Surely you've seen the protests in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen in the news. And hopefully these events have gained more than a passing mention as newcasters hurry to get to important topics like which contestants were eliminated from Dancing with the Stars last night. In this neck of the woods everyone's talking about it. No, it's more than talking, they're experiencing it. Even when its not being talked about it's still being talked about. You can see it in clinched jaws, furrowed brows, and darkened stares. It's a mixture of concern, curiosity, anger and fear.
Although we're watching to see what will happen politically our focus is more on the human aspect of these events. In the commercialized version of events, 3 minutes of information sandwiched between 4 minutes of advertisement, it's easy to forget that those people screaming for change, throwing rocks at one another, being sprayed with water cannons, looting museums, shooting rubber bullets, etc. are just that....people. We want to encourage our friends to see past all the governmental, economic and cultural ramifications of these rapidly unfolding events and remember the humanity.
"What we were witnessing on Saturday was a cordial atmosphere between the military and the people - the people were bringing them tea and eating and drinking with them inside their tanks." (Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera)
