Dear Editor,

The revolution is being televised. We looked at Tunisia and we are now looking, listening and trying to understand what is happening in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. We must be careful in listening to the Western media, an institution defending its interest by using its power to influence public policy. Notice the line, “We do not know what the junior military officers are thinking.” Not just reporting, but using the mass media to defend the influence of the West. Let us look at the current hot spots not in terms of ideology and spheres of influence, but analyse the themes from the people: these themes have no relation to the pronouncements of the Western press.

People are talking about the 30 years of American hypocrisy. They speak of Egypt’s allegiance to Israel their enemy: they speak of their living conditions, political corruption and very poor quality of political leadership. Listen to the foreigners in Tunisia and Egypt. It is not about the right and wrong of the natives’ behaviour. It is about recognising the themes of their resistance and making sense of them accordingly. Please, let us listen to the people and understand what they are saying; let us analyse what is happening for the quality of the time and place; let us evaluate the moment on the strength of what we read as the evidence. If we do, we will see that today is similar to the 1930s – the period described as the revolt of the masses against the West. These themes are very much present in Tunisia and Egypt. It is not just about the local political leadership; but very much about that external support that kept that poor political leadership in power for the past 30 years.

We cannot theorise history; we cannot think of things historical in terms of our political orientations. What is taking place in the world today must be justified by the quality of the evidence. The people are speaking and we must listen. The power to impose meaning to defend personal/metropolitan interests is illustrated by the Western media giants, but at the same time we hear what the people are saying. We must separate the tree from the forest in order to make sense of what is happening. This is a lesson for Jamaica. The people are tired of simple-minded, mediocre and weak leadership. We need to begin to have discourse beyond testosterone and party colours. The groups leading change are not led by the traditional leadership and loyalty to anything except the truth. It is important for us to look, listen and learn. There is an emphasis on “learn”.

Louis EA Moyston

Kingston 8

thearchives01@yahoo.com