Mohamad Morsi, Challenges and capabilities!

Mohammad Morsi, the first democratically elected president in Egypt has come his way from being a political prisoner into being the President of the biggest Arab nation, unlike Hosny Mubarak, who went right from presidency to prison.

Morsi, and the party he came from, the "Muslim Brotherhood" that have been struggling for power for more than 60 years knowing it had the support of the majority of the faithful population of Egypt. Now they had the chance and came the moment that they won and took their breath at last.

The Muslim Brotherhood movement all over the Arab and Islamic world felt the great outcomes of its struggle for power. Celebrations were all around upon the results of their winning to the presidential elections in Egypt.

However, the movement might have been tricked to get to power at this transitional stage in Egypt, which can be one of the hardest periods of the Egyptian history where the president has a lot of responsibilities and duties and expectations from him are very high. The president will face a lot of challenges that will ensure his failure according to opponents, or his success according to his supporters.

Challenges facing Mohamad Mursi are first of all internal, he is the president, but the real struggle is that this president should get real power, and get the rights that grant him the ability to make the change needed in his country.

The question then comes, is Mursi able to challenge the military council and retake the presidential powers from them after they have taken it in what they called the constitutional declaration?

His first challenge would be in standing up for the military and get them under his control, of the state's control. Just like what Recep Tayyip Erdogan did in Turkey, but after 8 years in power and a referendum.

The next step includes equally hard challenges which are basically economic and social. Mursi has to start a new era in Egypt's history and improve the economy in such a way that fulfills the need of 80 million Egyptian who are looking right at him demanding jobs and high living standards. Economy will get Morsi facing the international affairs wisely, Egypt can be fought easily since it owes a lot of money for foreign countries who might be able to control Morsi and his future as a president of Egypt.

Thirdly, the whole Arab and Islamic world is looking now at Mursi as the new leader of the area and the Muslims, the Palestinians in particular are expecting a lot from Mursi to make a change in their lives as well. As the first educated president, people are waiting for Mursi to start the change that will go along the scope of the Arab world, in preparation for a period where Islamists hold to power and start that Arab dream that we have always been waiting for. Which implies that Morsi will have to adopt a very smart foreign policy balancing between the relations between Iran and Israel until he stabilize the country and be in a strong position to stand for Israel and its violation of International law and human rights.

Lebanese internal crisis: How can Youth become the solution?

Unlike most countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Lebanon has had democracy since its independence in 1945. We were never under any dictator that deprived us from our political or social rights. In Lebanon we choose who is our president and we vote freely for our parliament and we never had a single party state.

The Question is, why is Lebanon still politically unstable even when the public gets to choose its fate?

Well, in this small country it is more complicated than a simple democratic process, it consists of 18 different ethnics who all call for their right have a say in the decision making process.

Religion and ethnicity has never been a problem for an ordinary Lebanese who has lived and interacted with all his fellows from all different religions in those 10,000 km2. However, the problem is that our politicians are too smart and took advantage of divisions started during the civil war in 1975. Those leaders, after being responsible for thousand of lives and millions of losses for people, met in Taef city of Saudi Arabia and reformed a new political system known as the Taef agreement. This agreement (although not fully applied) gave the country its secratarian face and gave those leaders the exclusive right to win parliament seats and denied a free willed candidate from his chance to get into the parliament and participate in the policy making process.

After 1990 there has been no major change in the political scene in Lebanon, we ended up being the hostages of political parties that do not have democracy themseleves and therefore we vote for a whole party based on what the leader says with no regard to its agenda or the members that are running in it.

And now, we hear calls from SayyedHassan Nasrullah for a new national conference to make a new system in Lebanon. But Mr. Nasrallah, with all due respect, we shall not repeat the same mistake again! You and Mr. Foad Seniora have been responsible for May 5^th incidents and the black Tuesday, we will not grant you again the right to decide our country's fate!
But where does the Lebanese youth stand between all that?

Our youth nowadays is very busy away from politics, some of them are trying to find a proper job, others are getting paid to hold weapons and terrorize the public, some are leaving and the rest is staying desperate unwilling to make a change. Every single Lebanese is afraid not to vote for his traditional leader that "promises" to protect his ethnicity from others so that the other one doesn't take over and rule.

However, the good news my fellow Lebanese is that there is a way out! We, the youth, have the power to make the change but all what we need is a strong will! We need to dare and say no and start with our own to get things done.

Establishing a Think Tank is the first step towards manufacturing free youth able to make decisions and write policies in addition to reviewing the current policies and evaluating their advantages and weaknesses. The Think Tank is a starting procedure where youth will get trained and reach way above the level of our parliament members in policy making (we have seen how long they sleep in the parliament). The think tank will tackle issues from different topics including but not limited to:

- Foreign Policy- Defense and Security- Education- Economy and Finance- Energy and Environment

(all respect Mr. Bakradonian)

The next step would be with a national youth shadow government, this government will follow day to day the work of each ministry and write monthly reports about the work done and the work that has to be done by this mnistry. If you say that there is one already existing, my answer is yes, we need to form another, more modern, more effective and more popular one!
Policy makers in the think tank, along with the shadow government will be strong enough to prepare the next generation of young leaders who will dare sooner or later to join the real politics and change the balance of this country from up to down, the level of ordinary people.

