Thursday 4 July 2013

Independence



 1776


Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration

                                              When in the Course of human events, 
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, 
and to assume among the powers of the earth, 
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires 
that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 
 --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, 
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, 
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, 
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established 
should not be changed for light and transient causes; 
and accordingly all experience hath shewn, 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, 
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 
pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design 
to reduce them under absolute Despotism, 
 it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, 
and to provide new Guards for their future security

***

The Egyptians are striving for life, liberty, 

and the pursuit of happiness just like America did in 1776

2013   -  July 3/4

In Cairo - Egypt
 Fireworks light up the sky as opponents of Mohammed Morsi celebrate in Tahrir Square



What the masses in Tahrir Square want their rulers to understand, precisely, 

is that 


“all men are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain unalienable rights, 
that among these are 

 life, 

liberty, 



and the pursuit of happiness.”


 

  And as the American Declaration of Independence proclaimed without equivocation, 

governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”



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picture source:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
 guardian.co.uk  (Series: Eyewitness)
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus


4 comments:

  1. Oui, mais.....hélas....aucun régime militaire n'a garantit ces droits inaliénables....Quelle sera la suite pour les Egyptiens?
    M.Claude

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  2. Embraces to your sympathies, which I encourage you to sustain through all the "wise" criticisms of their simplicity. The American movement toward human liberty for all continuously takes place in a highly ambiguous, divided, and internally conflicted ideological context, and is only partially clarified after more than 200 years. Now from our scribes come nostrums of condescension, with all consciousness of American paradoxes trampled beneath their more obvious portrayal in Egypt. Your sympathies are not merely attractive, therefore; they are unanswerably wise. A beautiful posting.

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  3. Dear Karin, Your choice of photographs tell, as always, the true spirit of the day.
    Wish we could spend a few hours together. Just one more time in my life I want to sit in your beautiful kitchen and share that fabulous duck confit with you and Mr. R.
    ox, Gina

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  4. Its the details of our lives I think that in some respects make the impact. Its only once in a while the big picture matters. I loves these photos of the details

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