“POWER OF POSITIVE IMAGINATION “

By Limalenden Longkumer |

The 2011 Egyptian Revolution and the fall of Berlin Wall were brought about by young people daring to imagine a different world and then summoning the courage to act on that imagination. The power of Imagination made the Berlin Wall come down on November 9, 1989. We are all too familiar with the recent Egyptian Revolution but for the sake of a flashback… the 2011 Egyptian Revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on January 25, 2011to overthrow of the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On February 11, following weeks of determined popular protest and pressure, Mubarak resigned from office. The Egyptian Revolution has been hailed in the media as Egypt’s “Berlin Wall moment.”

I believe it is the Imagine Mokokchung dreamers’ job to seize that power of positive Imagination that led to the fall of Berlin Wall and the success of the Egyptian Revolution and incorporate it into our own lives, to both better ourselves and our hometown.

We may see despair, hopelessness and frustration written large on almost every other Naga face. Yet, still, we must remain optimists. I am an optimist because I have a lot of friends, mostly young, and I want them, and their posterity, as much as I want for myself, to live in a hill city where everyone would be at their best, shaped by the same imaginative spirit that changed the course of history forever. We must bring the spirit of ‘Fall of Berlin Wall’ and the Egyptian Revolution alive.

When I say bring the spirit of positive Imagination to our own lives and our hometown, I mean a couple of things. First, understand that in this age of rapidity, there is no such thing as absolute security. Rational precautions should be taken, but once we’ve done that, we basically have to decide “Am I going to sit at home forever and be imprisoned and victimized by the circumstances, or am I going to get on with my life and try to pull off my own ‘Berlin Wall’ by sparking an Egyptian Revolution?” In other words, we must be smarter than those who hinder us from realizing the Mokokchung of our deams.

Mokokchung needs this generation of strategic optimists, the generation that won’t settle for pessimism, the generation that wakes up each morning and not only imagines that things can be better, but acts on that Imagination every day.

There is a prominent reason why the Egyptian revolution stands out as different from anything that has ever occurred in history: it was organized, inspired by, and executed by an Egyptian youth movement that utilized social networking sites as tools to inspire and create real, tangible political change (the demonstrations were too well organized to have been entirely spontaneous. It was a well-organized movement). The Nokinketer is on Facebook with 1625 members and counting. That’s quite a number considering Mokokchung’s demography. There is also this ‘I Love Mokokchung’ group with over 1780 members.

It is said that a 26-year-old woman worried about the state of her country wrote on Facebook: “People, I am going to Tahrir Square.” The message was soon to snowball into a movement to oust Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The Facebook appeal by Asmaa Mahfouz led to popular protests that saw tens of thousands congregating at Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand an end to Mubarak’s 30-year rule. The Facebook group “We are all Khaled Syed”, at over 8,00,000 members, played an important role in the Egyptian Revolution. It was created by a 30-year old WaelGonhim.

I think the stage is set for some drama in Mokokchung as well, and so the show must begin!