I write this with a troubled heart. Thousands of miles away in North African land, unarmed protestors are being gunned down from land and air simultaneously and this scenario has induced uneasiness inside me. You might ask what connection do I have with Libyans? Hundreds of Africans (thousands maybe) die every day of hunger, malnutrition, malaria, AIDS, civil war and other cultural and natural malaises so why does it matter suddenly when 300 Libyans have died in a matter of two weeks? This is a valid question.
To know my answer about why I as a Nepalese citizen living in the U.S. feel connected about Libyans, read “Nepal's Stalled Revolution” by Manjushree Thapa. He, a fellow Nepalese outlines what a Nepalese in general, thinks of Arabian revolutions going on around the world.
My trouble stems from the fact that I have been actively following reports of killings of protestors by mercenaries and armed men loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Twitter is flooded with such reports despite the internet and telecommunication blockade in Libya. Follow Andy Carvin on Twitter if you want to stay updated on situation in Libya. I feel powerless to witness violence on Al-Jazeera live yet not be able to act or even attempt to prevent it. Tolerating injustice is as heinous of a crime as committing one, don’t you agree?
How can we go about our daily routine pretending to be oblivious of the fact that freedom seeking fellow Homo Sapiens are being mercilessly terminated? You could call me a hypocrite too for not I haven’t attempted to launch a protest at my university let alone local town or resident country. I still go about studying in the library and completing assignments for this hectic Midterm week and stop to catch Al-Jazeera and Twitter updates only when convenient. In addition, sleep deprivation that I have subjected myself to in the last two weeks is not because of the alarming situation in the Middle East or Northern Africa but only because I have been trying to keep with my college work and do well on tests. I have been a passive participant in these revolutions.
You can again ask what good does a passive participant do than who chooses not to participate at all? My response is: review Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. In crude terms, it states that mere presence of observer affects the state of the object/subject being observed. In other words, a device attempting to measure velocity of a moving body alters its motion by bombarding it with photons, even though the change may be very small. You can never measure both the displacement and velocity of an object accurately without compromising the other. This is because the presence of measuring device makes a DIFFERENCE. My mere presence in this world and thinking about a situation makes a difference. Review Chaos theory where flutter of butterfly wings could cause a cyclone in the Atlantic. Metaphorically speaking, writing this post and putting my thoughts out there is my flutter of butterfly wings.
When a geek with an interest in international affairs (like me) tries to understand or interpret the situation, use of scientific theories to understand and model the problem should be expected. My request to all of you reading this is: Do what you can. Tweet about your thoughts, update your Facebook status about Libyan situation or send your thoughts to media. Train to be an assassin to kill Gaddafi, if you have to. But don’t be indifferent. (Actually I was kidding about assassin training. Do that in your free time.) Flutter your wings because we are all connected with invisible strings (my version of string theory) floating in this matrix with solid space to step on that we call Mother Earth. Your little flutter will create force strong enough to cause a dramatic impact in a place thousands of miles away across the Atlantic. Act now.
P.S. 300 deaths have already been confirmed and Italy fears the actual number could be around 1000. Crude oil prices have peaked since recession due to situation in Libya. We can't just ignore it and go about our daily routine anymore.
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