This process takes time indeed, and more complicated than it seems, but it has to start now, and better today than tomorrow. Youth have to go out of the box and think of our country and not our ethnicity and for sure we all can.

The Lebanese Institute for Youth PolicyMaking has taken the first step towards that, and we believe goals can be achieved sooner than expected. Join us and lets start making the change together regardless where we live, to which politician we vote, or what our religion is. A Lebanese passport or ID alone is enough to make us believe in starting the change and disappoint our "traditional" secratarian leadership who have planned our lives for the next 10 years if not 20.

Think Tank Lebanon

In the light of the recent Arab uprisings which spanned throughout the Arab World, toppling Presidents and overthrowing regimes, it became critical for each and every country to adopt a new approach towards policy making and legislation. Leading a nation is not the sacred privilege of a certain government or party, but as it proved to be during the last years’ revolutions, is a consensual and cooperative effort which includes the vast array of the political and the social spectrum of the nation. Part of the groups, which in the past neglected, has strongly affirmed its say through a massive campaign and an active involvement in the recent uprisings: Youth!

Youth have been side lined in favor of a closed and elitist branch of the Arab society, thus having no say in how the country operates or what the government priorities should be in the different social, economic and political domains.

It is time for youth, however young and inexperienced they are, to expose their ideas and ideals on an open forum, and make from these opinion and recommendations a raw material able to be processed by the authorities in such a way that it becomes politically, socially and financially applicable.

The Lebanese Institute for Youth Policy Making is a Think Tank which regroups Lebanese students in and outside Lebanon, a Think Tank with a vision shared by each and every one of us Lebanese: Let youth have their say on how The Arab world ought to be shaped and sculpted. The Think Tank is an open forum for discussion, debate and contribution with ideas and recommendation to the different organs of the Lebanese authorities. The Lebanese Institute for Youth Policy Making is a true intellectual hub which regroups one of the finest conglomerations of Lebanese students both in High School and University, a center for creative ideas generation meant to be a landmark in the development of the involvement of youth in Policy making of their nation.

I.                   Vision:

The Lebanese Institute for Youth Policy Making holds a reformative vision empowered by a staunch belief that development cannot be achieved without the active involvement of Youth. Our vision and aspiration for the future of The Arab world is to witness the flourishing of a nation following the path of democracy, while strongly preserving the cultural and religious features of the society. This vision is well embodied by the youth who are engaged and actively involved in various forums through their opinions, ideological and political views as well as their ideas of reform and development. Channeling and voicing these opinions, values and ideals through a single platform is what this Think Tank aims for in its struggle to shape and sculpt Lebanon through the eyes, voices and actions of its sons and daughters.

II.                Goals:

I.                    Short Term Objectives:

v  Raise awareness among youth about the importance of policy making and Public Administration

v  Create a suitable environment for youth discussions on matters of various concerns ranging from politics to economics, as well as social justice and religion

v  Equip youth who benefit from the Think Tank seminars and workshops with critical thinking and knowledgeable mentoring in various fields

v  Concentrate youth opinions and ideas in a compiled report issued each 6 months where further recommendations are made to policy makers

v  Encourage youth to become part of policy making and local affairs management

v  Catalyze a fruitful dialogue between youth and the financial and political elite as a mean of establishing understanding and building bases for cooperation

v  Offer workshops on civic and political rights to educate youth on the basics of civic and political activism

v  Facilitate a forum for discussion, criticism and proposals of ideas and opinions online

v  Measure the public tendencies and street opinions on political, social ,financial and religious matters and create polls to register and record the street pulse for internal and public usage

v  Provide counseling and advice for youth in matters of movements, campaigns and projects making

v  Train youth on the usage of social media in organizing, mobilizing and operating movements and campaign within the civil society

v   

II.                  Long term objectives:

v  Recruit and train a group of youths active in the domain of politics and economics with critical thinking and revolutionary ideas

v  Establish the foundations for a more active and involved role of the youth groups in policy making and affairs management

v  Create a paradigm shift in peoples’ understanding and appreciation of politics and render it a domain open for everyone eager to contribute and make a change

v  Issue recommendations and reports with description and predictions over issues of critical importance, making these materials an important reference for policy makers and the authorities

v  Establish an operating cell: Arab youth institute on foreign policy directed towards the analysis of the Arab foreign policy

v  Building partnerships with the civil society, existing NGOs and institute as well as partnering with the authorities on various levels

v  Establish a Research center for youth led investigations based on subjects the members are passionate about.

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LebaneseInstituteForYouthPolicyMaking

Email:

basem.remesh@gmail.com

A Letter from the Israeli Prime Minister to the Syrian President!

Dear President Assad,

Shalom.

I am writing this letter for you after years of our friendship, to express how thankful I am to your Excellency.

President Assad, I-and on behalf of the state of Israel- am really impressed by you and your friendship to our state.

