Link to Mr Sutherland's original post
"My question is, when are American students going to get pissed off enough to fight back? Ever? (Never?)"
This quote taken from Mr Sutherland's post about what is going on in Chilè with the school system and the students fighting back for rights etc. really got me to remember and realize what is going on in other parts of the world and here in the United States. It made me think about what the Middle East is going through at the moment with this new regime and trend of revolution against their government through protests and marches to stop what has been going on in their countries for centuries. It is an inspiring new phenomenon that is spreading into countries like Libya and influencing many others to do the same and create that change.
In relation to myself and why i was so interested is because what has been going on for the past 4 or 5 years in Iran with the while revolution and want of change from an Islamic Republic to modern day western "democracy" or more republic with free will sort of thing, that Iran is trying to do. I am Iranian and have been there twice as a child. The people there are great and the culture is great, but like many countries in the Middle East its not the people living in the country that are the issue. The issue is the government, or the leaders of the government that need to give these good people, or their own people for that matter the right to change.
The reason why they have this right is because: 90 % of the population is under the age of 35 and because they have had the same laws for hundreds of years and its about time they got with modern day society and changed.
So basically what i am concluding with all of this is that us Americans should value what we have but also at the same time do what we can to ensure that we never have to go through a crisis with education or as a nation. We should still rise and overcome our school system like these people are overcoming their entire countries system. It just takes every person one at a time, and no one can tell you that but yourself. Ponder on that.
Thanks for coming back at me with another thread to tie in; you are right, the heat in Iran is certainly getting turned up these days just like in Chile, protest-wise. (And naturally you are also correct that the political deadlock is not because of Iranians themselves, but because of their "leaders.") But it seems hard to tell what's going on there now; a couple of years back the "Green Revolution" seemed to be gaining lots of traction, and then again more recently some anti-government protests kicked back up again...but I am not aware of a massive and sustained Egypt-style non-stop overthrow happening there now.
ReplyDelete--Not that Iran should behave like Egypt, of course. It's a different place. I guess I'm just saying that I feel pretty ignorant about the state of the resistance there these days, and I think probably lots of people do.
Now as far as pondering...well, it's a good start. A true protest against ANY injustice should hopefully start with an intelligently-prepared and well-informed body of demonstrators. So yes, ponder first. But...then what? Pondering alone doesn't stop us from getting screwed by the powers that be.
Yeah i agree that pondering is a good idea and really can't do that much, but i do think that you can understand more about the world and see if you are willing or not. To do something, about problems like these around the world, pr problems like these in your world. The point is it may or may not effect you enough to make you do anything about them, that is for you as an individual to decipher and grasp upon.
ReplyDeleteIn correlation to me pondering on that, i have for a long time thought of what to do for Iran for example. But for 1)If i went there as of now i would have to be a soldier 2) All the political things i would like to help protest my parents will not allow me to do. 3) I am thinking whether or not I will take action as an adult before something even more crazy happens.
I want to be involved because I know that they are good people in Iran and they don't deserve the lives that they face. So if that can be understood I am reaching out to other people and myself in that i want to expand peoples views and get their minds going in some way.
Name-checked you in this post I wrote, as I mentioned to you today:
ReplyDeletehttp://j1t.blogspot.com/2011/09/skillful-protest-vs-voice-of-despair.html
That post tries to get more specific about how to "ponder more strategically." Hope it makes sense.
What remains to be said, though, is that your situation of wanting to protest "from afar" must be difficult. I would imagine these feelings of separation from your home culture must cause some frustration, no?