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Angry In Europe
While large numbers of young Americans have gotten involved in the political process lately--both through exercise of the right to vote as well as through protests on issues such as California's recent Proposition 8 banning gay marraige--students in Europe have been busy making their own political statements in resounding fashion.
The video and pictures below are from protests in the streets of Italy (video) and Germany (photo), where students in the past weeks have taken bold action to show their anger with government proposals in each country cutting education spending and services:
It's impossible to analyze the events in Italy without reference to the flagging economic conditions affecting the entire globe. Italy is on the front-lines of the economic downturn, with the world's third largest debt (behind only the US and Japan), but only the 7th largest economy by GDP. In light of the economic situation, Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi has sought to make dramatic spending cuts--as much as $7 billion Euros, or $9 billion US--in the education system. Proposed cuts would include eliminating as many as 70,000 teaching positions in elementary schools and reducing spending in Italian high schools and universities.
In Germany, student protests are just beginning (compared to the protests in Italy, which started towards the end of October). German students are upset with overcrowded classrooms, high-pressure school exit exams, and teacher quality in general.
While estimates vary, the number of youth protestors in Italy has been widely reported as in the hundreds of thousands--anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000. Given that Italy's population is five times smaller than the United States, one has to wonder what would happen if hundreds of thousands or even millions of American youth stood united to demand improvements in our schools.
To be sure, much remains to be determined as to whether Italian student protests will lead Prime Minister Berlusconi to recant on his promises to cut education spending, or whether there will be some electoral blowback (a Reuters report showed Mr. Berlusconi's approval rating falling a significant 4% in just the past month as the protests have gotten underway). But if the experience from student social movement building in Chile is any lesson, we almost certainly have yet to see the final impact of the protests.
Philly Students Front and Center
Philadelphia student activists made the news in a terrific Philadelphia Inquirer article this week for their efforts to ensure that ongoing teacher union negotiations with the school district would focus on what matters most: student learning.
At stake in the union contract negotiations are some pretty typical issues: teacher pay, length of contract, work hours. Specifically, the city's new schools superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, wants to increase the length of the school day and raise pay for teachers in hard-to-staff subjects and schools. While both ideas are widely regarded as having positive impacts on student achievement and closing the gap between wealthy and low-income students, the unions have been reluctant on both fronts. The union is also bargaining for a long-term contract, while Superintendent Ackerman is looking for a one year deal--purportedly because she would like to become more familiar with the district before signing a longer teacher union contract.
One student commented on the ongoing negotiations and how they have tended to miss the issues that matter most for students -- such as getting high quality teachers into every Philly classroom regardless of the school's achievement levels, socioeconomics, and racial breakdown-- saying, "I've seen students cut class and come to my classroom to avoid bad teachers. The system of teacher distribution in Philadelphia is broken."
What is fascinating about this news item is that the student protestors, more than two dozen organized by the Philadelphia Student Union who gathered outside an elite magnet school in the city to deliver their message, got quick responses from the negotiating parties. The Superintendent's spokesperson issued a statement saying, "The district's top priority in negotiating the current contract is ensuring that we place teachers where children most need them." She went on to say that Superintendent Ackerman would welcome sitting down with students and parents at the negotiating table if the unions approved it.
Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union president, Jerry Jordan, did not express his support for the idea of student participation in the negotiations. However, he did point out that the union "has always taken a position of watching out for kids." One may wonder how this position of watching out for kids can possibly be consistent with refusing to let them have a voice in these issues that direly affect their education.
What might it look like if low-income and low-performing schools were staffed by caring teachers who are committed to their students? Maybe something like this (a staff video made to congratulate graduating students in a Bronx middle school):
Protecting the Youth Vote
At a time when organizations across the country are focused on increasing voter registration, the lobbying and advocacy organization Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) has worked to make sure that when those newly registered voters go to the polls, their votes will count.
