This history is not ours to make

Devin P.L. Edwards
Copy & Bulletin Editor
We can watch. We can hope.
We can support.
What we cannot do is
intervene. This protest does not belong to us.
This protest belongs to Egypt.
Moments after the protest began, the world’s governments entered their respective little rooms and discussed how to turn the Egyptian revolt to their advantage. American media began to report on the White House’s discussion. The White House entered talks with Egypt’s generals to ensure a smooth transition. They also wanted to know how to ensure that Egypt remained pro-US. Vice-President Joe Biden even chimed in his two cents: he doesn’t think President Mubarak should resign.

Egyptians seem to think otherwise, and Egypt belongs to them. Their opinions matter, not ours. Even though as a youth of the world, I feel a strong connection to the Egyptian protest, I know that it does not belong to me.
President Mubarak’s promise not to run for re-election is not enough for some people in Egypt, and this may stem from the belief that he, like many dictators before him, will simply appoint a successor who will either run the country the same way or do exactly what Mubarak says, thus ensuring his continued control of the country.
The U.S., Canada and every other country in the world should offer support to the people, but should not in any way put their grubby paws on this revolt to turn it toward profit, politics or PR.
Considering how similar the situation was in Iraq and Afghanistan before we intervened, I wonder where those countries’d be if the people had the chance to revolt instead of us insisting we knew what was best for them. Would these two countries be better off? What if we’d stayed out or supported the people rather than moving in with an army?
Our own history, the paths we had to walk for political ascension, is not so dissimilar to what is happening right now. History tells us that intervening powers completely ignorant of local politics do more damage than good, especially when those powers then seek to exploit the situation for their own economic benefit.
For many people, the only concern about Egypt stems from a selfish worry that somehow this revolt will affect them. What happens if the riots damage the pyramids or prevent archeological study? What happens if the people of Egypt create a government that doesn’t want to trade with the West?
There are legitimate concerns, however, that criminal groups may leverage this situation to their own benefit. For hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, however, this seems to have already been the case for 30 years. If we involved ourselves to manipulate this revolt to our own advantage are we not then the criminals? Are we not then instigating exactly what we’re afraid might happen?
In an interview last week, York president Mamdouh Shoukri said he was optimistic about the “massive change” in his home country and that the “transformation will be peaceful and will be non-violent.”
I also remain optimistic that it will end soon without much more bloodshed and in a way that is satisfactory to the Egyptian people. I do not know if it will, but I can watch and I can hope.
This revolt needed to happen because people have lost their voice. Though I strongly believe the pen is mightier than the sword, if you take away the pen, eventually someone will draw the sword.
Preventing this revolt, suppressing it, even manipulating it, may do irrevocable damage to the change that is so obviously needed in Egypt, indeed in many parts of the world. The people have called for change. That is why this revolt has happened.
We can watch. We can hope. We can support. What we cannot do is intervene. This protest does not belong to us.
This protest belongs to Egypt.