American Independence Day and Egypt's Revolution

Americans are celebrating their Independence Day today. There are parades, patriotic ceremonies, picnics and barbeques, and fireworks all over the country.

American freedom and democracy were won at very great cost. Militia served while leaving their crops go untended, thus causing food shortages. They fought with no real uniforms or munitions, often being out-gunned simply because they lacked the money needed to arm themselves. Their great leader, George Washington, cajoled and pleaded with the non-military Founders to find the financial means to let his soldiers win. He was with them, suffering in the terrible winter at Valley Forge, and he managed to hold them together and make them ready to attack the next Spring.

Men like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson wrote and travelled to France and finally got French financial help and soldiers, with the Compte de Lafayette at their head, whose importance cannot be overlooked. German Hessians came to fight as mercenaries, and were paid late and sometimes not at all, but they stayed and fought. The times were tough, morale was not always high and even civilians, mostly women and children bore hardships.

It was Betsey Ross, the wife of a soldier at Valley Forge, who learned from her husband that the revolutionaries had no flag. So, she sat down and stitched the first American Stars and Stripes. It lifted morale and it soon was waving in front of the militia as they fought. That is why the flag is so important to Americans.    

All those thoughts and memories, strangely perhaps to some, made me think about Egypt.

Egypt is the keystone of the Arab world. Her history, size, location and cohesive population make Egypt the pivot for Arab democracy. It will be born or die on the streets and in the conference rooms of Cairo, where a government and constitution are being forged out of hopes and dreams. Her young men and women have staked their lives on their desire for self-government. They are the brave revolutionaries who would not give up, who would not back down, who demanded by their dignity and perseverance to be free.

We in Europe and America may allow ourselves the luxury of indecision about Libya or Tunisia or other Arab states, but we must not allow Egypt to fail. On her success hangs the success of the rest of the Arab world, and indeed, of the entire 21^st century world. The democratic West needs democratic allies in the Middle East and the rest of the Arab world.

Let us not forget the Egypt freedom marchers today. They are, in a real sense, living through their own American revolution and they deserve to win.