On July 25, SAVE held a jam-packed forum to discuss the representation of young people in the media. The forum, called Asserting the Youth Voice, had a panel that included Thomas Friedman, author of the best selling book The World Is Flat; Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for The News Hour With Jim Lehrer; U.S. Congressman Joe Scarborough; Newsweek editor Eleanor Clift, and former white house press secretary Mike McCurry. According to a press release for the event:
Conventional wisdom states that "young people don't vote," citing both turnout percentages that are well behind older demographics and political pundits who brand us disinterested, disengaged"
But the truth is that young voters face some of the most difficult obstacles when it comes to going to the polls than many other voting blocs.
In the 2004 and 2006 elections, young people came out in record numbers.
Last year 18-29 year olds - often called the 'Millennial Generation' --made up 20% of the eligible voters in the US. The press release also mentioned:
With such a large representation in the electorate it would seem remiss for any politician not to court us and anomalous for any reporter not to mention us. And yet, studies show that less than two percent of political news coverage mentions young people, providing glaring evidence that many journalists and media outlets still assume the accepted opinion, portraying young voters as non-voters if not ignoring the youth demographic entirely."
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Calling All Young Bloggers
(Blogging from the annual Netroots Nation conference in Austin, Texas.)
Sunday was the close of the annual Netroots Nation conference, formerly known as YearlyKos. Over 3,000 bloggers, consultants, and curious politicos descended upon Austin, Texas to talk about independent, grassroots media.
At Thursday's Youth Caucus, people spoke about how much older most of the attendees were. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the mistake in her Saturday morning keynote address when she referred to the bloggers in the audience.
The truth is the average age of bloggers is more like the age of your parents, or an ex-hippie who is in retirement and getting involved again. Youth being synonymous with blogging is a misnomer.
Ian Magruder, a young blogger and filmmaker from California agrees, saying:
"Most people outside of the blogosphere have this idea that bloggers are all a bunch of angry young liberals. In actuality, you're average blogger is a well-educated, middle class baby boomer.
The entire concept of blogging or at least political blogging, is still foreign to most Millennials."
Another major component to the demographic of Netroots Nation attendees is cost and accessibility. Most young people can't afford the various levels for ticket prices which begin at $175 and cap off at $400. Add to that the cost of a hotel --anywhere from $70-200 per night -- the cost of food and the fundraisers and parties during the conference, and it's clear why gatherings like these are out of reach for most young bloggers.
Democracy for America worked to help those who couldn't afford to attend by offering 30 scholarships, many of which were to young people. Netroots Nation is going to help with this for the 2009 conference and provide student rates.
Most young people may not call themselves political bloggers, but the prevalence of personal blogs written on Facebook, Myspace and Blogger shows that young people approach blogging differently than their older counterparts. For instance, Kevin Bondelli, a new media consultant and youth politics expert, believes there's a generational cultural preference:
"Blogging is not as exciting a tool for Millennials as it is for older generations. Social networking and other very quick tools for sharing themselves trump the blog as a form of expression. The older generation has never been able to express themselves to an audience before, yet are not entirely comfortable with this next step that Millennials have taken. For older generations, blogging is the new pamphleteering. I also think that the older generation writes more for the sake of writing where Millennials are writing for their friends."
When asked how bloggers can recruit more young bloggers they all agreed it was the million dollar question. It seems like a natural place for young people. Millennials are active, involved, and they know where they are on issues. They've got a better grasp on technology than any generation before them. Yet the struggle is figuring out how to include them in the larger political blogosphere.
Mideast Youth Takes On Afghan Media
Last year, we profiled Mideast Youth, an independent blogging network dedicated to eliminating extremism from the Middle East and North Africa. I thought I'd check back in with the group to see what they've been up to. Sure enough, they've been busy as ever. But their new project is both fascinating and really cool.
Mideast Youth has launched Afghan Press, a blog whose purpose is to "use digital media to show the world what currently goes unreported" in Afghanistan. The journalist-activists who started Afghan Press want to cover daily events in remote villages and interview locals -- everyday people -- who are never represented in the media. And they hope to do this using all different forms of media.
