Protests in Jordan at Al-Dakhiliyeh Roundabout

Yesterday, Jordanian protesters chose Al-Dakhiliyeh Roundabout as a place to perform their demonstrations. However, I read in the Jordanian newspapers, and declarations from Jordanian officials, those who speak against demonstrating in such places namely because it is a vital place in the city of Amman, and accusing the demonstrators of causing traffic jams and disrupting the flow of everyday life.

First of all, I commend the choice of demonstrators, because such important demonstrations need to exist in highly visible places. And the fact that traffic jams occurred because of the demonstrations is not a negative thing. Justifying violence against protesters because they disrupt the flow of everyday life is such an ignorant claim.

Of course protests will disrupt the normal flow of everyday life, as it should! I find it offensive that the authorities want people to go on with their everyday life, when the country is in crisis. When the parliament does not represent the people, when police interfere with people's legitimate activities, when the intelligence agency spies on civilians, and when corruption is prevalent. Anyone asking people to act as if everything is normal is ignorant, and obviously does not care about democracy and reform.

It is very short-sighted for a citizen in Jordan to be upset that they reached their home a bit late because a traffic jam occurred while knowing that the traffic jam was caused by protests aimed at political reform. And I don't think that Jordanian citizens are that much short-sighted to be upset by that traffic jam. This is simply an excuse for the authorities to obstruct the reform process. Excuses that shows that the people who come up with those excuses are ignorant and corrupt.

In those times, the least of our concerns is normalcy. We don't need people to go on with their everyday life. We need them to be angry, enraged, and mobilized. We need people to demand and make change. And dare I say it, we need nation-wide civil disobedience! Civil disobedience is the basis of democracy, it is the ideal that every nation that respects itself aspires to.