In a column published June 30,
2013 in the Saudi government daily 'Okaz, titled "How Many Dead
[Will There By] This Evening," liberal Saudi columnist Khalaf Al-Harbi
lamented the situation of the Arab countries and the carnage taking place
within them, as well as the world's indifference to these events.
The
following are excerpts from his column:
"… No unusual expertise is
needed to divine that today there will be many killed and wounded in various
regions throughout the Arab world: In Egypt, large clashes are expected, and
there is no way of predicting the scope of the fatalities that will be caused
in their wake; in Iraq, there is a high likelihood of suicide bombings, the
victims of which will be people who have no connection with the sectarian and
political crisis that has divided the country for over a decade; in Lebanon,
one or more will be killed because the state is a nonentity and is completely impotent to take control of the
armed militias; in Syria, where all the cities and villages are drowning in a
sea of blood, the news will report dozens killed, and none will react. And this
comes on top of those who may be killed in Yemen or in Libya, [but] there isn't
room in the news for reports on them.
"This is
a red Arab day, like all the days that have passed and those that are to come.
[This is] a gray era, when the only ones working
are the carpenters making coffins, and the textile vendors who arrange
white shrouds in front of their stalls. This is an Arab world, that does not value
human life: a teacher makes his way home [and suddenly] his intestines are
blown in all directions [by] a car bomb – and no one will notice but his
children, who wait for him at lunch; a woman in Damascus facing an artillery
bombardment tries to hide her children under the stairs, but the stairs collapse
on her – and this doesn't shake the conscience of a single person in the world;
a peddler wanders through Cairo seeking loaves of bread for his children, but becomes
a fatality [when caught in] a bitter clash between the two parties who are
fighting for control [of the country].
"Even
the crying of children who have lost their fathers and mothers is no longer
heard, because the calls of those inciting to killing and destruction overpower
all other voices. It is the barbaric calls for revenge that dominate the media
and social networks. There is no time for tears. Furthermore, the entire news broadcast
[is devoted] to the blood being spilled in the streets. No space remains for intense
personal emotions – because that space is devoted to barbaric passions and lust
for vengeance. [The Arab nation] is a nation that [spares] her foes the bother
of abandoning it, because it has abandoned itself.
"This
evening, under no circumstances will I go anyplace in the world; I will make do
with watching the news. I will look at the numbers killed and wounded in the
other Arab countries. I will imagine the emotions of children who bewailing the
loss of their family members. And I will ask: Why haven't the Arabs discovered
a path to freedom that does not involve eliminating their humanity?
"Like
millions of the Bani Ya'rab [tribe],
[1] I
will delude myself, and I will join them by saying that all this devastation is
the tax on the winds of change. I again say, together with them: Oh charred
bodies, [eat] this freedom with a hearty appetite!"
Endnotes:
[1] A common nickname Arabs
use for each other.
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