Monday 15 October 2012

BLOG ACTION DAY - 15 October 2012: "The Power of We" #powerofwe #BAD12


You need look no further than the technological marvel that enables you, the reader, to read this Blog Post whether you are from Poughkeepsie, New York state, USA or Pune, Maharashtra state, India.

The Internet, for all its dross and porn sites and hate blogs and other negative facets, is a great liberator of that much-hackneyed phrase, "the common people".

Never has the Power of We been more obviously demonstrated than by the Facebook and Twitter campaigns that fomented the people's revolution that overthrew the corrupt, military dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The so-called "Arab Spring" purportedly got rolling when a very much put-upon Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself alight in protest at corrupt practices which prevented him from continuing to eke out a meagre living.

Sadly, Mohamed's death and the Tunisian uprising got swept aside by the international media when the popular sentiment spread like wildfire to neighbours, Libya and Egypt. Egypt's popular revolution was, thankfully, largely non-violent and deaths and injuries to Egyptian citizens were minimal, although even one death of an innocent is unacceptable.

The same could not be said of Libya's uprising nor the ongoing conflict in Syria. Other grassroots uprisings in Middle Eastern countries have been met with swift and brutal quelling by the dictators and repressive regimes in power in those countries.

Other factions, which do not have the best interests of the communities at heart, have inserted themselves into what had been a People versus Regime battle. It is reported that al-Qaeda has been sneaking into Libya and Syria to take advantage of the chaos and advance their agenda.

The perception of Islam as a violent, anti-Western and backward religion has been fostered by those factions in world politics whose interests are served by setting up an ENEMY, an OTHER. The presence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda has served these anti-Islamic factions well and given hate-fodder to the likes of Anders Breivik and other Fascists of his ilk. All decent, moral, tolerant people of all races, religions and political persuasion give no credence or validity to any of these sociopaths and psychopaths, but see them for the pathetic individuals and organisations they are.

One of the most decent, kind, generous and compassionate human beings I have ever met was a simple fisherman who lived in the north of Bali, in the countryside just outside of Singaraja. He was a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day at his local mosque. He took my friend and myself out for a day's fishing in his boat and then later entertained us at his house. He had very little in the material sense, but he was rich in spirituality and generosity. He would not take any payment from us for his kind actions. To cultivate our friendship was payment enough for him. We later sneaked him some gifts for his wife and his children because if you live with an Open Heart as he did, you invoke an Open Heart in all with whom you interact.

This simple one-to-one cultural interaction should be the model for building a true global community, one that is peaceful, prosperous, just and moral. This is the way we need to eliminate poverty, pollution, injustice, inequality and war. By reaching out through cyberspace, through face-to-face exchanges and social media interaction, we can build the POWER OF WE. We owe it to ourselves and to our children and to our children's children.

Reach out to someone today and offer the hand of genuine friendship. Show them how the POWER OF WE can lift us all up to something higher in purpose and more fulfilling as we live out our lives on this beautiful, abundant planet where there is enough for all if we want it to be so.


#PowerOfWe, #BAD12 and #Blogactionday









1 comment:

  1. When you travel to the lands where there are less dependence on technology, people are just as happy without them.

    Thanks for visiting.

    ReplyDelete