Afghan Press has also become a place to announce journalism training opportunities for Afghan journalists. In this way, Mideast Youth hopes to contribute something to Afghanistan's media.
From the Afghan Press mission statement:
Afghanistan is a country riddled with poverty, illiteracy, censorship, human rights abuses and corruption. There are hardly any progressive and independent news sources functioning within it. We aim to change that!
We want to create a powerful Afghanistan through new media technologies. The internet is our only gateway to free speech and global outreach...It is time for Afghanistan to have a successful digital media outlet that is by the people, for the people, to the world and whose mission is to improve the country.
Organizing Online
Filled with funny quips and loaded with information, the Online Politics 101 Guide from blog E-Politics helps those who want to save the world online.
"Let’s change the world! But how? Robot/kung fu army? Too expensive.Zombies? Too messy. Online politics? A wise choice: the internet gives anyone with an internet-ready computer — candidates, advocacy organizations, corporate interests and everyday citizens alike — powerful tools to mold policy, influence elections and shift the direction of public discourse."
The guide details ways in which people from presidential campaigns to school clubs, Greek organizations, local charities, and more can impact our world and organize online.
As a summary, the guide begins with emphasizing the ease, speed, reach, and interconnectivity of the web. Not mentioned, but also notable, is cost. Currently, the cost for online advertising, an online presence, and online outreach is one of the cheapest and easiest media tools available. Think of it this way: You can knock on every dorm room on campus, or you can friend them all and virtually knock their doors advocating for your cause or campaign by using Facebook, MySpace, or other networking sites.
As I've stated in the past, you should never underestimate the power of peer-to-peer conversations to get people to help you or work on your issue, but with some of the emerging technologies you can stay in daily contact with the folks you recruit or whose doors you knock on, or who you lobby in class.
The guide gives 3 Simple Rules for Online Politics:
"1. Think about the ends before you think about the means.2. Brilliance always takes a 2nd place to persistance.
3. Integrate, integrate, integrate"
The first and second options are my favorites. Thinking about your goals is always a good rule of thumb. Think about what you want to gain and then develop the tools to get you there. Say you want to raise $1,000 to bring a speaker to your school, you can set up a table with jars for change, you can knock doors for cash, or you can hold a giant event and invite people via facebook and myspace, or start an event and invite people to contribute and talk about how cool the speaker will be on the event page. You can even make a plea via video and post the YouTube video.
Persistence is notable because everyone should know that you don't have to be a swanky programmer to get people to respond to your organization or club. It's the heart, repeated requests, networks, and relationships you build online that help keep people engaged in who you are and why you matter.
Remember, the power to organizing online through social networking tools is your friends list. When you're mobilizing online, you have the power, but with the help of as few as ten friends, your individual efforts can grow into a sizable online army.
Read the guide and think about it within the context of how it can help your club or organization. There is a lot that can be done to promote yourself and your organization.
Here are some more good tips for organizing on Facebook and some good rules of thumb for building your community.
Here are some good ways to organize on MySpace.
Clean Up Chevron
Editor's note: This post originally appeared at Aid & Abet
(photo by Jeff Paterson)
Yesterday I attended a protest outside Chevron's World Headquaters in San Ramon, California during their annual shareholders meeting. I'm learning a lot about how corporations work, and this meeting (also called an AGM — Annual General Meeting) is the opportunity for shareholders to receive reports on the company's progress and for the shareholders to put forth resolutions about how they want the company to act. Shareholders can allow someone else to go in their place by issuing a "proxy." Anyway, some activists from the Bay Area, Ecuador, Burma, and Nigeria went into yesterday's meeting (using proxies) to try and get their voices heard.
The above photo is from when the delegation came out of the meeting and gave a report to supporters and media about what happened inside. The supporters had great visuals, wearing white hazmat suits and holding signs in the shape of brooms that said "Clean Up Chevron." A broad coalition of groups were involved in this, and you can get an official report through Amazon Watch.
