The Big Picture in Egypt

- That’s not how you build a country -

People defending the violent action of the army in Egypt against protesters always ask us to look at the “big picture”. They ask for patience for the democratic process to take hold, and for a civilian authority to eventually reign in the soldiers.

But when I see videos like this (which I ask all of you to spread as wide as you can), in which soldiers so viciously hit demonstrators and defile their women, I see what the big picture really is: It’s about human dignity and the value of every single egyptian life. That was the whole point of the revolution and the Arab spring.

This is not about some long elaborate process in which eventually the rulers will learn to respect the civilians. This is about once and for all establishing the primacy of the citizen as the sole source of power and legitimacy in the country.