If you have ever met me in person you probably have seen the flame in my eyes. This flame is the driving force that pushes me to wake every morning and try to change the world I live in. I am living my own personal revolution and in my travels I try to build momentum behind me by finding other revolutionaries and blending our causes. Through unity I believe we can change the world. Alone we can make a ripple in the ocean of the world but together we can create the tidal wave needed to crush the beast called oppression.
This post is not really about me and my flame its more about a childhood friend who helped spark this flame at a time when the wind and rain of life threatened to out it. Life has thrown many things my way which have tried to beat my rebellion into submission. In the cage this world created for me I thought I was alone but one day I discovered another soul sharing the space with me. His name Pablo Saba and the flame in my eyes matches the one in his. I have been friends with this man for over a decade and honestly its been pretty smooth sailing. He may not know it but a lot of my inspiration comes from him because of that thing we call friendly competition. This story of friendship can go on and on but more importantly I want you to understand the level the people I surround myself with are on. I use them to raise my own bar above the norm. This man's writing makes you want to get up get out and do something so here is one of his recent articles and I suggest you get on it or just go back to your sorry excuse for a life.
Here is the article to top all articles:
Tweeting Towards #Freedom
By: Pablo Saba
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: the three unalienable rights that all men, evidently created equal, are endowed with by their Creator…
For those who have ever sat in an American History class at any point in their life, this grouping of words might seem a little familiar. They are the framework of the American mindset and set the stage for the birth of this free nation more than two centuries ago.
But if those truths are in fact really self-evident and those rights truly unalienable, why is it that all across this little blue planet of ours there are scores of people who have yet to enjoy them?
You would think that a world power-equipped with seemingly infinite geopolitical influence, might step in if ever such rights were denied or impeded upon. This is in fact true… in some cases.
Over the past week, the global political climate has seen several instances in which the power of the people has finally been fully realized in nations where basic freedoms such as that of expression, press, and speech have been stifled. Such lack of freedoms, coupled with rampant poverty, and a lack of opportunity have fueled thousands upon thousands of people to finally mobilize into action.
But why all of the sudden? What was the straw that broke the camel’s back?
His name is Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 year old Tunisian college graduate turned street vendor who had no choice but to turn to selling vegetables out of a cart due to the crippling economic situation in his country. A female police officer destroyed his vegetable cart and, in effect, succeeded in humiliating him. She also destroyed the source of his family’s income.
After being denied an audience with government officials to complain about the incident, Bouazizi proceeded to burn himself alive. This event served as the catalyst in what is being referred to as the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia.
Shortly after Bouazizi’s self-immolation, protesters hit the streets all over Tunisia. They were fed up with the overwhelming social injustice that comes along with the 23-year regime of then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. As a result, the Tunisian populous led a protest which eventually culminated in Ben Ali fleeing the country for France. There he was denied refuge. He later received a helping hand from the Saudi Arabian government, who is no stranger to offering safe haven to ejected political leaders.
What makes this story amazing is not just the simple fact that a whole population of unsatisfied citizens succeeded in taking back their government from the cold grips of a dictator, but the conditions and manner in which they managed to pry themselves out of this restraint.
The Tunisian government, for years, has kept its citizens under the dark and heavy blanket of censorship, employing the use of rigorous monitoring of its people’s Internet usage, among other things. The Ben Ali Regime was extremely skilled at quickly and efficiently blocking and deleting any criticisms that might have risen in any manner and on any platform. This included wiping blogs off the face of the World Wide Web, to phishing for Facebook and Gmail login information to delete unwanted statuses, profiles, and correspondence.
The Tunisian government effectively set the standard for keeping the appearance a stable state under an elaborate illusion made possible by their efficient and oppressive censorship. For years, news channels, periodicals, websites, and just about any other manifestation of a media outlet has been subject to being tweaked and tailored to the regime’s liking.
It was at the point to which any dissenting columnist, reporter, blogger, or web surfer could be swiftly thrown in jail for any expression of apathy toward their manner of governance.
Yet, amidst this heavy Orwellian presence and regulation on the behalf of Ben Ali’s Regime, this Jasmine Revolution was facilitated and propagated by the single media outlet that was able to bypass the government firewalls, evade phishing attempts, and cut the middleman out of the equations… or should I say tweet the middle man out of the equation.
Enter Twitter. Yes you read correctly, Twitter.
