ktravula – a travelogue!

The Davis Image

Two days ago, this image surfaced showing a campus policeman applying pepper spray to students of the University of California at the Occupy Davis protests who were just sitting still against police orders for them to disperse, and in compliance with their right to publicly demonstrate.

Words, it has been said, can’t successfully match the power of an image. The image of a student standing in front of a tank at Tinneman Square put civil disobedience in the face of brutal force into unquantifiable perspective. So did the images of soldiers hosing protesters in Egypt on a bridge in Cairo just a few months ago.

The Occupy protests all around the country haven’t always made sense nor always fully represented the outlook of all that are upset by the state of the economy in America today. They however have represented the genuine grievances of a country fed up with the state of things in government. Those who have criticized their methods have not been able to provide political alternatives, or successfully make a case for anything bolder and more effective than a public action that got everyone talking. There have been occasional loons and wusses, to use words from Fox News, and those who sought to paint the movement as anything but genuine and grassroots have used these isolated cases to demonize the movement. The real nucleus of this movement however has been a non-violent occupation of public spaces in order to make them uncomfortable enough for those concerned to take action.

When added to other pictures from around the world today where people are revolting against unsatisfactory government policies, the image above blends right in, except that the other places where brute unmatched force has been used on helpless civilians have been failed/police states. They have never pretended to defend or support human rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America, this (more of the pepper spray incident in video) should shame you.

These students deserve credit for the extraordinary amount of courage and restraint it must have required to stay non-violent in the face of such brutal use of police force. Everyone should be disgusted. I am.

The Davis Image was published on November 21st, 2011, with the tags , , , , , , under the Observations category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

A Changing Country

When, two to three decades from now, I am sitting in my office, study or at a family dinner table looking back to my days in the United States, one of the things I will cherish the most is the opportunity to have been here to witness pivotal moments of notable changes, when a new fresh nation was born out of a tired vestige of the old.

From what I read, the last time something as significant as a popular uprising by citizens to demand change came about was in the 60s during the civil rights movement. From what we see around every day these days, those days – or at least something close to it and equally significant – are back. It showed itself first through the Tea Party movements in 2009, and now through the message of the Occupy ____ protesters that have taken their message to major cities around America.

I was privileged to sit through one of the first sessions of the Occupy Edwardsville meetings today on campus. The movement which started as a reaction to the Oligarchy of Wall Street and unfair income disparity in the country has spread all around the country and is beginning to embody the disenchantment that most people feel about the direction of the country. Today’s event, being campus based, was more educational and brain-storming than anything else, but it was not any less significant.

I do not know a full list of their demands, but one of the major recent successes of the movement so far has been to force the Bank of America to reverse its decision to charge card users $5 monthly for debit card use. Another one is to change the national conversation from shrinking the government size to equitable living opportunities. Today’s meeting was open and democratic, allowing members and spectators ask questions and participate in brainstorming sessions to fashion reasonable and workable manifesto. I saw some professors in the crowd as well as students. At the back of the gathering were two cops standing and paying attention.

American politics, I have found, is one of the most fascinating in the world. This citizen opportunity for social and political change through a democratic means is not only stimulating, it is one of the country’s most admirable characteristics. All of this play out even in spite of obvious regrettable consequences of all mass action: infiltration by anarchists who want everything to fall apart as soon as possible, to no known end.

I see a new country emerging – as it always does season after season, and I again find myself tied to it. The news of my coming here got to me on the same day that the country elected its first black president. Being here at the crossroads of its changing environment provides for me a boon: a vantage point from which to contemplate the past and the present, while interacting with a new dynamic future of which I now find myself an integral part.

A Changing Country was published on November 9th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

The American Spring?

The Occupy Wall Street protests began like a joke. I remember the folks at The Five on Fox News deriding them for seeking just an avenue to party (since the first day of their protest happened to be a weekend when there wasn’t going to be plenty activity). A few days later, it has become a movement now too large to ignore. A version of the protests is now taking place in almost every major city. The nearest one to me is called “Occupy St. Louis”.

Louder now than the lack of cohesion in the list of demands that the protesters want however is the fact that there has been a substantial police crackdown on protesters. They have been maced and pepper-sprayed while many have been arrested, and some eventually released for breaking laws regarding public protests. The Tea Party protests started like this, albeit with older and well-to-do people in funny clothes. While the Tea Party however evolved eventually into a political force, it has been suggested that this might be the exact Liberal equivalent.

And while it is unlikely that a sitting president is removed through these public protests as it happened in Egypt, it is inspiring to see people get out and demand for change, especially as regards Wall Street and the people who led the nation’s financial system to disaster. It is equally impressive to see how much stronger the movement is getting in spite of a media bias especially on the political right. I look forward to a day when one thing as simple as a public protest can be seen as the same thing by all parts of the country: as a genuine response to frustration and a demand for change and accountability.

A Question: Will I be arrested if I go see the protests in St. Louis if only to take pictures and speak with the protesters?

The American Spring? was published on October 7th, 2011, with the tags , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.