CHARLIE ROSE: I want to turn to one thing that I thought you wrote about really well, which is the sense of dignity that pervades the people that you have met. I’m quoting now from a man who said “Why would we trust him now to play it right? That’s the question the west hasn’t answered.”
Then you say “The deeper problem is more cultural than political. To accept the Mubarak or chaos argument is a form of disrespect to the civility and capacity of Tahrir Square. It’s an expression of western failure before the exploding Arab thirst for dignity and representative government. It reflects the old conditioning which sees in an Egyptian culture that was after all deep enough and realistic enough to accept peace with Israel no more than a disaster waiting to happen if the iron fist is removed.
Western leaders say events in the Arab world should spur Israelis and Palestinians to peace because they know how unstable the region is. Wrong,” you say. “These events are themselves the spur to the only
sustainable peace, one based on Arab self-respect and self-expression.”
Read it all.
(Charlie Rose Show) Roger Cohen on the Longing for Democracy and Dignity in Egypt
CHARLIE ROSE: I want to turn to one thing that I thought you wrote about really well, which is the sense of dignity that pervades the people that you have met. I’m quoting now from a man who said “Why would we trust him now to play it right? That’s the question the west hasn’t answered.”
Then you say “The deeper problem is more cultural than political. To accept the Mubarak or chaos argument is a form of disrespect to the civility and capacity of Tahrir Square. It’s an expression of western failure before the exploding Arab thirst for dignity and representative government. It reflects the old conditioning which sees in an Egyptian culture that was after all deep enough and realistic enough to accept peace with Israel no more than a disaster waiting to happen if the iron fist is removed.
Western leaders say events in the Arab world should spur Israelis and Palestinians to peace because they know how unstable the region is. Wrong,” you say. “These events are themselves the spur to the only
sustainable peace, one based on Arab self-respect and self-expression.”
Read it all.