This social networking website, which many people in our day and age, including politicians, recording artists, TV shows, and even
President Obama use to appeal to the younger generation, had become the platform through which the people of Tunisia communicated, organized, and reported updates on the political ousting of their autocratic government. In essence the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia had tweeted its way to success.
This was made possible by the fact that most Twitter users access the site through smart-phone clients such as
TweetDeck and
ÜberTwitter. This allowed Tunisians to bypass logging in through the website itself.
Using
hashtags such as
#bouazizi,
#sidibouzid, and
#tunisia, the Jasmine Revolution was pushed forth and succeeded in toppling the government that oppressed them for more than two decades.
The result: A monumental display of the power and potential of the Internet and its social networks as political and, evidently, revolutionary forces.
As is the case with most political movements for major change in recent history, the front-runners of this major political upheaval happened to be the country’s youth. That is to say, it was the college-aged, 18-26 year olds who have a high stake in what is to become, not just the future of their country, but the future of their livelihoods, their families, and their children. Using the resources available to them, they managed to use their ingenuity to find a way around such oppressive conditions in a way that only one who grew up amidst the current age of information could.
Naturally, such an act of nationalism and aspirations for freedom would, and rightly should, garner support from the one country that perfected democracy; President Obama applauded the “courage and dignity of the Tunisian people” and urged for the new government to hold “free and fair elections” that would “reflect the free will and true aspirations of the Tunisian people”.
Such a shining example of triumph on the behalf of the common Arab man, shown in a David-vs-Goliath fashion, is not something that tends to go unnoticed; particularly if you too are an Arab population, facing similar social conditions, a similar autocratic dictator, and the similar national pride and dignity that all Arabs share. When such a feat not only succeeds, but is also applauded by the most powerful nation in the world, you will naturally become inspired to change your own situation.
Shortly after the world witnessed the success of the Jasmine Revolution, the working class of their fellow Mediterranean Arab state of Egypt followed suit in demanding that the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak end immediately. In the Gulf Arab State of Yemen, people are demonstrating against the ineffectiveness of President Ali Abdullah Saleh 33-years in office. In Jordan, citizens are protesting for the dismissal their Prime Minister Samir Rifai – blaming him for the current economic state.
If you have tuned into your preferred 24-hour news channel within the past week, you may have noticed that the only topic of discussion among any of these is that of Egypt. That regime is run by Mubarak, is one of the closest allies to the US, and is recipient of the most US aid, second only to the state of Israel. For these same reasons, President Obama, and just about every other politician, has not been as vocal and forthright with their support for these people’s plight for freedom as they were in the case of Tunisia, uttering nothing more than a strong “urge for both sides to show restraint”.
Since the beginning of protests in Egypt, the Egyptian government quickly adapted to the strategies used in Tunisia and responded by cutting off all mobile phone lines and disconnecting the entire country from the Internet. In addition, they have forcibly removed the news agency Al Jazeera, barring them from broadcasting images of the protests, closing their offices in Cairo, and arresting a number of their reporters and correspondents.
The power of 21st century has once again prevailed against the tyranny of oppression in this case. In response to these actions of the Egyptian government cutting its entire country off from the rest of the world, Google has developed a
voice-to-twitter system that has enabled Egyptian protesters to keep the world informed with their plight.
One can’t help but to compare this situation to the Haitian Revolution during the end of the 18th Century which led to the ousting of the French government, the end of slavery in the colony of Saint Domingue, and the establishment of the first republic in the New World to be ruled by people of African ancestry. In this instance, news of the Haitian victory over the French powers led a number of slave revolts throughout the Caribbean and Latin America; a number of which failed due to the fact that the European slave owners anticipated such a reaction. However, it kept the light of hope shining upon the oppressed, letting them know that freedom was indeed extremely possible.
These recent occurrences are no different than that which happened as a result of the Haitian revolution in that a denial of these peoples’ freedoms is quite possible if we, as a part of the global community, allow it to happen. There is no single person in existence who should be exempt from the rights we take for granted on an hourly basis.
As you read this, there are people who are fighting and dying for those same rights you had before you were born, have had your whole life, and will have after you die. The only proper thing to do in this situation is stand along side these people and speak out for their freedom just as loud, if not, louder then they already have been because you are the one with the loudest voice.
Inform yourself. Don’t let you’re your opinions be based off only what you hear in the news or read from this article. Once you have done so, inform everyone else.
Tweet about it! Who knows, you might just incite another #revolution.
Thank you Pablo for the knowledge and keep it going LYMLIFE is behind you all the way.
