One of the wise men was asked: What should a person leave behind before leaving this world?

He said three;

Good offspring, works that benefit people, and the experience to pass on to future generations.

All that remains for me is to pass on the experience that I gained as an opponent and a ruler, to future generations, and thus I will have completed my mission in this life.

Someone might say, and what experience do you have that you want to convey and the peaceful democratic revolution that you have defended throughout your life stumbles, then what do you want to advise the ambitious young people for leadership when you are the one who lost the presidential elections twice?

The response is that the peaceful democratic revolution has not failed;

Rather, it was the criminal counter-revolution that blocked its course that failed, and the days are between us.

What is the common denominator between the Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Saudi Mohammed bin Salman, the Emirati Mohammed bin Zayed, and the Libyan Khalifa Haftar, on the one hand ... and the American Robert Edward Lee, the Frenchman Raoul Salan, the English rebel Jan Smith, and the South African Hendrick French Forward, on the other hand?

It is true that I lost the elections to those who served tyranny, and those who did not move a finger against it.

It is a failure for which I am solely responsible.

But despite his bitterness, he rich in lessons and passed that benefited me, and it may benefit others. In any case, my condolences, the saying of the French King Francois I after his defeat at the Battle of Buffy in 1525, we lost everything but honor.

To allow me, at the beginning of these episodes, which aspire to convey the experience of half a century of success and failure, to place this experience in the framework of a view of history that forms the butter of what I have learned from all the intellectual and political struggles that I have fought throughout my life, and I have reduced it to 4 convictions that are the underpinnings of all my actions and words.

1- What is the common denominator between the Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Saudi Muhammad bin Salman, the Emirati Mohammed bin Zayed, and the Libyan Khalifa Haftar, on the one hand ... and the American Robert Edward Lee, the Frenchman Raoul Salan, the English rebel Jan Smith and the South African Hendrick French Forward, on the other hand?

Let's take the last four one by one, and the organic kinship with the first four will quickly become evident.

The American Robert Edward Lee was the general who led - during the American Civil War - the armies of the southern states, which rebelled against the decision to abolish slavery in America in 1863, and he was the one who finally conceded defeat, and surrendered in 1865 .. Neither this important military man nor the politicians he served They were aware of the huge number of countries that - starting from the end of the 18th century - were abolishing slavery, one after the other, including Tunisia in 1846. The man and those with him were blaspheming against the current of history and swept them away.

The Frenchman, Raoul Salan, was the general who in 1961 - along with 3 other generals, Maurice Schall, Edmund Juhu and Andre Zeller - led a coup attempt against the then President of France, General De Gaulle, after he surrendered to the rule of history and decided to accept the independence of Algeria.

Contrary to this great man, the leader of the absurd rebellion did not realize the huge number of African countries, which had been gaining their independence one after the other since the end of the war, and that direct colonialism was inevitable.

The man and his companions ended up in prisons and exiles.

Because he - with those with him - was blaspheming against the tide of history and swept them away.

The rebellious Englishman, Ian Smith, who declared the "independence" of an occupied African country under the name of Rhodesia in 1970, mistaken the timing by a whole century, because he believed that in the mid-twentieth century a European minority could repeat the conquest of entire continents, in which countries were built as it did in Canada, America, New Zealand and Australia.

The crazy gambling failed and the state of Zimbabwe was independent on the ruins of his reckless dream, and he died in exile in South Africa. The man - and those with him - were blaspheming against history and swept away by the current.

Last but not least, the South African Forward was the architect of apartheid in South Africa throughout his reign (1950-1958).

He, too, did not notice the wave of peoples' liberation and the decline of colonialism and racism, so he tried to build a white republic that collapsed at the beginning of the nineties just as he collapsed by his death in 1966, he also tried to counter the current of history and swept it away.

To sum up: General Lee did not realize that the period of slavery that lasted thousands of years has ended, and General Salan did not notice that the period of enslavement of peoples that lasted for the last 4 centuries has ended ... and the English adventurer did not notice that the colonies declare their independence from the motherland is a scenario that is no longer achievable ... A resident of the presidential palace in Pretoria, he did not pay attention to the end of racial regimes, and that whoever will reside in the palace in his place and be revered by the whole world, is a man who transcends all racist thinking named Mandla.

