Friday, December 30, 2016

The Fall of Aleppo

There was a nonviolence movement in Syria when the protests there began in 2011. About that time young Syrian activists formed the Syrian Nonviolence Movement, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Cergy-Pontoise, Ile-De-France, France, and the Local Coordination Committees, led by Razan Zaitouneh.

From the Syrian Nonviolence Movement’s Facebook page:


https://www.alharak.org (deceased as of March, 2020)

"We believe in nonviolent struggle and civil resistance as a principle and method in achieving social, cultural, and political change in Syrian society, and in enabling Syria to take its role in building human civilization."

The Local Coordination Committees was a national decentralized network that reported on protests and advocated civil disobedience, such as nightly protests and refusal to pay water, electricity and telephone bills. In December 2013 Razan Zaitouneh and three other activists, Samira Khalil, Nazim Hamada, and Wael Hamada, were taken from their offices at the Violations Documentation Center in Douma. I'd like to think they're still alive. If I could I’d ask why they thought nonviolent activism in Syria had a chance.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Climate Change Narratives

I've been trying to thoroughly research climate change and rising sea levels. My objective has been to be thorough and look at both sides of the issue. Unfortunately there is war of “manufactured narratives” that makes it impossible for the layman to form an objective opinion of climate change (or possibly any issue). We all have our personal beliefs and prejudices, and manufactured narratives, opinions, and filtered and fake news are everywhere to create or bolster an opinion we already have. Either that or we end up totally confused, which is probably what is intended.