This is an image from the student protest (which has expanded beyond its original scope) in Quebec, Canada. What had started out as a protest on tuition increases has now become a protest for people’s right to protest. All because of a new loi spéciale, Bill 78, that was passed to stop the protests from continuing without prior police approval. It should be easy to see why this is a problem. What’s worse is that it’s happening all over the world by previously democratic governments, including the United States. We are seeing that normal just doesn’t work (in too many places from personal observation).
If you can get Canadians to protest (known for being peaceful – stereotype, I know that we’re all different), then you know that you’re going down the wrong path in legislation. And this brings me to my own dilemma. I have waited all of my life for government to improve, so that all of life improves, but it doesn’t. However, things have gone so far off the track that voting in the 2012 elections is particularly appalling. Why does it feel like we only have a choice between democrats or republicans (why capitalize what isn’t capital)? Looking at the choices on offer is really looking at the bottom of the barrel past the scrapings. I know that this is the reason why so many people do not take the time to vote. It’s not that they don’t care. It’s that they don’t care for the choices on offer.
Our newspapers are full of stories on the local and national levels that speak of untold amounts of wealth being spent on these political campaigns. Money that could be spent on making the world better. I’m not saying that the rich should spend all of their money on these types of efforts, but that they should realize that they really need other people to help build their wealth. Their factories don’t churn out products by themselves. People are involved in the process. Stock markets don’t make profits on their own. All of the sophisticated formulas in the world won’t work if people don’t spend their hard-earned money on buying the financial vehicles. Facebook didn’t become rich because of the IPO offering. It’s because people bought the shares. And it’s people who populate Facebook with all kinds of stuff.
People are not being rebels because they choose to be. They’re not marching in the streets, banging on pots and pans, holding signs and chanting because it’s their cause in life. It’s simple because they want a better life. Working hard doesn’t get you very far if you’re not connected. The majority of citizens everywhere are not connected in ways that improve their standing in life. That’s reserved for the game players of the world that got us into this mess (look around, they’re everywhere in power in government, business, and finance).
So, I have a few question:
- How do we all actually start connecting with one another around the world to do more than just protest.
- How do we join non-profit with other non-profits, and with citizens around the world who seek to build a better system?
- How do we create a true United Nations that epitomizes a connected world where we all recognize that we are guardians of the planet and to humanity?
- Why are we given such god-forsaken choices for leaders?
If democracy is ruling for the people, by the people, then we have to redefine our social institutions to better represent our true ideals. We are not humans with only base drives. We can be more, and prove it everyday in small ways that are not insignificant. Our poetry, our stories, our music, our acts of kindness, our humanity: they all point to the fact that we can strive to be better than we thought possible. We shouldn’t have to be frustrated at every election. We should be rejoicing the fact that we are voting to find representatives that will guide the build a world that we’d happily inhabit and work hard to make all aspects of it better. But our current institutions only celebrate all that is broken, so that the real good leaders refuse to step forward and be corrupted.
– thanks Boing Boing for sharing that powerful image by Philip Miresco