Although I've been involved in protesting Chevron for a while (see past posts here and here) because of their link to the Iraq War, I didn't really know a lot about Chevron's activities around the world. Yesterday I learned some more details about two areas, Nigeria and Ecuador.
1. Nigeria. Here is the story as related to me by Antonia Juhasz, author of the upcoming book The Tyranny of Oil. Ten years ago, a group of protesters occupied an oil platform owned by Chevron. They were peaceful and their demands included that Chevron officials talk with local leaders. Not an unreasonable demand. Even though the group had already negotiated that they were going to leave the platform after their peaceful demonstration, Chevron used its helicopters to fly in Nigerian military who shot the protesters. Two were killed.
Later, the Nigerian military, again with Chevron's aid, sought retribution by decimating the villages of some of the protesters. Can it be any more clear that corporations will kill for oil? Not like, kill people over time with pollution like they are in Richmond, California, but outright kill people.
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Not Everyone's On Board With Urban Farming
People across the country are getting involved with the urban farming trend. Young people, old people, socially conscious people, gardening lovers, and people who just like to eat. In light of my piece this week, I thought this account of new urban agriculture endeavors in Seattle was pretty interesting.
What stood out to me was the backlash some new projects are getting from the city's transportation department.
Seattle residents interested in the local food movement are getting creative in finding green spaces in areas of unused, urban land. In these overlooked "nooks and crannies," reports SeattlePI, residents are starting to grow their own fresh produce. For example, they're transforming planting strips adjacent to city streets into sources for cheap and healthy food.
But Seattle's Dept. of Transportation say that these impromptu gardens are potential traffic hazards. It also says they could cause health risks. From the article:
[T]he Seattle Transportation Department, which technically requires homeowners to get a street-beautification permit before planting anything there, discourages people from growing food. Among the potential problems: crops tainted with automobile and stormwater pollution; bushy plants spilling into the street; creating a haven for rodents and pooping dogs; and potential complaints ranging from vegetable theft to unsightly dead cornstalks.
However, transportation officials also say that there is no law that specifically prohibits small-scale farming on planting strips.
Furthermore, the Dept. of Transportation hasn't actually done any studies or surveys to find out if their claims about health risks are valid.
Meawhile, many residents seek an alternative to shopping at grocery stores where prices continue to rise. Plus, in inner-city areas, it's difficult to find healthy food even at existing grocers. Residents believe they should be able to grow their own food instead of having to drive long distances to get access to fresh produce (with gas prices being what they are).
What city officials may not realize is that transforming unused bits of land into small-scale farms is the first step to creating a sustainable food system that will not only boost health (rather than presenting a risk to it), but will also boost local economy and the community.
Light on Opportunity or Light on Interest?
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/05/08/presidential-candidates-have-little-opportunity-to-talk-about-education.html?PageNr=1A US News & World Report article published earlier this month provides an accurate overview of how education has been treated on the presidential campaign trail so far this election cycle.
In short, education has played an insignificant role in both of the primaries, and appears to be headed in the same direction in the general election. None of the three remaining candidates have staked out bold positions on the most important K-12 and higher education issues, and none of them have made much in the way of headlines in terms of promises or policy proposals.
Both Senators Obama and Clinton appear to be content with criticizing funding levels for NCLB, clamoring for increased loans to help with college affordability, and drawing moderate lines on teacher pay and quality initiatives. One disjunction between the two is that Senator Clinton has toed the teachers union supported line of rewarding teachers based on how well whole schools are doing whereas Senator Obama has taken the more controversial stance of rewarding only those individual teachers who are dramatically improving student achievement.
For his part, Senator McCain has had even less to say about education. He doesn't even yet have a full education platform published on his campaign website, and has really only issued standard GOP responses on education, trumpeting such ideas as school choice, merit pay for teachers, charter schools, and sometimes even vouchers. To the degree that education remains a low-priority issue, it will benefit Senator McCain since he has little expertise on the matter, especially given a traditional Democratic advantage among voters who consider education to be a key election day issue.
