Tag: protest

Opinions, likes, and school walkouts

faithfulomnivore1 Comment

To begin,
For all of my peers who participated in the national school walkout today, I want to thank you for standing up for what you believe in and being catalysts for the change that our country so desperately needs. We know what kind of world we deserve to live in, and we are making it a reality.

Credit: TruthRevolt.org

Growing up in an age of technology, social media and internet access can be a double-edged sword of sorts. We can use our technology as a platform for positive things, like spreading awareness and voicing our opinions on all sorts of matters. But, that can also result in a nearly obsessive need to receive validation for our experiences. This validation comes from documenting and posting about almost anything that occurs and is worthy of being noticed.

This dichotomy poses a question: If you don’t post about it does it even really matter?

I’m not trying to be cynical, I’m just genuinely curious if that is a justifiable way of life. I’m not saying I am immune to it, but I would also like to think that I’m not dependent on my social media, nor do I find validation solely through it.

Something I noticed throughout the protesting that took place today is a lot of people seemed to have no idea why they were a part of it. Sure, they knew that it was in honor of the seventeen victims of the Parkland shooting, but they were mostly participating just to follow along with everyone else.

Credit: Polkscan.com

I received several messages, posts, etc. talking about the protests and ways to be involved, which I appreciate, but in lots of ways they all seemed so disingenuous. I am fully supportive of young people’s activism. But when you send me snapchats of yourself wearing an orange t-shirt to “show ur support!” I can’t help but think that you really have no idea what you care about, you just want me to know that you “protested.”

When asked what you believe, you can give a coherent reply. But when asked why you believe it, you have no idea.

It’s almost as if you don’t even care about the victims of all of the past shootings, you don’t even know why people are fighting for stricter gun control/laws. You only care about how many likes you got or how many people viewed your story.

Being a part of a protest itself (actually being an active activist) should be validation enough, it shouldn’t need to be found on instagram. But maybe that’s just the way I look at it.

So, yes, I understand and agree with the fact that social media can be used to spread awareness and to generate change. I also realize that these walkouts were fueled by social media, and that without it we wouldn’t have accomplished such a large-scale and widespread protest. But when half of the people I see posting have no idea what the significance of it is, it just makes them seem ignorant and it takes away from the importance of today’s events.

It is inspiring to see so many young people who already have such strong opinions. But if you have no idea why you have certain beliefs, if your beliefs don’t have a purpose or a foundation, then you might as well not believe in anything.

In order to be effective you must first be informed.

 

 

Let Them In

mariethearistocatLeave a comment

This is an apology for all…

The funny whose jokes are overshadowed by sadness.

The family-oriented who can’t see their nephew graduate.

The misunderstood who can’t show their legitimate beliefs.

The innocent who are painted as violent, unjust, or villainous.

The dedicated whose crafts will be destroyed before their finish.

The capable who are given more restrictions that weigh them down.

The creative who will never pick up another paintbrush, pen, or camera.

The trapped who have had their ticket to freedom ripped out of their fingers.

The loving who will be across the world from their sister while she is getting married.

The kind who are readily met with guns pointed in-between their eyebrows.

The faithful who can no longer see the light at the end of the ominous tunnel.

Photo Credit: http://www.motherjones.com

The charming who get turned away before they can flash their brilliant smiles. The forgiving who are given nothing but punishments for the actions of others.

The aspiring doctors, teachers, or parents whose lives were cut off or thrown off course.

The eloquent whose thoughts will have to be shared in diaries instead of at universities. The confident who get put down until they would rather stare at the ground than at a mirror.

The brave – the ones who perilously fought for their country, who can’t receive their medals or see their families after a long, hard battle.

The humans who are treated like less than they are, and much less than they deserve.

This is for all those in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya who have faced injustice, not just from every-day Islamophobia, but blatant xenophobia from the leaders of a so-called “great” nation.

No Putin

frog3Leave a comment

In the wake of the protests and rebellions that have swept the world comes a new series of protest. It is a protest of freedom occurring in Moscow, Russia. Thousands of Russians have been standing outside in Russia bitter cold to protest the elections or lack of ones.

