Last week I was asked to sign an online petition in support of demonstrations against Mubarak in Cairo. So, I wrote this message and sent it to some friends. “I am sitting here at my computer listening to coverage of the “million people” demonstration in Cairo and have to painfully remind myself that we have heard so much loud racist nonsense in recent years about how Arabic, Moslem and other non-European cultures and religions abhor democracy that the brave demands of our sisters and brothers in Tunisia and Egypt must come as a shock to so many in the west. of course I will sign the petition for those activists in Egypt, but let’s redouble our efforts as educators to show our students that the longing for and the possibility of democracy are not culturally and racially bound.”
Yesterday I asked Insha’Allah that Mubarak would leave. Today he said yes. Today I ask Insha’Allah that he stays away.