Thirty-two years which separate two revolutions

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,

Those who study numerology may attach a lot of different meanings to dates like February 11, September 11, September 17 etc. But then there is no denying the fact that on February 11, 1979 Islamic Revolution took place in Iran, 10 days after the arrival of Ayatollah Khomieni, who spent 15 years of exile in Iraq and France. Exactly on the same date––February 11, 2011 Hosni Mubarak stepped down and left Cairo.


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Though unconnected, another big development took place on this day. Nelson Mandela was released by the then White apartheid regime of South Africa on February 11, 1990 after 27 years of imprisonment. Mandela later went on to become the first Black President of the country on May 10, 1994.

Similar is the coincidence with September 11. In 2001 World Trade Centre and Pentagon were targeted killing thousands. This was literally and metaphorically speaking an earthshaking event. Many political observers believe that the United States would never be the same again after that incident. Though the United States blamed some terror groups of the Muslim world there is no dearth of people, who now suspect that the attacks were insiders’ job. Anyway the devastation was massive and led to the retaliatory attack on Afghanistan, a country which then had no air power to organize such raids on the US soil, and already war-shattered Iraq.

Exactly 28 years before that incident on September 11, 1973 the South American country of Chile witnessed a United States-backed bloody coup. This led to the assassination of President Salvador Allende. The Americans got him killed because he, according to them, was emerging as the Soviet stooge just under their nose. The truth is far from that. Allende was a bit independent Left-leaning leader, who refused to toe the US line––like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales now.

But the US establishment, then suffering from Communist phobia, got Allende overthrown and thrust the brutal dictator General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled for 17 years before democracy returned to that country. Americans support for dictators in South America, Africa and Muslim world is a known fact. On February 11, 2011 another General Pinochet type personality, that is, Hosni Mubarak, ultimately bows out after 30 years of rule.

But September 11 had another importance too. On this very day in 1906 Gandhiji launched his Satyargraha movement in South Africa. It was this date which brought this man into the limelight of the world. He ended up becoming the Father of the Nation of India, which got independence from the British rule on August 15, 1947. However, on January 30, 1948 he was assassinated by an RSS man, Nathuram Godse.

The date September 17 is no less significant. On September 17, 1978 Camp David Accords were signed between the then Egyptian President and Hosni Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat and the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. This made Sadat unpopular in Arab world and he was killed on October 6, 1981 by his own armymen.

It was on September 17, 1982 that Sabra and Shatila massacre of about 3,000 Palestinian men, women and children took place at the hands of Israeli-backed Christian militia of Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war years. Though the massacre started on September 16 and ended on 18 it was on September 17 that the toll was maximum.

On September 17, 1948 the UN mediator in Palestine Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden was assassinated by Israeli terror group. This was among the first act of terror against any envoy engaged in peacekeeping by the Zionist state of Israel soon after its creation in May 14, 1948. This was a very big incident, which the world now hardly knows about. Instead of trying those involved in the ghastly crime against the peacekeeper, a diplomat of international repute, nobody dared to speak out. Believe it or not Count’s killers later on went to become the rulers of Israel. Though he was from the West yet the whole matter was soon buried deep into the history as it was against the interest of the world powers to demand their arrest and execution.

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