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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Millennium Features Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Space and beyond
Until the 20th century, human beings regarded outer space as fish do dry land: as the great beyond, the boundary beyond which life was impossible. Perhaps the conquest of space, then, is the true turning point in human history, the point at which it became possible to contemplate extending our natural habitat beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Satellites now revolve quite quietly in space; human beings can travel beyond limits that were virtually unimaginable before 1900. This conquest is as yet incomplete, of course; what we are experiencing now is only the beginning, and I believe that, in this new century, the other planets of our galaxy will become so many new worlds for humanity to explore.
In politics, last century's greatest human achievement was the liberation of the peoples of the Third World from imperialism, which in some areas was several centuries old. The uprisings that shook the world, especially at mid-century, were unprecedented; they redrew the old maps, creating new countries and dividing or erasing old ones; most importantly, these great liberation movements also redressed the political balance of power, by giving voice to millions who had been silenced throughout history. At the end of the 20th century, these aspirations were transmitted from Asia, Africa and Latin America to eastern Europe, to Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and the GDR. They transported us forward into a new era, one of radically different political realities.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