Protesters brave frigid weather in Moscow to participate in a mass anti-Putin demonstration.

Vladimir Putin the man we have all come to know and hate is well known for being the Russian Prime minister. In 2011 an exciting piece of news came out of Russia. Prime Minister Putin would be running in the 2012 “Democratic” Elections. A major problem with the elections is that Putin controls them, showing the rest of the world how far corruption runs in the Russian government.

Demonstrators brave bitter cold temperatures Saturday as they flood downtown Moscow during a massive protest demanding fairness for next month's presidential election.

Don’t get me wrong though Putin is not without his supporters. Amidst the cry of free elections and no Putin you also hear the very opposite. There are often clashes between the groups in the streets of Moscow. These protests often end with police breakups and arrests.

It remains to be seen whether Russia will emerge democratic or if Putin’s authoritarian government will take control.

Talk about “Peaceful” demonstrations

frog3Leave a comment
Riot police using tear gas on 21 April 2001 ag...
Image via Wikipedia

OWS is suppose to be a nonviolent protest against corporate greed. The protestors should be protected by the constitution yet the violence still persist. Police around the country have been brutally beating protestors and tear-gasing them in an effort to disperse crowds.

An incident occurred last week, in Burlington, Vermont, when a 35-year-old veteran committed suicide do to a lack of a job and job security. Another incident occurred when police with tear gas severely injured a marine veteran

The government however turns a blind eye to such treatment, allowing thousands of citizens a day to be arrested and beat for protests. Although politicians may be distracted by the upcoming elections; does that give them an excuse to ignore the people’s rights?(the correct answer is no)

I believe that it is ok for police forces to break up protestors in public areas, what is not okay is to beat and tear gas them, using violent measures against nonviolent protestors.

If the government wants to retain the respect of the people it must allow people to voice their grievances without interference from law enforcement.

Occupy Wall Street 2.0

therightliberal1 Comment

I last wrote about the subject of Occupy Wall Street when  it was a relatively small protest in New York.

And then bang!

The protests started spreading throughout the country, with people even protesting overseas. It has turned in to quite the movement, with the media giving the protests quite the coverage (despite my complaints about their reasons).

But I still have some concerns. I agree that the top 1% needs to stop hiding and start being more responsible. That small population controls such a large percentage of the money in the country that they can control most of the goings on. And with things going so poorly with the economy, they need to stand up and explain why and give some solutions.

But the protesters have not been clear on what they are looking for. The go around marching with 1% signs but they have no specific demands.

There may be a good reason for this: they don’t (and most Americans don’t) know what the answers are, only that we are in trouble.

It is quite obvious that the general public is upset at the state of our economy. We need change. But what change do we need?

Here is what the protesters should be demanding:

Higher taxes on the wealthy. They are wealthy which means they have excess money. Why not tax them and help the country? Obviously giving the rich tax breaks have not worked because look where we are now.

Education. Our education system is quickly system towards the middle of the pack, and that’s a big problem. If we want to have a wealthy country that leads the world in most areas, we need to have the most and best educated young people. Let’s cut spending from other programs if we need to (defense spending) and use it wisely; on education.

Inaction. What has been done by the wealthy to help? To be honest I do not think it is the individual’s job to voluntarily help but the job of the government to enforce their help. Politicians in Washington have been so busy bickering over every small issue that they have forgotten that we need progress now.

I support Occupy Wall Street and I think that the people out there are doing a good job of showing the people’s frustration with the government.

That being said, I highly suggest they focus their protests and start suggesting solutions. By doing that, they could really make a huge step and make some large changes in our country.

One Man v. A Row of Tanks

yrreskrapLeave a comment

As I was working on my second Decades Paper for my history class, the dusty shelves in the memory department of my brain were revisited. My eyes fell upon a small paragraph, containing information that I would have probably just skimmed over had it not sparked something in the murky abyss of my memories. Two words reminded me of the struggles of countless students and even more so of one brave civilian who decided he had enough.

Tiananmen Square, 1989.

Students, mothers, fathers. Civilians alike banded together in the name of political reform. They had just lost a leader and strong liberalization advocate, Hu Yaobang, and felt it was in their hands to fight for the changes they wanted to see. And fight they did.

