A thought for Iranian protesters

What if the millions of Iranians who voted for the opposition parties and whose votes have been ignored marched in front of prisons and demanded to be prisoned? Instead of marching on the streets, getting beaten, killed or sent to prisons selectively, millions could march to the prisons directly. Show up every day in front of the gates. That would be a very powerful message, it would make a mockery of the government's selectively arresting people and putting them to prison and be a strong show of solidarity with the people inside.

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What happened to the anti-globalization movement?

Now that globalization is hurting everyone you don't hear the movement protesting out loud and strong. Why's that? Shouldn't this be their 'see we told you' time? I find it strange that the movement is not pressing forward with its demands now that the global environment is more conducive to listening to them. Strange...

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Protest virus or tear gas addiction?

Riots in Greece are still going on and violent student protests are fast spreading to France. Why? Could it be that tear gas is addictive? Painful at the start but pleasurable in the fast run required in protests? Is it time to pause social analysis on the issue and conduct chemicals research or should we wait until we see police using tear gas without their masks on? Or are the protests a live chemicals research experiment by the government? What?? Shouldn't I say that in public? :)

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Press conferences going Japanese

Following the shoe incident with Bush in Iraq, press conference organizers are thinking of instituting new rules and manners. All participants will be asked to take their shoes off and wear paper-thin slippers. The measure is expected to improve the hygiene and ambience of the press room and make everyone relax and feel more comfortable.

Initially the idea was to ask participants to tie their shoes and hang them on power lines and phone wires outside the venue to give it western-style semantics but the fear this could be interpreted as a gangs-in-town sign or a drug dealer's marking made everyone revise and adopt symbolism-neutral Japanese manners on room hygiene.

I guess the most symbolic and heard-out-loud kind of peaceful protest to a future Bush-style US president, might be to hang shoes from power lines and telephone poles everywhere in town so that the message is visible from everywhere no matter what route the presidential motorcade will take to get in and out of town. It will be a spectacle to remember and the number of shoes hanging in protest a new Guinness world record countries will compete in!

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"ethnic unrest in china leads to mass arrests"

that's the front page title on cnn and then we read that 1,434 people were detained. that's a lot if you live in the us, but if you live in china whose population is more than 1 billion, how mass-ive is that? more impressive is the speed with which the police immediately cracked down on that "mass protest" than its actual mass. wondering what a chinese person thinks when he hears the number, does he really think it's a big protest or a small one? most probably he never hears of the protest and we will never know.

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The Door of Revolt!

The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran succeeded because it didn't respect the state. Why should the opposition in Iran now respect the state if the state didn't respect the democratic will of the people and rigged the vote? A regime who came to power in a revolution must leave in a revolution. The Ayatollahs think of democracy as a revolving-door and guard it by the revolver. It's time for people to enter or exit by using another door. The Door of Revolt!

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Monks disrupt journalists' tour of Tibet

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 27 March 2008 by member pierre

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LHASA, Tibet (AP) -- A government-managed visit by foreign reporters to Tibet's capital backfired Thursday when Buddhist monks disrupted the tour, screaming that there was no religious freedom and that the Dalai Lama was not to blame for Lhasa's recent violence.

The government had arranged the trip for the reporters to show how calm Lhasa was after the deadly riots shattered the city.

The outburst by a group of 30 monks came as the journalists were being shown around the Jokhang Temple, one of Tibet's holiest shrines.

"Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!" yelled one young Buddhist monk, who then started crying.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/26/tibet.china.ap/index.html


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Do you think it was a good idea? Yes / No?

Protest as Olympic torch is lit

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 24 March 2008 by member yikes

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"OLYMPIA, Greece (CNN) -- A lone protester managed to breach the tight security during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece Monday....""

What's your opinion on that based on what China does in Tibet?

Article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/24/torch.relay/index.html