Last week brought the bloody second act of the Egyptian revolution.
Just one year after electing the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi and giving the Muslim Brotherhood a large majority in the legislature, Cairo is burning again.
Some have taken these events as an indication that democracy cannot work in a Muslim country. Others have said that the uprising represents a whimsical relationship with government, where the country revolts and overthrows democratically elected leaders capriciously.
But in a YouTube video that has gone viral over the last few days, a 12-year-old Egyptian boy describes what is plaguing his country, why the people are in the streets, and what needs to change.
“We didn’t get rid of a military regime to replace it with a fascist theocracy,” the boy, identified in the video as Ali Ahmed, says.
“I’m here today to prevent Egypt from becoming a commodity owned by one person,” he says, “and to protest the confiscation of the constitution by one single party.”
Asked how he knows all of these things, Ahmed says, “I listen to people a lot and I use my own brain.
How simple.
The video below is not just worth watching, it should be required viewing for anyone who seeks to understand democracy and freedom. Take a look: