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Sharansky: Maybe This Is the Moment to Put Our Trust in Freedom

(Jerusalem Post) David Horovitz - 25 years ago, Natan Sharansky, icon of the struggle to liberate Soviet Jewry, walked to freedom across Berlin's Glienicke Bridge. He said in an interview published Friday: "There was a big change in my life, when I switched from being a loyal Soviet citizen to becoming a dissident; from a double-thinker to a dissident." "There is a very critical moment, which is called revolution. When does it happen? When suddenly big masses of double-thinkers - not one, not two - go over to dissent. It's like boiling water, when it reaches 100 degrees." "Now, if that moment [is missed, and] it goes back, it will immediately disappear. That's what happened in Iran [when the demonstrations erupted and then faded after the 2009 elections]. Some of the people - big student organizations, trade unions - felt that they could go to the barricades. And millions more were sitting and waiting, with all this Facebook and Internet. But then, at that moment, the leader of the free world indicated that for the U.S., engagement with the regime was more important than changing the regime. And immediately, it all collapsed." "Ten years ago, in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood would have had 10% support. Today they say they have 25 or 30%. Who knows what it will be in 10 years if things don't change. People are unhappy. The only alternative to that unhappiness has been the Muslim Brotherhood. The free world has been helping to destroy any democratic alternative. So it is good that this is all happening now in Egypt when the Muslim Brotherhood is not strong enough." "And secondly, it is good that it is happening in an Egypt that gets the second biggest foreign aid package from the United States [after Israel]. America has a lot of leverage. A lot of linkage for any future Egyptian leader. Whoever will be the leader of Egypt, if he wants to solve problems, he will be very dependent on the free world. He will not go to Iran for help." "If the free world makes clear that our help is tied to democratic reforms, there is a chance finally to start building a drive forward. This [untenable] pact between the free world and a bunch of dictators ostensibly bringing us stability was not broken by the free world. It was broken by the people in the streets. We have to go with this. This is the chance. I hope America will take it." "The role of the free world is that there must be real cooperation with this desire of people not to live in fear. Whoever these people are. Even if they are anti-Semites and grew up in the traditional thinking of killing Jews. It's not about us and them. It's about them and their leaders." "Some leaders of the free world...are coming to us and saying, 'This is the time to make concessions.' This simply shows that they really don't understand what's going on. I mean, to whom to make concessions? The people in the streets of Egypt, or to dictators whose days are numbered? This is the moment not to speak of concessions with Abu Mazen, but to start building bottom-up peace, and finally bring democracy to the Palestinians."
2011-02-14 00:00:00
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