So Bhutto was assassinated, why do I care?
A lot of you don’t care about politics and current events in the Middle East. Hell I didn’t. Seriously, last year if you said ‘So and So was killed’ or ‘More bombings occurred in Afghanistan’ I wouldn’t have cared. Fuck, last year I couldn’t even point out on a map where Afghanistan was. But after reading a few novels set in the Middle East, its opened my eyes. For this post, I am referring to Afghanistan and Pakistan as the Middle East even though the collective term usually includes Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and many others.
Let me tell you something you may not know. People in the Middle East are just like us.
“Yeah, so what?”
No, really, they are just like us. They go to movies, they have festivals, they play in the snow, they have families, friends, pets. They are just like us. But within the last 20+ years, they haven’t been able to be just like us. Their country has been completely ravaged by war. I will admit, before educating myself I had this understood fact that the Middle East was just all ‘war’, it was always being bombed, people don’t have fun over there, it was just all brown, full of rocks, bombs and deserts.
Well, yeah, it is kinda like that now. But it wasn’t like that 20 years ago. Think about it. Put yourself in their shoes. You’re out at the theater one day decades ago the next you can’t even leave your house because someone will literally shoot you. Your neighbor’s house is in rubble. Nothing is recognizable.
Feeling anything now? You should.
Lets fast forward to 2007. As some of you may have heard ignored, Musharraf (President of Pakistan) declared a State of Emergency a month or so ago. You’ve heard this term before, many times I’m sure. But do you know what a declaration of a State of Emergency does?
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, may work to alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural disaster, during periods of civil unrest, or following a declaration of war (therefore, in democratic countries many call this martial law, most with non-critical intent). Justitium is its equivalent in Roman law.
In some countries, the state of emergency and its effects on civil liberties and governmental procedure are regulated by the constitution, or a law that limits the powers that may be invoked during an emergency or rights suspended. It is also frequently illegal to modify the emergency law or Constitution during the emergency.
Currently the USA is under approximately 5 state of emergencies. Not including the ones that individual states can declare. California declared one for the recent oil spill so they could then apply for more money to help fix this. This is in addition to the State of Emergency declared for the fires in Southern California, and I’m sure we’re under a few more.
What Musharraf did when he declared his state of emergency was kinda like suspending the constitution. He locked up all government officials and blocked out all TV that wasn’t under his supervision. He then pretty much fired the all the old officials and put in place his choice of men. He handed over his title of Army Chief of staff, and then lifted the state of emergency.
In other words, he rigged the upcoming election. He had two opponents he worried about. Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif. There were lots of Bhutto supports in the government and so he made it in a way that he got rid of them and installed his own supporters into his government.
He’s rigged the election. Kinda like a President we all know and love.
So pretty much any hope that Pakistan had for recovering from some of the onslaught it’s received has been demolished. I’m not saying Bhutto or Sharif were angels, but I felt they had more of Pakistan’s best interest and future in mind.
So why do you care if Bhutto was assassinated? You care because I’m telling you to put yourself in their shoes again. Think back to when Bush was unfortunately running for President again. Remember how you were all rooting for Kerry, slammed your fists down in anger when he decided to dispute the counts in Ohio? What if Bush decided to do what Musharraf did? (Though I’m sure there’s something in our constitution that prevents this) or what if Kerry was assassinated?
They are just like us. We are just like them.
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