February 18, 2011

In the week since the world felt the ground shake with the jubilation of nearly 80 million Egyptians celebrating the end of authoritarianism and a chance at freedom and democracy, the thirst for change has quickly swept over at least seven countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

In Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Jordan and Syria this week, we have watched hundreds of thousands of people gather in their own Tahrir Square to demand reform and a place for their voices to be heard in determining the future of their country. Their rallying cry is a demand for human rights, employment and economic opportunities, freedom and acceptance of religious liberty.

SEE: "Unrest Spreads, Some Violently, in Middle East" (New York Times)

While the demonstrators have adopted the Egyptian commitment to "salmiyah" (peaceful actions), in each of these countries they have been met with brutal repression from military and police forces. As in Tunisia and Egypt, the latest round of dictators have launched propaganda campaigns in an attempt to convince their citizens that calls for reform are examples of "foreign intervention."

In Bahrain, tens of thousands of people have gathered all week to call for reforms in the monarchy. At least five people have been killed in the past two days after police forces forcibly cleared out thousands of protesters who had been camped out in the Pearl Roundabout following days of peaceful demonstrations. In Libya, police clashed with more than 200 peaceful demonstrators. Yemen, peaceful demonstrators calling for the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule for the past week. And in Iran on Monday, tens of thousands of people, both pro- and anti-government, gathered in Tehran to make their voices heard.

SEE: "Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa-Country by Country" (CNN)

The truth is these brutal dictators are what stand between a society stunted by tyranny and one guided by humanity's innate and God-given right to freedom. The change people in the Middle East seek is the kind that can define an era, and which will force world leaders to adjust to new realities in order to prevent themselves from landing on the wrong side of history.

Now is the opportune time for a paradigm shift among our world leaders. It is neither moral, nor in their interests, to continue supporting tyrants for short-term "stability." Contradicting American values of freedom and human dignity in order to support dictatorships would allow for the festering of unstable forces to bubble beneath the surface and create further greater long-term chaos. The popular uprising across the region, clearly demonstrates that Muslim masses believe that Islam and democracy are compatible. The people have clearly spoken: the choice between faith and freedom is a false one.

The Obama administration struck the right tone in engaging the Egyptian popular uprising. In statement after statement, President Barack Obama stood ever closer to the peaceful demonstrators and refrained from the kind of dogmatic foreign intervention, which would directly undermine the popular movement for change.

This is a tone that Obama and his cabinet must maintain in the coming days and weeks as many other citizen populations gather together to shake off the chains of dictatorships and authoritarianism.