Window of tragedy

Texas A&M psychology student, Mirium, who wished to remain anonymous, was directly affected by the Libyan revolution as she is Libyan and much of her family still lives there. She said she sees a connection between the Arab Spring revolution that affected her life and the current war in Syria.

“[The violence in Libya] affected me immensely because I was here in America and had to watch the entire war on TV,” Mirium said. “I had three relatives who passed away. All my extended family still lives there.”

In regard to the outcome of the revolution though, Mirium said the war was the only way to get rid of Gadhafi. The new government will take time to get adjusted, but overall it is for the best.

“I know some people are upset that America intervened, but without their help Libya would be in Syria’s position right now,” Mirium said. “I think America did the right thing by implementing a no-fly zone and helping to defeat Gadhafi. Their help was much needed.”

 When the revolution started in Libya, Gadhafi gave numerous speeches outlining his attention to kill each citizen in every street, every house and every room. It’s different from other revolutions because he bought thousands of mercenaries from Mali and other African countries to kill men and kill and rape women.

“It was absolutely horrible not being able to help in any way,” Mirium said. “The killing and torturing of innocent people on the news was the worst part.”

Mirium said after the revolution, many Libyans went to Syria to help them fight Assad’s army. It’s a difficult situation and what’s going on there is similar to what happened in Libya.

“[The revolution in Libya] relates to the other Arab countries because they were all trying to get rid of their current president and to change the government to make life for the countries’ citizens better,” Mirium said. “Almost the same thing happened in Tunisia and Egypt but they were very lucky that their presidents did not declare war on them and vow to kill them all.”

As Libya plans for its elections, news outlets reported Egypt struggles to maintain any democratic gains from their revolution. A year later, pressure is on these countries as they undergo the regime change process, transitioning to a more desirable from of governance.

Efforts to halt regime change might reverse the gains of Egypt.

On Thursday, David Kirkpatrick reported for The New York Times that a panel of judges appointed by Egypt’s ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, ruled to dissolve the popularly elected parliament and allow the toppled government’s last prime minister to run for president. This escalated a struggle by remnants of the old government to block Islamists from coming to power.

The Court’s ruling came two days before the presidential election runoff.  

Citing a misapplication of rules for independent candidates, the court sought to overturn the first democratically elected parliament in more than six decades and the most significant accomplishment of the Egyptian revolution.

If the ruling is carried out, whoever wins the presidential race takes power without the check of a sitting parliament and could exercise significant influence over the elections to form a new one. The new president will also take office without a permanent constitution to define his powers or duties.

On Friday the U.N. issued a statement in regards to the Egyptian Court’s ruling.

“The Secretary-General is following attentively Egypt’s presidential election process, which is a very important part of the transition to greater democracy that the Egyptian people have struggled so patiently and so courageously to achieve,” representative for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “He underscores the United Nations strong support for Egypt’s transition to fully meet

the legitimate expectations of the Egyptian people.”