My only challenge to the article regarding low attention paid to education on the campaign trail is to the title. US News has the piece printed under the headline, "Presidential Candidates Have Little Opportunity to Talk About Education." I question whether this gets to the heart of the matter, or if it actually gives the candidates a bit more credit than they deserve regarding this issue which, after all, may be one of the most pressing policy matters facing our nation's future.
To me, the presidential candidates have plenty of opportunity to address whatever issues they deem to be important. After all, we're talking about candidates who give multiple speeches each day talking about all of the changes they'd like to make to the country. Senator McCain, for instance, has had no trouble making headlines with his unique views on global warming and climate change--issues which he has raised on his own, without having to wait for the right "opportunity". In other words, I'm afraid the candidates have not lacked in opportunity to address education, but have instead lacked sufficient interest to make it a crucial topic. And if you're wondering why none of the candidates (not just this year, but really for the past half-century since K-12 education has become a federal issue) have made K-12 school reform a priority, allow me to ask you a question to offer a hint why education will take a backseat for the foreseeable future: how many elementary, middle, and high school students are allowed to vote?
Are Unhappy Students the Exception or the Rule?
If you want to know how good a school is, here's a novel idea: ask the students.
At a bad school, you'll hear complaints that are well-founded, such as a number of the quotes from a powerful report published earlier this week in Washington, DC .
One elementary school student complained, "Give us harder work, not the busywork that we already know."
A middle school student, when asked about her teachers, said that "they let you know you are failing but then let you go on struggling and then send you to summer school."
A student at the same school reflected, "Teachers don't teach us a thing throughout the entire period. When visitors come, they start working."
And at one of the city's high schools, one history class had an almost unbelievable lesson plan, where students were asked, "Where is your favorite place to shop?"
The concept of students complaining about school is not a novel concept, of course, especially at this time of the year when summer is just around the corner and patience grows thin on the part of adults and students both. But there is something telling in these comments from DC's students--and its telling more because of who says them, than what they are saying.
After all, were you really all that surprised to hear that it was students from an inner-city with high levels of poverty complaining about bad teachers, low expectations, and overall low quality of education? I hear similar statements from students all the time in my school, and I have to confess that they are often on point. In short, reports of student discontent are numerous in DC, St Louis City, and other areas with high concentrations of low-income and minority children, and they often hit on important themes, such as those having to do with low quality teachers or run-down school buildings.
Meanwhile, if a school is actually pretty good, you'll likely hear a combination of compliments and complaints. The difference about the complaints, however, will be marked. Instead of focusing on obvious problems such as inept teachers, broken facilities, lack of safety, and inadequate student support and discipline, in the nicer suburbian schools, complaints will sound a lot more like the student in the video below, which is to say high on passion and energy, but low on common sense. (Message to student: you are right that some teachers focus too much on rote memorization, but trust me when I say that learning vocabulary words does serve a purpose in the end!)
Courage In The Aftershocks
Thousands of people slept in the streets yesterday in and around Chengdu, China as panic spread due to reports of another powerful aftershock by state media. The reports turned out to be false, and state news tried to get the word out as quickly as possible to calm frightened families.
At the same time, young people filled Tianfu Square, standing together in solidarity for their country and their loved ones lost in the quake. Yesterday marked the first in a three-day period of mourning.
"Go China! Sichuan! Stand up! Be strong!" they shouted, NPR's Andrea Hsu reports. They gathered together to chant, sing, light candles and honor victims of the natural disaster. Their strength is nothing short of inspiring.
NPR's All Things Considered has been keeping a Chengdu Diary of the Sichuan province in the aftermath of the massive earthquake which has killed as many as 70,000 people. As many as 40,000 are still missing.
That Diary has captured touching stories of survival, especially among young people.
