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I wrote this a while ago (mid-November, when #JeddahFire had just happened and the Egyptian protests were raging) and never got around to posting it. It's somewhat dated, but -I hope - still relevant, and decided to post it anyway.
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These days, the thoughts - the emotions - that cross my mind most when watching the news or when I'm on Twitter are ones of horror, pain (only something non human would not feel pain).... but most of all, disbelief.
Disbelief. Surprise. Shock.
Because most of all, what I think is:
How can this be happening? How can this all be true? It can't be true!
It all sounds like a cruel joke.
How can the great heroes of the Egyptian revolution still be suffering? January 25th, your fighting spirit has returned; but never again did we want to see the likes of January 28th.
How can the grand Midan el-Tahrir - Freedom Square - echo once again with screams and cries of pain, choked with tear gas and riddled with rubber bullets - but resound with chants of freedom?
HOW CAN THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS HAVE BEEN WASTED?
How can the brave sons and daughters of Syria still be suffering under their wicked tyrant?
How can things be the way they are?
Closer to home... In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world - how can a girl's school burn down and cause numerous injuries, and several deaths?
The same city that saw tens killed and injured and millions in property damage in the past two years, because of flooding - from *rain*? The same city where people, now, in the winter with the rainy season coming up, look up to cloudy skies with worry clouding their own eyes?
The same city where I have seen no tangible improvement, nothing to prevent the same thing from happening again?
World, at you I stare in disbelief.
People - mankind - all of humanity -
At you I stare in disbelief. At our future, I eye in apprehension and stark fear. The rage at our present is building.
And then I roar -
ENOUGH!
