Oman Demonstrations

The winds of change are blowing through the Arab world. Dictators are falling and will fall. And the breath of fresh air has finally reached Oman. Those in power are fightened. Already, hastily drawn-up laws are being rushed through into existence. Money is being thrown at the populace. Do they not learn? Do they not see? This isn't about money or food prices or wealth. This is about FREEDOM.

Sometimes the birth of a truly democractic nation is truamatic. Whether you are under the rule of a despot or an all-powerful monarch, you are STILL under the rule of a dictator. You have no say in where your country goes. You have no way of protest. In democracies, a person can demonstrate and disagree - moreover your right to demonstrate is protected. In dictatorships, good or bad, you are not free to do this. You are thought unworthy to do so; made to live out your life without a say in how your life is led.

I fervently hope that Oman, a country I love, does not degenerate into the violence seen in Libya but equally, I fervently hope that the Omani people gain freedom to have a full say in their own country. This can only happen if those in power, including the Sultan, realise that they cannot reign above those they subjugate by right alone and that the masses will no longer be bought off with a quick cash advance or made to cower beneath the sword or the whip.

Gone are the days when the ruling elite should be there because of their birthright. Gone are the days when an accident of birth or who you know should be the only criteria for high office. We all live in the 21st century. All of us, everywhere, should have a say in how we live our lives and, moreso, how the country we live in is managed.

The Sultan is a wise man; an enlightened man. I am sure that he will do the right thing. I am sure that he will allow his people to have a say in the running of their country. He has pulled Oman out of the depths of poverty and myopic introspection and made the country into a jewel in the Gulf. He cannot and, I hope, will not allow all of that to be undone by not moving towards true democracy.