Where I stand

For those of my friends who understand any call for reform as calls to bring the Islamists to rule.

For those of my friends who understand any call for reform as calls to bring the monarchy down.

For those of my friends who want to give the government a chance to do the reform for them.

For those of my friends who got excited about Egypt and Tunis so much that they wish NONE of it touches their home or themselves.

For those of my friends who want to refuse reform in order to protect the status qua with all the well/fear they’ve got.

Can we get more conflicted than this?

What you and me should do, is make our voices as loud- if not more- than the Islamists if we are to win them in the next election. Rather than conspire to create yet another failure of an election law just because we don’t want more Islamists to win or more Palestinians or more tribes.

What you and me should do, is form independent movements and new political parties that can win in the next democratic elections so we might get and limit the win of the Islamists if you and I fear their rule the most.

What you and me don’t want in Jordan is not March 24 movement or Friday protests or online news sites, what we don’t want is our government silencing peaceful protesters by force and allowing ignorant thugs to hit them by bricks. What we don’t want is security forces that interfere with our freedom of speech, assembly or organization while we need them to focus more on protecting us, citizens of Jordan.

Whether the March 24 movement chose a good or bad location, or a right or a wrong day is just the details. Its easy to say they are Islamists or Palestinians or even thugs, if you only listen to hearsay and rumors yet not investigate information yourself.

Focus I think should be on what they wanted, they wanted to put more pressure on your government to act faster. Why?

Because you and me should ask yourselves, does it need THREE months to come up with a new election law? Does it need THREE months to come up with a new party law? Do you think these laws are artifacts that need such time and deliberation to be innovated out of vacuum?…etc.

Do you and me like to  have the big elephant of who is your or my origin from to be forever in the room? Or Should we talk more about it? Remove the suspicion from all sides and focus on citizenship with its rights and obligation as our uniting factor?

We are in the middle of a big wave of change, you and me can get stuck in fear and stay in the backroom behind closed doors or go out honk our cars in an empty show of loyalty that is a given to most or we can help lead this change to where we want it to go.

When your kids, nephews and nieces ask you in 20 years where were you in 2011, you better have some great story to tell!

Its your choice, but I guess you have figured out where I stand from all of this.

Razan Khatib

Razan Khatib

Playing at the intersection of culture, technology, and values. Trying to structure my thoughts and share experiences, learnings, and insights. Co-founder of @spring_apps
Amman, Jordan