Through mainly non-violent protests, more and more people joined the cause for a more liberal government. However, the communist government fought back, mercilessly.

Buildings were on fire. Rubble and debris littered the floor. Many civilian lives were lost. However, throughout this fear for the government and citizen lives, one man refused to back down. One ordinary man who did an extraordinary act.

This is a video of the man who courageously stopped a row of tanks.

It’s quite breathtaking. To have the strength to go alone in front of tanks that can crush the human body in a matter of seconds.

Silently, I scolded myself for having let the dust collect over such a power event in those shelves of mine. So I decided to blog about this single event. This event happened 21 years ago, way before I was even born. I had almost forgotten this important moment as I am sure many other who will read this blog have as well. I am writing this blog to remind people that such bravery exists in today’s society and to inspire those who have never heard of this man-whose name I don’t even know-that stood against the row of tanks.

To learn more about this event watch the following video:

The World (as we know it) is Coming to an End [[Pt. 1]]

yrreskrapLeave a comment

It’s very hard not to get sad when thinking about the world and how horrible a place it can be. It’s very hard to remember the other lives that are being abused today, when my life is so easy. It’s very hard when you know you can’t fix these problems that plague society. It makes my blood boil.

Right now, people are living in fear. In fear of their government, in fear of their people, in fear of disease, in fear of something.

Burma, Southeast Asia, 2007.

Monks are holy and sacred figures, the symbols of peace and humanity in Burma. They are religious leaders who focus on the tranquility of life and don’t involve themselves in politics, that is, until the summer of 2007.

The political standing of Burma is corrupt, savage, and inhumane to put it lightly. The government, an organization of people meant to protect the welfare of their fellow Burmese, has caged their people and censored the news. Their goal was to disband people, to prevent civilians from joining together because two people are stronger than one, and 100 people are stronger than 10. Nobody speaks in fear of being taken by undercover government officials. Their voices aren’t heard. The people are mute. The people are afraid. The people are waiting for an answer, for a solution.

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Egypt’s potential to become Islamic State

venturatrekerLeave a comment

With protests becoming more violent and the growing popularity of the Islamic brotherhood, Egypt is beginning to look a lot like 1979 Iran.

For Israel and the world as a whole this can only spell disaster.  One Islamic state is enough.  If Egypt were to become an Islamic state, Israel would be the most directly infected.

To start, Israel and Egypt have maintained a cold peace for over thirty years.  If Mubarak is overthrown, and the Islamic brotherhood takes power, not only would they not recognize Israel as a legitimate state, but also they would begin to openly fund Hamas in the Gaza strip, and at the least Israel would face a repeat in 2005 when over 10,000 Kasam rockets fell in Israeli towns and cities.

Putting Israel aside and looking at the interests of the US, pre 1979 Iran was a powerful ally ruled by the Shah who welcomed in western ideas.  Now Iran is not only one of the most oppressed and human rights void country in the world but also the most likely country the US will go to war with next.

Iran is a threat to the entire world, and Egypt is well on its way to stand beside its brother Arab country.  Yes, Mubarak is a dictator, but what Arab countries leader is not.  Is not the continued oppression of a small number of people better the rise of yet another Islamic state that threatens world peace?

Pandora Jar

vabenissimoLeave a comment

Driving through the beautiful city of Ojai, I saw four people, who appeared to be in their late 50s, standing with two colorful signs. “No More War” and “Please Come Back” were the words painted on the squared posters. The bright colors might have grabbed others’ attention. However, for me, the two fingers held up by the third man from the right captured my mind.

Peace is a distant term for the victims of war. When I tried to finish my reading about the recent American field reports of the Iraq War, I could not.

Attempting to suppress my outrage, I sought to look for a bigger picture of the unfortunate misery. Then, I became increasingly curious about the existence of peace. As I looked through newspapers and other events around the world, turmoil unfortunately appeared much more frequently than peace.

According to the Princeton Dictionary, the word peace means “the state prevailing during the absence of war,” but it also represents mental state freed from anxiety.

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