Relevance of the Jasmine Revolution and the Arab Spring 2011

Annotated from NPR article linked at the bottom:

The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia (a French colony, btw) started when a street vendor, and primary breadwinner for his family, was told he could not sell his fruit without a permit. Unable to provide for his large family, he set himself on fire in front of the govt office. I'm not sure how that helped his family, but the video went viral! And it led to a bunch of protests, a President step-down, and regime-change in Tunisia, 2011. Egypt followed same year in revolution, led by youth/secular activists, but after President Mubarak stepped down, the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group, was voted into power.

Self-Immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi

 

While the youth focused on ousting the regime, political groups prepared to seize the impending power vacuum. The MB was popular, well-organized, and ready to win/dominate elections. Arab world, religiously conservative, want Islam in life affairs. Islamist groups want to enforce Sharia Law, oppressive to women. So far, revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain.



This period of revolutions was known as the "Arab Spring." It was followed by a period of wide-scale violence and political instability in the region, known as the "Arab Winter." Destabilized by rebel groups, like Houthis in Yemen, who ousted the new government while it was still fragile.




The Jasmine Revolution and Arab Spring in 2011 were uniquely Arab upheavals, other ethnic groups were not involved. Thus, these political stirrings are invariably connected to ISIS, current Middle Eastern instability, and international terror.


Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143897126/the-arab-spring-a-year-of-revolution

Related post: "The Connection between Middle Eastern occupation and Southeast Asian occupation."

The Connection between Middle Eastern occupation and Southeast Asian occupation:

For some related context, see: "Jasmine Revolutions and the Arab Spring/Winter."

Western hegemony in the Middle East

European imperialism in Southeast Asia

I Realized This Morning:

    -Although their situations are different, and certainly their methods for obtaining what they want are different...
    -What Islamic State wants politically CAN be compared to what the Communist Vietnamese wanted, after hundreds of years of degradation and European/Chinese occupation: National Sovereignty! I never even understood that phrase in AP Euro. But it makes sense now, they want Independence, their own state, they wanted to be sovereign rulers of their own land.

    -Problem is, we don't trust them, and they're not proving themselves to be trustworthy. And their Sharia law is oppressive to women. End of the day, they're being jerks, and people would rather "bomb the shit" out of them than give them what they want, ESPECIALLY when...
    -They seem to have no forward-moving plan, aside from barbaric mass killings and beheadings, and smuggling/selling oil. There is a reason all these Syrians are FLEEING THEIR COUNTRY EN MASSE. Their actions are saying "Fuck THAT shit."


The Positive Side of Islam:

    -On that note, I want to say something about Muslims that I've personally known and interacted with. Many of them are great people, diligent students, wonderful artists/musicians/activists, welcoming shopkeepers, and so forth. We should not hate them. They are subject to bullying and hatespeech in schools. I knew this poor kid when I was teaching, sharp student, but outcasted by his peers. I wish you the best, Ahmed! Unfortunately, that type of thing goes on in adult groups too, so we shouldn't direct anger toward our Muslim brothers and sisters, we should try to understand them, most of them want peace too.
    -I've also found almsgiving(donation of food/money to those less fortunate), one of the 5 pillars of Islam, is a worthwhile and spiritually rewarding charitable practice.
    -Abstaining from pig meat and intoxicants is commendable too, I can't do it, but I try.
    -Many rappers are Muslim or have espoused Muslim-derived ideologies, my favorites including Nas, Guru, Busta Rhymes, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Akbar, Jay-Z, Jay Electronica, and Wu-Tang Clan. The number of Muslim hip hop artists is not limited to my list.


Nature of Islam: 

    -Because the religion lends itself to syncretization (merging with other people's existing beliefs), there are many types of Islam in different regions, and some are bound to be Extreme...ly obnoxious. Most are not Radical or violent. Many are peaceful, from American factions, like the Nation of Islam and the Nation of Gods and Earths, to Southeast Asian variants in Malaysian, Indonesia, and Thailand. In fact, I think there are more Asian Muslims than Arab Muslims... and I thought right, after a google check, 62% of world's Muslims live in South/Southeast Asia, and the largest Muslim country is Indonesia (ha, but knew that without Google). You don't hear from them as much because they're not as violent, and the Dalai Lama said most people just want peace and happiness, not violence and barbarism. Our intelligent species must know better than that if we are to save ourselves from ourselves.

