Changing The World

Changing The World

Changing The World

One Slow, Effective Way

• Vote. You are helping decide whether the country is headed in a liberal, conservative, environmentalist or socialist direction.

• Make sure you know the party you are voting for well enough to understand what sort of laws they would make, were they to win.

Changing The World

Protest

• When things aren’t going the way you feel is good, you can protest.

• Peaceful, modern ways to protest include marches, webpages and blogs, sign-carrying, rallies, pamphlet-making, songs…anything you can think of, really.

• Doing illegal or riotous things to protest will just get you arrested. You should only do that in a society where the government isn’t giving you a voice.

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• Mahatma Ghandi peacefully protested by hunger strikes, marches and public speaking until the British government which had conquered his country by force put the ruling of India back in the hands of the Indian people.

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus in the 50s, when the law said black people had to sit in the back. This helped start the American Civil Rights Movement, which got very popular during the 60s, once the hippies jumped on board.

• If you don’t know, understand and insist upon the rights you are guaranteed on paper, you will not get those rights in your daily life.

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• Some people protest the freedoms of others

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• In the 60s and 70s, it was very fashionable to protest things on a weekly basis. Hippies used songs, marches, sit-ins and festivals to protest.

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• John Lennon of The Beatles and his wife sat in bed for a week in Montreal (they were not allowed to do this in New York) talking to reporters about peace while the Vietnam War was going on.

Changing The World

A History Of Protest• On May 4, 1970, the Ohio

National Guard opened fire on the campus of Kent State University during a student protest of the American government’s invasion of Cambodia, killing four students and injuring nine.

• Several of these students weren’t protesting, but were just walking by at the time on campus.

• Neil Young wrote the song “Ohio” to protest this, and it was banned from many major radio stations at the time

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• In 1989, protests in Tiananmen Square in Bejing, China (against the actions of the communist government), resulted in thousands of protesters being shot or run over with the tanks the government sent in to stop the protesting.

• To this day, these protests are a “forbidden topic” in China, and will not be found in any books, newspapers, magazines or other material. China has blocked Google to keep its citizens from reading about this event.

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• Some people have even lit themselves on fire to protest things.

Changing The World

A History of Protest

• In the 80s, musicians such as Sting, U2 and Peter Gabriel had concerts to raise awareness of Apartheid, (enforced segregation and black citizens not being allowed to vote in certain countries on South Africa.)

• Eventually, Nelson Mandela, in jail for almost 10 years of his life for protesting this situation, was released, free elections were held, and he was voted into power as the President of South Africa.

Changing The World

A History of Protest• Getting naked has always been

a way of getting immediate attention when protesting things.

Changing The World

Peaceful Protest

• Remember, as soon as you do something illegal (like throwing rocks, vandalism, stealing or threats) the police can stop your protest.

Changing The World

Global Village

• The idea that the whole world is one big “global village” and that we need to look after everyone in the world and make sure they’re OK is something that really began in the late 20th Century.

• There are many organizations which protest injustices going on in the world, or who collect money to try to help people.

• Some people go to the countries in question and do things personally, to make sure the money isn’t wasted.

Changing The World

Global Organizations• The League of Nations was an

organization which failed to stop the Second World War from occurring.

• After the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed, the United Nations was formed. It has a Universal Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and countries try to intervene when people anywhere in the world are mistreated.

• The “Korean War” was actually a “police action” in which the UN sent countries into Korea to put a stop to the war going on there. After a couple of years of “peacekeeping,” the war ended.

• Still, sweatshops, slavery, genocide, forced prostitution and many other horrible things occur every day.