been offended at the promise of life under the warm North African sun, with tame monkeys and sinuous snakes at my feet and the lush smell of mosc in the air. Two and a half months of drizzle and down pours on this windy shoal have taken they’re toll...

Just a Fool

Every fool can manage a crisis, it takes true genius, however, to cope with everyday life...