Are 2014 Midterm Elections... Important?

Election time again, so you know what that means.... Plenty of depressing commercials and smear campaigns about people we don't really know.



These campaign dollars are starting to take over YouTube. Mostly attack ads. It must mean the 2014 Mid-term Elections are coming up!!!

There's one big problem though. First, I consider myself to be pretty engaged in civic matters... I mean... I majored in History, minored in Civic Engagement. Compelled to do my civic duty. I even drive a Civic. That's a cool palindrome, I just realized.

So I figured, for someone like me, who is engaged and interested in local, statewide, national, and international matters, frequently scouring the news, it is still a struggle to be informed. Being a voter is pretty easy, but being an informed voter, and knowledgeable about what/who I'm voting for, that's another challenge.

"But if it's just midterm elections, then it doesn't matter as much," says maybe 85% of people. 

That's not a real statistic, nor is it a real quote, but you get the idea. Most people ignore midterm elections... Why? Idunno, cuz it's democracy and we have freedom to vote, or not. Maybe because there's no charismatic President. But I was just talking to this college guy about his political science class, while tutoring math, and it REALLY IS important, because we're electing SENATORS to hold seats for 6 years???!

Do you know how many U.S. Senators there are?
Not many people do, apparently. What goes on in this "Senate" anyway?
There are 100 Senators, because there are 2 per state, therefore 2x = 100 must be true, and confirms that there are 50 states. 100 Senators making important decisions for the rest of us, for 6 years of their lives at a time. So who ARE these people? How do we vote the shitty ones out, and how do we know which ones to vote in? Even more important, House Representatives who draft bills, propositions, and respond more directly to constituents (us), they are also campaigning, but do I know anyone running? NO. How can I vote for the right one that won't mess us up for 2-6 years (2 for house reps, 6 for senators)? Who knows?

Also, what Propositions are up for a vote in your area? Does anyone know??? It's such a struggle to be informed, but why? I thought we lived in an INFORMATION age? Nah, I guess people would rather play with their flappy bird.


If that's difficult for me, I can't imagine what voting would be like for someone who's not politically engaged.

Anyways, most midterm elections tend to go overlooked. But we are in a pretty critical place right now. I hope this was a little informative.

What did Kenneth Bae do to be imprisoned?

1/8 - Kim Jong Un's birthday - Rodman blows up on CNN, defends basketball game in North Korea

See video here:
http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/dennis-rodman-cnn-north-korea/2014/01/07/id/545638

Rodman, in this interview, is not a coherent speaker, sounds like he's on one, but Charles Smith is delightfully articulate. Too bad the CNN host kept interrupting him.

Interesting part to me:
The host kept bringing the topic back to Kenneth Bae. Rodman, sounding offended, replied:  "Kenneth Bae did one thing ... If you understand what Kenneth Bae did. Do you understand what he did in this country? No, no, no, you tell me, you tell me. Why is he held captive here in this country, why? ... I would love to speak on this." But he didn't speak on it. And no, no one really knows why Bae is held captive, that's why people are mad that Kenneth Bae an American imprisoned in a PRK labor camp. So what did Kenneth Bae do?? That's what I wanna know.

In a quick search, I found that Bae, an American, gave tours of North Korea, from a business he ran, based in China. From CNN: "[In 2006] [Bae] established "Nations Tour," a China-based tour company that specialized in tours of North Korea."[1]

So I guess Bae would drive into North Korea and give tours???


"He created a tourism company called "Nations Tour" for North Korean special economic zone visits that were secretly Christian missionary trips"[2]. Gotta mention, it's illegal and punishable by death to practice Christianity or to own a bible in North Korea[3]. And if he gave tours of outskirt areas? What do you think his tours would have been like? Not a good depiction. And that's why the Kim Jongs would be mad. Plus they, Bae and his tour groups, were trespassing. He invaded North Korea with his tours. That's why he was imprisoned. Now we know, right?