Melissa Block spoke with two young friends, both 15, who managed to make it out alive. They were at school when the quake hit. Huang Zhihui was in history class, and his teacher told everyone to run. Zhihui ran down the staircase. He made it out of the building, to the playground, as he heard the building collapse behind him.
Juyuan Middle School was destroyed, and hundreds of Zhihui's schoolmates were killed, crushed by the wreckage.
Zhihui's friend, Wei Bo, didn't run when his politics class felt the ground shake. Their teacher said to be calm and stay in their chairs. The building came crashing down on the class. Wei Bo managed to escape from the debris. He also pulled out another student who was buried. But most of his classmates and his teacher died.
It's not always clear what to do in such a situation -- duck and cover? evacuate? stay put? stay away from staircases? or just run?
The most touching part of these stories from NPR's Chengdu Diary is the courage that only comes with strength in such a crisis. A mother dying to save her baby. Parents searching for their missing child. Villages desperate for water and food. A farmer pleading for feed for his pigs. And friends, families, and strangers standing together and strong -- helping each other get through it all.
Read or listen to NPR's reports on the crisis here.
A Youth Movement, Not a Cult
Young people aren't always liberals. And the majority didn't always vote for Democrats.
Surprised? No, for real, are you?
The eighties are remembered mostly for its pop culture, but the decade was also famous for Reagan and the expansion of the Republican Party. The plurality of young people in that decade, like other age groups, voted for Reagan and identified with the G.O.P. In other words, the G.O.P. attracted more young voters than the Democratic Party while Reagan was in office.
In 1988, young people helped elect George H.W. Bush into the Oval Office. That was also the last time when more young people voted for the G.O.P. than Democrats.
The next decade was then when the Democrat's began to ride on a wave of youth energy and participation, which was reinforced at the beginning of the new century. Bill Clinton's victory in 1992 was helped in part by the second highest recorded turnout of young people since 1972 -- 52 percent. (pdf)
Even though young people have favored the Democrats since 1992, it hasn't always been by an overwhelming margin; young people were split more evenly in 1998 and 2000. Gore won the plurality of the youth vote in 2000, but only by a 2 percentage-point margin. (pdf)
This was followed by a burst in youth support in 2004; the margin soared to nine percentage points in favor of Kerry. More recently, in the 2006 Congressional house races, 58 percent of young people supported a Democratic Candidate. (pdf) Moreover, the plurality of young voters identified with the Democratic Party, a 12 percentage point advantage over the G.O.P. And even more recently, in the 2008 primary contests, for which we have exit poll data for both parties, roughly three-quarters of all young voters participated in the Democratic primary.
So yes, divisive politics turns out voters -- of all stripes -- and young voters are no different. In 2004 and 2006, young voters came out in larger numbers -- by a greater margin -- than any other age group. The 2008 primary season is no different.
But what is different in this election, isn't just the energy, it's proof that the strategy of reaching out to young voters works. The growing support for Democrats, especially in this primary season, is partly the result of direct and tailored outreach to young people; the GOP is not putting as much effort into recruiting young voters.
Youth outreach matters, as in, it just might win you an election, especially when the Millennials are about to surpass the Baby Boomers generation in numbers. Democrats were the first to recognize this in the 2008 election.
Party affiliation, and more importantly, preferences are not dictated by time and age, but through the strength of the argument made in its case. Progressives have been making their case now for years, and most are not buying into any stereotypes about young voters. This is a movement that is years in the making and still growing.
HeadCount's At It Again
HeadCount evolved from an idea that politics and music are inherently intertwined, says co-chair Andy Bernstein. The grassroots group recognized that young people are already getting together and sharing ideas. They’re already organizing around things that they care about, and one of those things is music. It just made good sense to add civic engagement into the mix.