You and you father Hafez (May he rest in peace) have done Israel a great favor. You have been for more than 40 years a great friend of Israel, providing security and kindness to our state. Adding to that, Mr. President, you have offered us a very kind gift which enables us to have more control over the Palestinians and the Arabs in the region, you kindly gave us Golan Heights and never demanded it again.

In addition to that, we are all in Israel so impressed with what you are doing in Syria nowadays, you have killed more than 10 thousand innocent people, a number, with all our crimes and apartheid policies never achieved in 1 year and you denied the so called "Syrian revolution". We can never forget your great favor of denying the Syrian public-who hate our state-to vote freely and have freedom, because this will endanger our existence.

What impresses us more is that, in addition to all your crimes, you could deny it and ignore the whole world which has proved to me and my ministers how well do we go along in our policies against the Arabs and what will get us closer in the future. You could as well Mr. president make them all believe that you are a Jihadi against us by supporting Hezbollah, which serves as a good excuse for us to attack Lebanon and impose sanctions on Iran at the same time. Your great political nimbleness got the whole world to confuse your allies from your friends, which, as well ended up in our favor.

Mr. President, keep going, kill as much as you want, nobody will dare to get you out of power because us and the United States are fooling the western world by making them believe that Russia and China are the ones who are defending you, which is in fact upon our request. But in case you had to leave power, we will make sure a puppet regime comes after which we will force to sign peace at any price with us.

Me, and my administration will thoroughly offer you to work for our government, as an advisor for me and the war minister, a special advisor on how to commit war crimes against Arabs. We believe you will add great effort to our future policies, and therefore we will offer you an Israeli passport. We will never forget your favors and will be great supporter of you and your regime till the end.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Netanyahu 

Who is your Spark?

A while ago, i have been asked by a university to write a 900 words essay answering "Who is you Spark"
I though i would share something :)

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

     This is the quotation that I want to start my essay with, but it does not mean that Mahatma Gandhi is my spark. It is quite hard to find a spark as a person, but rather as a personality, which might, after all, not exist; A personality which works as a trigger for you to start something new, or make a change in our world. A spark for me is the person who is full of creativity and eagerness, fully believing in himself and ignoring all sentences that include the word impossible while staying realistic to a large extent. My spark is a person who is able to make something out of nothing, a person who is able to make things possible and has the ability to convince people that it is possible.

My Spark should not have a spark, rather should be the pioneer of the original, the pioneer of the belief of a new world full of peace and understanding. If you have a Spark, then you are depending  on others, you wait for others to say things that you will obey, you wait for others to do things so you can copy, you wait for others to go somewhere so that you can follow. A Spark should be oneself, the one that we can trust the most and the one we can expect the best from. It should be a person who never hesitates to do what is right, since hesitation is the enemy of the mind and creativity.

    My spark is myself, I am the one who believes in himself, who believes that whatever he aims for can be achieved and can be done. I had a hard life and a struggling childhood which showed me that impossible is nothing, and I decided to start from my life as a source of inspiration,  convincing myself that I will be the change I want to see in the world, starting from within, my family, friends, society, country and the world altogether.

I struggled a lot in my life in order to support myself and my family financially and to pay for my school fees and transportation. I sacrificed my time, my chances of academically succeeding for the sake of my family even though I am the youngest. I sacrificed my creativity, filled my time with school, work and sleep. I never had time to do extra academics, or think of an invention or write an article about politics or life. This is what I had to pay so that my family can survive, and so that my brother can go to college. My spark is myself who was able to make sacrifices and suffer in order to give value to its achievements and give a possibility for his dreams.

 Since the age of ten, I had clear aims and goals, which were as simple as that nobody should have the childhood that I had, my country should not go to war anymore, and children my age should go to school for free, enjoy peace and proper education. Living under war never made me think that I should hide or that I should surrender, it made me start thinking how to make peace and give up a lot so that all the coming generations have peace. I made my plans to make a change in our world, and they are all achievable. I am the one who will face the unknown where I have to face reality and make a turnover in my life. I trust myself for being able to change; I aim high and try to achieve. I aim to be in the position where I can force peace and sustainable living for the country and the society. To make sure nobody will suffer what I suffered. My spark should not be afraid of dreaming big, having great ambitions and working for their realizations. This is what made me come to a place I have never heard of, and take an international education with all its stress and demands, and now I have great projects and dreams in mind of success and leadership. I have never failed before in trying new ideas, but the moment I failed, it meant it was a moment to learn and keep on succeeding. It is not impossible to be what you want to be as long as we decide to and take the challenge. Impossible is nothing, nothing is impossible.

        This is why I do not have a Spark, for the spark for me is myself not somebody, not a book, neither a movie, nor a leader. If I believe in leadership, I should be the leader, if believe in change I should be the change, if I believe in something, then it is myself and my abilities and my responsibility towards the globe which provided me with everything I needed. A spark should not be afraid of recognizing its limits and should be ready to admit its mistakes even if it might be embarrassing....A spark lives inside each and every one of us but we need to search for it, it is never somewhere else rather than our will and ambitions and our belief in our capacities.

And I will end my essay saying “Be the Spark you wish to see in the world…”