I remember approx. 50 years ago in the first history class of the new term we started with a new unknown teacher at St. Mirin's Academy Paisley. He came in to the classroom and said good morning and wrote on the blackboard "History began when humans learned to read and write" He went on to say "this happened about 5,500 years ago in the fertile valley of the Nile in ancient Egypt where the first writings known to man were found" That might not be strictly verbatim but it's close and it stuck in my mind at the age of 12/13 that teacher whose name now escapes me installed a fascination and passion in me for history which is still with me today.
I thought again of those early lessons and about Egypt with its ancient history; it's Pyramids and the river Nile when I watched the events unfold on TV from Cairo, tens of thousands of people determined to overthrow their tyrannical leader and his motley crew, American Lackeys every one of them, put there 30 years ago by the USA to protect American interests in the Middle East. Brave people demonstrating against a backdrop of murder, kidnapping, torture and the site and sound of tanks, low level jets and helicopter gunships, they were and are simply heroic and they deserve the support of every democratic fair minded person in the world. It is to be hoped that Egypt and Tunisia will only be the start and other regimes in the region will topple as well.
Hovering over the entire area of the Middle East like a malevolent black cloud is of course the rogue state of Israel now even more trigger happy than ever and becoming more jumpy by the day. The perfidious peace deal between Israel and Egypt was of course done to placate America and many Egyptians have long resented it. Mubarak's overthrow was partly because of his defence of Israel and their treatment of the Palestinians, can you imagine the outrage and disgust felt by many Egyptians when they were forced to tolerate the suffering and carnage suffered by their fellow Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine. Particularly in the Gaza Strip where Israel carried out the genocidal slaughter of men women and children in operation "Cast Lead" Mubarak and his Quisling Govt. despite sharing a border with Gaza turned their back on them refusing to let people out an humanitarian aid in, a shameful period in Arab history.
Prior to the dishonourable peace between Egypt and Israel the cost of defence for Israel was 30% of their wealth, this dropped to 7% after the peace deal so the consequences of an Egypt hostile to Israel could be very significant indeed. The benefits to the Palestinians would be vast and strengthen their cause, this could be massive for the Palestinians and it could also destabilise the region to a very dangerous degree. Israel has shown with increasing ferocity lately that they are bordering on being "a lunatic state" (Professor Norman Finklestein) consider what they did to the Gaza humanitarian relief convoy and their barbaric attack on Gaza. Perhaps they will revert to type and slaughter everyone and destroy everything in sight or maybe, just maybe they will see that the state of Israel is an international crime and take steps to rejoin the human race.
16 comments:
Terry, it concerns me that, until very recently,Socialist International had close fraternal links with Mubaraks NDP Party, in Egypt.
Lord Kinnock is Hon President of Socialist International - did he not understand the kind of man and party, he was in bed with?
By Anonymous on EGYPTIANS 1 USA & ISRAEL 0 at 17:13
I have never taken much of an interest in the Socialist International and know very little about them, I note however that “Social Democratic” parties are also members which opens it up to some real strange right wing characters. I intend to find out more about it especially why an organisation called “Socialist” has Mubarak as a member, there is something not right about this.
Thanks for your reply, Terry. Guess it's really the Kinnock connection that bothers me..you think he is naive?
See there is another site about Renfrewshire Terry giving wee Derek MacKay some unwanted attention at
http://renfrewshirecouncilexposed.blogspot.com/
'especially why an organisation called “Socialist” has Mubarak as a member, there is something not right about this'
Good question. When I see any organisation with Kinnock as a member I tend to thing one of two things 'what clown let him in?' or 'what's in it for him?'.
Still at least we don't have this clown on our membership roll. There are times when even I pity the tories.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crime-courts/fury-as-tory-msp-asks-was-rape-victim-a-prostitute-1.1084922
I can't understand how Mubarak could be part of a socialist anything but it seems he is not the only strange member.
I believe Kinnock is naive but whether that is the case here I really don't know.
He showed his naievity during the MIner's strike by refusing to back them. He was afraid of the press and they still did him in anyway "will the last person to leave Britain if Kinnock wins please turn the lights off" remember.
By Anonymous on EGYPTIANS 1 USA & ISRAEL 0 on 13/02/11
The guy in question Bill Aitken is not all that uncommon in the ranks of the Tory Party, they remain rotten to the core and are infested with racists: homophobes: fascists: misogynists and privileged half wits.
The small number of decent one nation Tories are swamped by them.
Kinnock wasn’t a bad guy or a bad party member he was just weak and naive, a flawed weak leader that’s all.
By Anonymous on EGYPTIANS 1 USA & ISRAEL 0 on 13/02/11
This guy is mad as hell about something but most people can’t quite figure out exactly what it is, he has been banging this drum for some considerable time but he never seems to want to take the logical step of legal action. That leads most people to dismiss him. He might well run for council again but: I fear that will make him feel more frustrated and even angrier as he will most likely lose his deposit.
If your teacher really taught you that nonsense then it goes someway to explaining the nonsense we read here - to our perpetual joy!
Are my comments banned now, Councillor?
By David Duff on EGYPTIANS 1 USA & ISRAEL 0 on 19/02/11
I think we have been here before have we not, I have never banned any comments from you, never . Why would I, you have never written anything to me that I couldn’t deal with: with absolute ease. I will answer your comment of 2 days ago but really what kind of comment is it, what is the point of writing such a comment?
By David Duff on EGYPTIANS 1 USA & ISRAEL 0 on 18/02/11
Do you really think that this comment would lead me to ban it from being printed? Should you not try to get a grip on reality?
Of course, silly me, this is a socialist blog so naturally it takes 2 days to publish a comment.
And history certainly did not begin when Mankind learned to read and write.
By David Duff on EGYPTIANS 1 USA & ISRAEL 0 on 20/02/11
I am a busy man, being a revolutionary is time consuming.
I am ever the optimist so I will at least try to explain even although it will as always be way over your head.
The history teacher uses the phrase “history began when mankind first learned to read and write” to grab the attention of the students and in my case it worked. Is cave painting reading and writing? that’s a difficult one isn’t it?
Oh I see! You mean it was a cheap and innacurate slogan-type of remark, you know, the sort of thing that rather dim people are taken with and can easily repeat without ever going to the trouble of thinking about it and thus realising it's all total BLX.
(I shall now doze peacefully for the 2 or 3 days it takes for you to click a couple of buttons and print this comment. Always good to see socialism at, er, work!)
what can I say? honestly, what can I say, my time is too precious for this crap.
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