Last week, Concerts4Charity released A Call to Action, a documentary about how the live music community and grassroots organizers came together to form HeadCount, a voter registration group focused on registering young people at concerts and music festivals. Those involved with HeadCount include Phish, Bela Fleck, the Dave Mathews Band, and Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead -- who sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Bernstein says when he thinks about political organizing, he hears music. “I always picture music from the 1960s. Social movements to me are often tied to music,” he said. “[We’re] fully recognizing that Woodstock is not the Martin Luther King ‘I Have a Dream’ speech -- and that Jerry Garcia and Gandhi are not to be in the same sentence. I’m not trying to put music in a place it doesn’t deserve to be. But music is an imprint. It’s something that strikes people at a very core emotional level. Something that inspires people and also inspires change.”
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Pro-Tibet Protests: Sports Lovers Meet Torture Victims
UPDATE: We've been holding the corner of Embarcadero and Washington streets since 10 a.m. this morning in San Francisco together with Tibetans, Students for a Free Tibet, Darfur activists, and then of course pro-China folks have been right here with us. Intense emotions abound as sports lovers meet torture victims.
************
I'm sitting with a mix of folks from Students for a Free Tibet, Ruckus, RAN and others at the jail where the seven Tibetan rights activists who pulled off the stunning Golden Gate bridge action have been held since being whisked off the bridge yesterday.
Our latest news is that they're coming out any minute now -- that's been the word for two hours. I think of them through the labyrinth of halls and walls beyond the door so sleepy, sore, with perhaps no idea of just how far reaching their tremendous action has been for two days.
This isn't the first action on the Golden Gate Bridge, but a good friend pointed out that its probably the biggest action since 9/11. But the actions in this campaign so far have all been big -- Mt. Everest, the Great Wall, the Eiffel Tower. Well, almost the Eiffel Tower. Police presence in Paris was too high for the action to get going, so they defaulted to a nearby bridge over the Seine whose name escapes me now, writing this on my phone from the waiting room of this jail.
The demands -- no torch run through Tibet, an end to human rights abuses, and ultimately the liberation of Tibet -- are on the front page of newspapers worldwide.
The victory in many ways is already complete for the campaign on the torch. The Olympics were supposed to herald a new China. Thing is, the Chinese government thought it could get the symbolic stamp of approval without actually changing its behavior. As Tibet has escalated their campaign for international attention, China's government has shown its unwillingness to improve their violent history.
The activists are released one by one, first the women, then the men, swamped by journalists and then enveloped by loved ones.
They are free! Tibet is next!
Pro-Tibet Protesters Climb San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge
I write right now with the utmost pride. Three activists, including one of our beloved Ruckutistas, are climbed up the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge in an action to support Tibetan independence.
San Francisco is the only city hosting the torch in the United States, and Students for a Free Tibet responded. The message is clear and visionary: FREE TIBET!
Actions in Paris and London have already shown one of the ugly truths of standing up against injustuce -- the bravery of nonviolence is met with the cowardice of violence. This is true in Tibet, where 180 people have been slaughtered since March in their attempts to send a message to the world through the layers of repression of Chinese rule.
As the climbers pulled themselves higher and higher, I meditated on what this struggle is about. It is as fundamentally a fight against inequality and tyranny as the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa...it is the old world of imperialism and inequality against a new world of sovereignty and spiritual wealth.
As the banners scooted across ropes strung between the three climbers, the news media gathered four helicopters, two vans, eight photographers. The news poured in: "traffic is stopped", "five people detained on the bridge", "two diversion teams". The story ran live on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC. A cameraman next to me finally said it: "They've brought the city to a stop. It’s amazing!"
And then the banner unfurled, white and black against the iconic red Golden Gate Bridge, and was gorgeous. "One World, One Dream: Free Tibet"
This was a huge, beautiful and strategic action; the people of Tibet have this brief window, when the whole world is watching China, the whole world is speaking of "One Dream," the whole world is waiting for the Olympics.
The Tibetan dream of independence is our common dream, and we're asking you to do one thing if you are moved by the strength and perseverance of the Tibetan people and Tibetan-led Students for a Free Tibet: donate to StudentsforaFreeTibet.org to support this action and the actions to come.
And check out these two links for a couple of visuals on the banner hang: