We don't aim to just stand by and see a fellow fighting man go down.

But most of all, for the first time in decades, they expect to be active participants, not spectators, in the affairs of their country.

According to the report, however, Mubarak his wife, Susan and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, are far from being mere bystanders.

First, the political backlash was not from backbenchers or uninformed spectators on the margins of the mainstream.

In this day and age we can no longer afford to stand back if a country fails to protect its citizens against grave human rights abuses.

We cannot stand by idly and let time pass given the changing security conditions, the increasing problems and the continued scourge of the arms race.

If the quality of education in our countries is not improved and the digital divide not bridged, youth in the developing countries will continue to be spectators and will remain excluded from the economy.

Where are the Arabs? Is this a war against Hamas or the extermination of the people of Gaza? Where is the Arab dignity and why are we standing on the sideline watching like the futile Arab regimes which are only ready to condemn.

The market was just opened when the fire broke out at 8 00 AM and blamed for wire shocks and fire fighters were afraid to go inside due to smokes and watch from outside.

For 20 months we have been spectators helpless spectators of aggression, territorial conquest, quot ethnic cleansing quot , intolerance of every kind, and continuing massive, flagrant, systematic violations of human rights.

My own inquiry, in which I contacted Timorese who were either directly involved as demonstrators or bystanders who witnessed the incident, also confirmed that the demonstration was wild, unruly and provocative.

We must not remain passive observers of genocide, crimes against humanity or gross and flagrant violations of human rights, as happened in 1932 1933 when Ukrainians experienced the great famine with devastating effects.

Important as they are, these changes on their own do not resolve the wider question, that is, whether the rest of the United Nations membership should remain a passive, however well informed, bystander at the Council apos s deliberations.