And now we can return to the Arab Quartet, which I called the axis of evil.

None of them is aware that the despotic regime has died in minds and hearts, that the wave of democracy that swept the entire world has also flooded the Arab world and will continue, and that it is futile to confront a wave the size of a tsunami.

No one is aware that we have entered the final stage of dismantling every system based on the domination of the beloved leader, the sharing of wealth, power and prestige within the family, tribal and sectarian sphere, and the rule of a people of subjects through foolish media, terrifying intelligence, poor performance and false promises.

 Human history can be read as a story of 3 chapters that narrates the evolution of the struggle to liquidate slavery, colonialism and tyranny, until the relationship that (due to oppressive socio-economic and technological conditions) ends human ...

Because the same mistakes receive the same punishment, the future of the axis of evil - especially the greatest impediments - is settled for a long time or short, as was the fate of the Western Quartet, as no one has the ability to stop the course of the history of its drive as millions have grown awareness of their dignity and their growing ability to defend their legitimate interests. .

Someone might say, look at what Sisi did and how he disrupted this path that you are talking about, and he even succeeded in turning the clock back 50 years.

Yes, even Napoleon turned against the revolution and restored slavery in 1804;

But he bit the dirt after 10 years in Waterloo, and slaves were freed everywhere and a republic was proclaimed, albeit in 1870, while the man died in exile in a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic in 1821.

Very briefly: Human history can be read as a story of 3 chapters that narrates the evolution of the struggle to liquidate slavery, colonialism and tyranny, until the relationship that (due to oppressive socio-economic and technological conditions) ends the human being ... the most valuable hunting of man.

The liquidation of slavery took thousands of years, while decolonization only cost 4 centuries.

As for the liquidation of tyranny, it is calculated by decades, not centuries ... which indicates the escalation of the speed and strength of the process of adjusting historical grievances, wrong choices and fragile balances, which launched the saga of humanity.

The first lesson:

History - like a river - has one direction, and woe to those who swim against its current.

Listen to his whisper, be part of his momentum, engage in his path, or else you will be swept away like a strong current sweeps away a straw.

2- Examine the situation of Europe and the world between 1900 and 1945;

What will you see?

World War I (1914-1918), the Spanish influenza pandemic (1918-1919), the great economic crisis of 1929, and then World War II (1939-1945).

Imagine the extent of the devastation in Europe and the massive unemployment, stagnation, poverty and immigration it suffered, the disease and death of tens of millions, and the cities destroyed at all, not to mention the thunderous moral fall, and civilized Europe discovers in the Nazi camps what it is capable of of atrocities that went beyond what it reached in practicing slavery and colonialism.

Now look beyond the curtain of flames and imagine what was silently happening behind the sound of bombs and the collapse of states, cities and values.

In that dark period, a handful of young men called Paul Dirac, Albert Einstein, Nils Bohr, Edwin Hobel, Alan Turing, Robert Goddard, Werner von Baron were moving out of the lights. They were all preparing for the largest scientific breakthrough in human history, which paved the way for a new vision of the world and the revolution. The technology that gave us the atom, spaceflight, the computer, and most of the features of the civilization that we live in today.

Add to this the work of "nuggets" whose names are Robert Schuman, Jean Mooney, Konrad Adenauer, and they were dreaming of a European Union that would one day become the reality of 500 million Europeans.

Meanwhile, there were others - no one heard of them - plotting today's world, their names are Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jamal Abdul Nasser, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandla, Ahmed bin Bella, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong.

When the tragedies of history reach their climax, and what appears to be the final failure of his mighty liberation project, do not be fooled by the magnitude of destruction and devastation and the accession of the Angel of Death.

Behind all this pain are mighty forces preparing to build - on the rubble of ruins - what is more beautiful, finer and longer lasting. These forces will not wait for you if you keep crying over the ruins;

But it will be stronger by your presence among its soldiers.

Now go back to the aggravating devastation in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Lebanon, and for all that we are suffering in the entire Arab world.

Do not stop - despite the harshness and bitterness of the scenes - at the flame of fires, the screaming of barrel victims, the wailing of the bereaved, and the rattle of hungry children.