From Wiki, North Korea claims these are the reasons Kenneth Bae was prosecuted:

• Working with evangelical organization Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Bae is accused of preaching against the North Korean government in American and South Korean churches.^[33]
• Planning an anti-North Korean religious coup d'état called "the Operation Jericho", a reference to the biblical city whose walls were toppled by the sound of the Israelites'trumpets. Which began in the US, South Korea and China long before Bae traveled to North Korea.^[33]
• Admitting to setting up bases in China for the purpose of toppling the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
• Encouraging North Korean citizens to bring down the government.
• Conducting a "malignant" smear campaign.[2]

What's messed up in NK is the executions.[3]

But screw it, they're there to play basketball! I'd like to see the game, America vs N. Korea!


Sources:
[1]http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/who-is-kenneth-bae/
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Bae
[3]http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/11/north-korea-executions_n_4254893.html

A thought I just had!

Do things for the good of the people, not to be popular, and you'll be popular anyway. 

Cuz whats the population populated with? People. The words share the same root.

It's that JFK shit, except instead of saying "country," it's replaced with people. 

Don't ask what OTHER people can do for you... ask what you can do for other people.

I was told one time, "The key of living is giving."

That's pretty good, the idea of making a difference.

It's more than having success, it's having significance.

Being a good influence.

Every interaction is energy exchange – what are you doing with yours?

Remember when I wrote...

"I'm trynna be the potent quotient,

Answer to the system's divisions.

Wisdom can be given through visions,

beats, or rhythms, if you can tell the difference.

Listen,

Greater than the Sum of all my rhymes,

I'm just a Product of Mother Earth and Father Time.

When it comes to heart and spirit, I'll give you all of mine"

-2009

Elections Are Over! Now what?

Thought this picture was hilarious:

Here's my intro:

4 more years of Barack-racy! Some Americans are elated, while some want to secede from the union!

Others don't care, retreating from politics altogether. And... Maybe they have a good reason not to care! I will actually argue for this position, to an extent. 

Who's living in the White House? And how much does that matter to the person living in YOUR house? Sure, their White House policies might affect you, but not as much as how YOUR OWN policies and philosophies affect you, your relationships, your bank account, and your quality of living.

^that's my thesis. Let me support that:

As with most Presidential campaigns, both sides made hard-to-keep promises to garner support! The winning side has done it twice in a row. Hope, Change, and Progress... Yes we can! Yeah, that's all good, BUT... There's a lot of political friction... and that's not supposed to be a gross double-entendre about government officials type-of-thing, but it could be... either way, it means that change from Washington happens pretty slowly, and is met with resistance. Institutions are slow-moving. Their changes can take anywhere from months to years to have an effect on society. 

Not to mention, there will ALWAYS be people in America, by way of democracy and freedom, fighting adamantly against whoever's in office. Like I say, "when you have a top position, you'll also have opposition."

From the home-owners to the homeless...

As much as Americans want change, there's a lot standing (or possibly sitting comfortably) in the way of that change. At least from the top. But for me and my friends, change starts from the bottom. Change starts where the people are.... The people change, the politicians respond. The businesses respond. The institutions respond. And the nation changes.

What's wrong in your life? If you don't like where you are, change that! Do something different in the next 4 years, so that you end up somewhere you'd prefer to be. Exercise your imagination. Change can be fun, it doesn't have to be torture! In your house, you are the commander-in-chief!

All I'm saying is: Take Responsibility! 

Your actions (and inactions) yield your results.

Your situation is your creation. The solution is you, friend.

When you take more responsibility, you receive more direct control.

Don't rely on anyone else for the specific matters of your own life.

Here's my conclusion:

Candidates saying they'd do this and do that.

But when they get elected, well they can't do jack.

Change within the office hardly matter, that's a fact.

Change within the self is where the power's really at.

-Tom T. N.

2012

(the topic of this post has been on my mind, but I wasn't compelled to write about it until I got THIS in my email)
(and I got the picture from disappearingromney.com)