The events in Tunisia and Egypt erupted like a "pressure cooker," according to a recent panel of guest speakers at Plattsburgh State.
The Muslim Student Association and the Model United Nations hosted a discussion to generate awareness about the regime changes in those countries.
The three student panelists, who are from Tunisia and Egypt, were elated about the recent shifts in power, but the four professors on the panel warned that people should temper their optimism.
Dr. Taher Zandi, a psychology professor at Plattsburgh State from Iran, said the situation in each of the countries is like a steamer.
"When the steam comes out, lots of things come out with it."
proud of tunisia
Khalil Laouani, a Plattsburgh State student from Tunisia, was in the country when the violence broke out.
People couldn't leave their houses, businesses closed early, and people lost money because they had to leave work early to make the government-imposed curfew, he said.
He almost wasn't able to return to Plattsburgh for his classes because the airports shut down.
And the whole time, the only news of the chaos came from Facebook, Laouani said. Tunisian television showed only cartoons and other regular programing.
When he did return to Plattsburgh, Laouani said he was proud of what had happened.
"My body might be here, but my soul is back in Tunisia."
optimistic about egypt
Nadim Youssef, a Plattsburgh State student from Egypt, felt the same way.
He said he is both proud and optimistic about the future and wishes he could be home.
He described what's happening in Egypt as a pro-democracy movement, not a anti-government one.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when (former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak) stepped down," said Daniel Asaad, another Egyptian student who spoke on the panel.
Nonetheless, Dr. James Armstrong, professor and chair of the college's Anthropology Department, said things are far from over.
He's worried about the military regime that is now running Egypt.
For one thing, it has close ties to Mubarak, he said. For another, the regime is not an elected leader, and there's no guarantee that it will seed its power back to the people, he added.
results unknown
He also reminded the audience that the United States might not like the results of the democratic election if and when it should take place.
He compared it to the elections held in Palestine back in 2006 when Hamas was elected to power.
The United States was unhappy about that election and undermined Hamas's power as a result.
"It stood for things that the people believed in; they could trust it."
Although Hamas was chosen because it did good deeds for the people, America viewed the organization as radical, Armstrong said.
The Muslim Brotherhood is viewed the same way by the United States, and there's a chance that organization could come to power, he added.
support democracy
Dr. Lynda Ames, a sociology professor at the college, said the American people should demand that its leaders support democracy in the Middle East.
"If we say we are pro democracy, let's be pro democracy," she said.
But a democracy might not solve all the problems those countries will face anyway, said Dr. Martin Lubin, a political-science professor at the college.
The word democracy is magic, he said, but it means different things to different people.
"You can see it on the lips of the people, but caution is in order," he said. "It means a lot to be free from brutality, but liberal democracies cannot produce results sometimes."
Regardless, future leaders will look at what happened and think twice, Asaad said of Egypt.
Democracy has been made possible, and "it won't be put back in a bottle," he added. The country might never be perfect, he said, but "it will never be that bad again."