You don't see the forces of creation and recovery operating in silence, as was the case in Europe during the first half of the century.

Remember that when you see blood flowing from an injured person and hear his screaming, you do not see the accelerated chemical reactions that the body recruits to stop the flow of blood, just as you do not hear the recruitment of immune cells that trap a virus that makes your ears coughing.

This means that behind the current devastation - necessary to end systems, states, ideologies and people who are no longer valid except for warehouses - alternatives are brewing in minds and hearts.

To make dreams a reality, and the future is an open space for all hopes and actions.

The second lesson:

When the tragedies of history reach their climax, and what appears to be the final failure of his mighty liberation project, do not be fooled by the scale of destruction and devastation and the accession of the Angel of Death.

Behind all this pain are mighty forces preparing to build - on the rubble of ruins - what is more beautiful, finer and longer lasting. These forces will not wait for you if you keep crying over the ruins;

But it will be stronger by your presence among its soldiers.

3- Our concept of the crisis is defective.

It is an essential part of our suffering from it.

In this "crisis" understanding, there is a negative state that must be hastened to get rid of it by all means, including denying its existence.

It is also a disturbing but transient stage that comes and goes like an earthquake, returning the earth to its long, familiar rest.

Every politician tries not to end one crisis except to enter another, and so on without stopping, so that he ends up - long or short - to accept that the crisis is a continental state, not a passing one.

Why?

Because it is the state in which the forces of destruction collide with the forces of creation, because it is the means by which history enables history to continue destroying what has been proven corrupt and giving birth to what has come at the time of its birth.

This means that the number and strength of crises in any society reflects the vitality of history and its insistence on overcoming all obstacles and opening a new path before it.

Lesson three: The

crisis is the tool of history, with it destroying the old and building the new.

Accept it then, bless it and do not curse it, engage with it and do not run away from it, consider it - whatever its cost - an opportunity not a misfortune.

In reality, humanity is an endless experiment.

Experiences on humanity itself and its surroundings.

And history - as content - is the collection of all these experiences, and as a movement is all that we know and what we do not know of the past, present and future attempts to achieve projects and dreams, which do not stop within the minds and hearts of successive generations.

4- History is not a calm and solemn river that flows slowly from its source to its mouth according to a drawn line forever;

Rather, it is a ferocious flow of water that is constantly and stubbornly searching for the shortest path to the sea, forcing here to dig its way into the hardest rock, and there to change its destination temporarily according to the requirements of geography and the necessities of the climate.

In the same way you see history as a ceaseless search for the shortest path to achieving its goals;

So you see him trying this or that technology, this or that religion, this ideology or its opposite, this political system or completely opposite.

In reality, humanity is an endless experiment.

Experiences on humanity itself and its surroundings.

History - as content - is the collection of all these experiences, and as a movement is all that we know and do not know of past, present and future attempts to achieve projects and dreams, which do not stop within the minds and hearts of successive generations.

The fourth lesson:

History is an examination - which has no beginning or end - of humanity's spiritual, economic, social and political problems.

Be part of the researchers and leave the magic solutions and "final" recipes to those who dread the length and difficulty of the road.

On the facade of the Academy, the philosophical school founded by Plato in 387 BC, a warning is written: "No one will enter this place if he is unfamiliar with mathematics."

We must put on the front of the presidential and royal palaces and parliaments, and all places in which any authority is exercised, this warning "No one enters this place if he is not aware of the history."

So we have set the major rules that will guarantee us - at least - the dimension and clarity of vision, as well as some immunity against impatience, rapid frustration and prolonged periods of despair, we can now review the six issues that decision-makers must work on, continuing history's pursuit of what is finer, more beautiful and more humane than the situation Which collective experience has reached so far.

These issues are: the intellectual issue (in light of the decline of all ideologies), the ethical issue (in light of the failure of the "But the Ethical Nations" project), the political issue (in light of the continuous swing between corrupt tyranny and corrupt democracy), the environmental issue (in light of the frightening price Our region will push it for climate change), the economic issue (with the illusion of endless growth ending), the technological issue (with the emergence of artificial intelligence and 4 private companies owning all the ingredients of actual power and the coming tyranny).

And to talk the rest.