Op-Ed
Don't Let the Man Get You Down
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A Helping of Hummus
A Helping of Hummus
.jpg "A Helping of Hummus")
As a government major, you do quite a bit of reading, especially if you happen to be in any of Prof. Peter Katzenstein’s classes. And as you read page after page, you begin to see a pattern, and you realize that in many ways, history does repeat itself. You see the rise of “leaders of the people” who eventually lose their original values and become corrupt dictators; you see CIA overthrows of democratically elected politicians so that they can be replaced by U.S.-friendly puppet-leaders; and you see dictators who run the show until they die or are forced out of office, much like Hosni Mubarak who has been president of Egypt since 1981 and will celebrate his 80th birthday next year. You eventually realize that the type of people that run for office and become politicians are very rarely those who should be politicians. You realize that politicians are motivated more by money than maintaining the best interests of their people. (Not exactly the kind of stuff you were taught in elementary school when you ran for Student Council president.) And finally, you become very pessimistic about the future of the world — but what can little-old-you possibly do to change things?
History does repeat itself. Though the country may change, the leaders may change and the time may change, the big picture doesn’t. And what does this picture show? The common people getting screwed. Citizens entrust their leaders with the sacred privilege of leading their nation and in doing what is best for the nation — what is referred to as “national interest.” Unfortunately, no guidelines are in place that determine what constitutes national interest, so politicians have used this term to justify actions in their own “personal interest,” such as President Bush and the Iraq War, to name a more recent example.
Do you not believe me? Am I overexaggerating a rare occurrence? Let’s look at a couple of examples, starting with one that combines several of the previously aforementioned points.
The year is 1970, the place, Chile, and Salvador Allende has just won the presidential election despite a smear-campaign by the U.S. to discredit him. This campaign included assassinations of political figures, bribery and the spreading of propaganda, all in the name of removing a democratically elected leader. Though the campaign failed to prevent Allende’s election, the CIA later succeeded in helping to organize a coup under their leader of choice, Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew Allende and became president. U.S.-supported Pinochet then began 16 years of terror as the head of Chile which included the suppression of civil liberties, the death of over 3,000 Chilean civilians and the incarceration and torture of over 27,000. On top of all of that, Pinochet stole tens of millions of dollars from the Chilean people, — which is reminiscent of Marie “Let them eat cake” Antoinette and Imelda “1,060 pairs of shoes” Marcos — and at the time of his death in 2002, there were around 300 pending criminal charges against him for human rights violations.
Today, nothing has changed. You can take virtually any political example and see how it fits this mold. Take the current elections in Lebanon. I cannot think of a people who want to get on with their lives more than the Lebanese. Through the civil war from 1975 to 1990, the war of 2006, the Nahr al Bared incident in 2007 and a never-ending string of political assassinations throughout the country’s history, most people have just wanted to live their lives. Right now, Lebanon is at a crossroads. The president’s term has expired and he has since stepped down, yet no one has replaced him. The parliament, which is meant to elect a president by a two-thirds majority, has failed to do so. In accordance with the Lebanese constitution, the prime minister and his cabinet should take control. But since the president and the prime minister are from rival political factions, the president refuses to recognize the prime minister and instead wants the head of the military to be in power. In short, Lebanon currently has no president and is in chaos. Who suffers? The people.
In Lebanon, school and work have been put on hold for fear of what may happen. There is concern that if a president is not chosen soon, violence may erupt between rival political factions, and imprisonment, injury and death of innocent individuals may ensue — individuals who had no interest in the conflict, no say, no influence, are punished. Is it fair? Of course not, and simply settling on “the world isn’t fair, deal with it” is ignorant and worsens the problem.
So what does one do? Be an idealist, and strive to change the world when you leave college, an optimist, and have faith in humankind hoping that things will work themselves out, or a pessimist who does nothing, believing that people will always get screwed and politicians will always lie?
I was watching the news about the political chaos in Lebanon when my aunt’s husband changed the channel to the “World Belly Dancing Championship” that is currently taking place in Lebanon. “One thing about the Lebanese is that no matter what, they know how to have fun. Look at this, the country doesn’t have a president, but they have this,” he said, as a Ukrainian participant shimmied across the stage.
Maybe the only thing to do is be a realist by acknowledging that history is a vicious circle which will repeat itself, but still refuse to surrender your own ideals whether or not you can impart them onto others. This also includes making the best of what you’ve got, so when your parliament has failed in electing a president and has thereby created a political vacuum, which may result in the ultimate crippling of the nation — what can you do but shake it?!
Nora Choueiri is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at nchoueiri@cornellsun.com. A Helping of Hummus appears alternate Mondays.