2012: The Dawning of a People’s Global Movement, March and Computerized Resistance
Dr Rachael Rudolph
Hands outstretched and faces lifted to the sky, the young look upward as the rivulets of rain pierce their flesh. A mother yells to come inside, before they catch their death. Death is not something that crosses the mind in that moment of oblivious abandonment, where the heart is filled with endless compassion for humanity and dreams full of a limitless future. As we close our eyes, each and every one of us can recall those days of the past when we experienced that moment. Maybe we shake our heads now, thinking how those were the days! They, however, need not be mere memories. The future of our children and grandchildren rest upon the rekindling of that youthful spirit and fiery drive to pursue those shared dreams. From the East to the West, from those above to the underground, and from the street to those behind their computer screens, it is time we dream together and stand in unity to prevent the reign of injustice from delivering its sentences of death.
Corruption, Criminalization and Divisions
Corrupted and/or failed systems, economies in shambles and a western elite beholden to the jingling sounds of their pockets have characterized the past and continue to define many places in the present. Elites line their pockets and fill their bank accounts, while those of the ordinary person go empty and the bellies of children remain hungry. The defining, promotion and protection of human rights and the people have become mere tools used in a political game waged by more powerful actors and states. Those same ones who attempt to muzzle the people’s mouths and implement legislation that threaten to brand them as so-called terrorists, to criminalize their right to speak out against the abuses of power, and to beat and censor them into submission.
Policies they propose and implement are designed to ensure there are continued divisions among the people. For division entails a home ruled by a master over a slave. This is because a slave is unable to develop an awareness of the system of exploitation and oppression because the logic and the multiple components thereof serve and have mechanisms in place to ensure that there many types of illusions, mirages and/or opiates for the people to consume. The promise of tomorrow and that which is given to the children and grandchildren can only come about by looking at the root cause, which is an unresponsive international system dominated by a western elite, who are unrepresentative of the people. Leaders and governments around the world are nothing without their people; and, it is the people who are and comprise the global people’s movement.
Silencing and Demonizing: Tools to Thwart a People’s Movement
The People’s Movement has been demonized by others, particularly politicians, who deem it and their voices as being irrational and emotional, and unorganized and leaderless. What they fail to see, or maybe fear, is the beauty and power of what lies underneath. It is not necessarily reflective and characteristic of the others that have come before, even if they are rooted in or built on some of the policies implemented by previous movements. Political evolution requires learning from the successes and failures of all actors because, if there is not learning, then the past will repeat itself and the policies of injustice will continue to prevail.
They refer to the global movement as hostile within a particular context or around salient issues. Some even argue that the voices who speak out do not reflect or express real discontent, as the majority are merely submissive and unconcerned. There are even those who claim the people are mere tools, which are easily manipulable, and to be used to implement the will of the elite. The power of the people is, thus, nothing more than a myth, a fiction or fantasy, the unrealistic in the world today would like to see become reality.
While they dismiss the people as irrelevant, irrational and governed by emotion, the louder the Street speaks, the faster the clicks of mouse are, and the greater the amount of global action that occurs, the more the People’s Movement becomes a reality to be reckoned with. Policies of resistance, old and new, from traditional protests to computer games, are necessary to usher in the winds of change that have been blowing for quite some time.
Politicians can no longer dictate what the people are to believe or continue defining an order governed by neoimperialist elites and policies that seek to control, dominate and subordinate others for their own self-interests. As the people’s movement has demonstrated, it will not remain idle. All that has occurred since the end of 2010 to the present are signals that the time of invasions, occupations, and policies of oppression, repression and suppression are coming to an end.
2012: A Time for Truth and Justice
As has been demonstrated by the global protests and calls for truth and justice, grievances and plights may vary but they are similar in degrees. Similarities are what provide the foundation to continue building the bonds of unity. Differences are what divide and that which those who oppose seek to exploit to weaken a movement they fear, one that is based on a coalition of actors and leaderless.
There are many shared aspirations and beliefs within the coalition that comprises the People’s Movement. Political participation of and dialogue with all, without conditions, irrespective of party or ideology, as the basis for international governance and relations. Respect for humanitarian and international laws and the prevention of their use as political tools. Equal accountability for all who fail to respect and continue to violate human rights enshrined in international and humanitarian laws. Justice for those who have been victims of crimes and persecutions against humanity waged by entities operating like Apartheid Regimes. A sustainable economic development paradigm that is not shoved down the throats of and designed to shackle the poor throughout the world and an end to economic and political inequalities that plague the streets. Finally, human behavior that is guided by compassion for humanity.
Hyper-individualism has shielded many from the realities of the world in which they are living. Abandonment, escape from and the tuning out of reality to what is happening around the globe will not make the world a better place or solve common grievances. Regardless of whether one likes it or not, the world lived in and lives of the people are interconnected and interdependent. Exceptionalism and domination will only continue to produce extreme hatred, ignorance, intolerance and violence.
As inhabitants of a global community and participants in a people’s movement, there is a collective responsibility to teach and promote belief in the betterment of humanity and to bring an end to the chaos and disorder that currently governs relations. There needs to be accountability, transparency, and respect for the human rights of all, irrespective of political, social or economic background or persuasion, so that there can be true global change and reform led by truth and justice.
It is time for the people to join hands and work together to end the self-interested and elite driven policies crafted and implemented by those not reflective of the people’s interests. There needs to be change and only the global street can bring it about to make a difference. In the absence of cooperation, the people will remain weak and their rights, dignity and freedom will continue to be eroded and trampled upon. No longer can the people’s consciousness be imprisoned, shackled or silenced by bonds of servitude. The future is to be defined by each and every individual, as change begins first and foremost from within. Individual action working in tandem, collectively, even anonymously, will end the people’s misery and permit justice to prevail. March, protest, resist and refuse to be silent; unite and do not divide the base. The people working together in whatever form and by various means will bring about truth and justice and an end to crimes against humanity that are waged by Apartheid-like entities.
Dr Rachael M. Rudolph is Head of International Relations for Facilitate Global rachael.rudolph@facilitateglobal.org