Insha'Allah

I get a roommate today! She's getting in at 4 pm today. A short description: she is an Indian-American intern that is working with a UN relief agency in the region. I'm very excited to meet her and move to the top floor apartment.

In other news, Eygpt's first election is complete, with Mohammed Mourssa and Shafiq emerging as the top two candidates. As neither got a 50% majority, they will run again to decide the final winner. Foreign policy withe Egypt will be very interesting if the favourite candidate, Mourssa, ends up as the president. What this spells for women in the region, I'm not sure. How he decides to rule will determine everything.

I can't stress enough the amount of emotion that is occupying political space in the Arab World right now. There is excitement and a sense of nervousness about the times ahead. People point to different historical examples - Algeria, Turkey, Iran - to prove their points. But really, no one knows how this will turn out.

The woman I met today runs an NGO in Jordan that works on lifting discriminatory laws against women in the region. After our interview, she looked at me with the most piercing stare and said,

You know Rishita, this revolution is all for the young people. I am so proud of them. For hundreds of years, we have lived with these governments that constantly oppress us. These young people, they are not like us. They are brave and alive. They are fighting. I am so so so proud to be Arab.

Then she said this:

They [the West] should believe in our case first, as Arab people. We are for freedom and democracy and we are not terrorists. This needs to be believed first. We don’t know what they want from the Arab Spring. We did not have this revolution to live up to their hopes. We are talking about us, as a very strong society and one that deserves our freedom and democracy, like others. 

It reminded me of an experience recounted by the U.S. State Department's ambassador at large for Global Women's Issues. On a trip to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, she stopped for dinner with a group of Afghan women activists in Kabul. One woman opened the conversation with a plea:

 "Please don't see us as victims, but look to us as the leaders we are."

We have to believe. We have to recognize the strength and good intensions embedded in this revolution. I do believe, as I am sure many others do. I believe so wholeheartedly that I travelled half way across the world to be here.

History is about to be written in the next few years and the people are finally holding the pen. We can only hope for the best and believe. Or as they say in the Middle East, Insha'Allah.