One Voice
Abigail Beach
This is the sound of one voice.
One spirit one voice.
The sound of one who makes a choice.
This is the sound of one voice (The Wailin’ Jennys).
One voice. Everyone is blessed with one voice. One voice that is powerful. One voice that is meaningful. One voice that can change the world. But with the power of that one voice comes a responsibility. A responsibility to promote positivity, to raise awareness, to speak truth, to choose kindness, and to fight for justice. But how does one speak the truth? First, we will learn about the history of peaceful protest, then explore the unrest in the world today, and finally, we will learn that peaceful protest must be the answer.
People have always had a voice. People have always had the power to protest. But how do they use that power? During the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement taught us the power of having a voice. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. led peaceful protests, giving a positive message to the world. When Rosa Parks was put in jail, did Civil Rights activists attack the Montgomery police? No, they had a peaceful protest that got their message across. Martin Luther King Junior once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Civil Rights activists kept that in mind when they were fighting injustice. King talked about how it was essential that activists did not sink to the level of their oppressors. He said, “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” We as a society can learn so much from the Civil Rights Movement. Activists were brutally punished for speaking out against injustice, yet they never wavered from their choice of peaceful protest. They followed Ghandi’s philosophy, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” We can also look at the people who fought Apartheid in South Africa examples of people who used their voices responsibly. Up until 1990, the anti-Apartheid activists had sometimes been violently protesting. There had actually been an armed struggle against the government. But in 1990, the African National Congress suspended that struggle. When there was finally a big enough rise for the cause, things could have gotten very violent very quickly. Yet we learned from Nelson Mandela, “Our human compassion binds us the one to the other — not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings that have learned how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” Mandela and other leaders were preachers of peace who led people faced with unrest in the right direction.
But what about the unrest we’re facing today? Most people are aware of the tragedy that happened in Ferguson, MO and the similar tragedies that seem to have been permeating our everyday news since. In August of 2014, a young man by the name of Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. Michael was unarmed. This case would have been controversial regardless, but there was one factor that made it even more controversial: Michael Brown was black. So many people, fueled by emotion and passion and fear reacted in a way that was only human: they reacted quickly, and they reacted violently. But as a society, we need to look at protests like that and question their effectiveness. The only result of that protest was a broken community. However, there were peaceful protests that delivered a stronger message without leaving a hurtful wound on the world. Football players gave a message to the world when they put their hands up at a football game, representing what many say Brown was doing at the time he was shot. There was also a march of everyday citizens from Ferguson to the Missouri Governor’s house. A peaceful march. These are the kinds of protests that deliver a message, the kinds of protests that heal. We, in America, have the right and the power to protest because we are blessed with the freedom of expression. The freedom that allows us to release movies like “The Interview”, a comedy about assassinating the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Most people look at “The Interview” as a funny satire. And it is. But it’s more than just that. “The Interview” is an artistic form of protest against the tyranny in North Korea. And the diplomats in North Korea understood that. So before the movie was released, North Korean hackers threatened to terrorize any theater that showed the movie, so Sony canceled the release. However, after the world showed its disdain for the cancellation, it was decided that the movie would indeed be released, and it would just be released over the internet and in theaters that chose to. And as of yet, there have been no terrorist attacks in retaliation. But countries aren’t always that lucky. At the beginning of 2015, there was a terrorist attack in Paris at the headquarters for a magazine called Charlie Hebdo. Charlie Hebdo had been releasing pictures of cartoons and caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Extremists started making threats, releasing hit lists, and attacking the very freedom we value: the freedom of expression. The people working for Charlie Hebdo continued to exercise their right to freedom of expression, even though they knew they were risking their lives. On January 7, 2015, 12 people were murdered in the Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters. Another group of terrorists then went on to shoot a female police officer and take hostages in a Jewish grocery store. Immediately, France spoke out against this injustice. There were candlelight vigils and marches and people speaking out against this tragedy everywhere. The world was so disgusted by this act of terror that there was a march of world leaders in Paris. It was a prime example of people using their voice to the best of their ability: in a peaceful protest. But how do we convince ourselves to choose peace over violence? To let our voices be the answer to the injustice we face?
Even when overthrowing a government, peaceful protest is the answer. Political scientist Erica Chenoweth recently compiled data on major violent and nonviolent campaigns ranging from 1900 to 2006. The success rate of nonviolent campaigns was approximately 52% while the success rate of violent campaigns was a mere 23%. The failure rate of nonviolent campaigns was only 20%, while the failure rates of violent campaigns was a staggering 60%. Chenoweth’s data also shows that for a nonviolent campaign to be successful, only 3.5% of that country’s population has to be active within the fight. 3.5% of a country’s population is a significant number of people, but that percentage is easier to reach and even exceed now with the use of technology. In Spain, a law called the Citizens Safety Law was passed that restricts the freedom of speech and assembly in front of government buildings. The law, passed in 2015, also states that violators can be charged up to 600,000 euros for an unauthorized demonstration, 600 euros for disrespecting police, and 30,000 euros for photographing or filming police in action. Rather than face these extreme fines, activists did something nobody has ever done before: they lifted their voices in the world’s first virtual political demonstration. Representatives of over 100 organizations became part of the holographic demonstration in front of the parliament building in Madrid. Their protest delivered a message not only to the Spanish government but to the world.
Even when their government takes away their rights to protest, they will still speak, shout, and sing out against any unfairness they face — just like the people of Yemen. On Friday, March 18th, 2011, citizens of Yemen were having a peaceful protest; they were camped out in the streets chanting about how they wanted a change in government. They took breaks to pray together. They didn’t bring their weapons. There are 5 million guns in Yemen and only 2 million people. But they didn’t bring their weapons. This protest lasted for weeks, but on Friday, March 18th, something changed. Men with guns started lurking around the edge of the crowd. All of the sudden a fire broke out on a wall at the edge of the crowd and snipers took their positions and opened fire on the innocent protestors. They shot to kill. When the protesters realized what was happening, they did not run and hide. They stood their ground and shouted, “God is good,” and, “peaceful, peaceful.” A massacre occurred that day. 45 innocent people were killed and over 300 were wounded, including men, women, and even children. Why? Because they were standing up for something they believed in; they were speaking their truth. And even though they were brutally punished for speaking out, one Yemeni had something very powerful to say: “I consider that day, Friday, March 18th, a turning point in Yemen’s history. There’s a stronger belief in the cause now, more persistence. There’s no turning back from what we started. For all these youth and sons of major tribes to go out and die with bullets to their bare chests while screaming, ‘Peaceful, peaceful.’ This is a message to the entire world.” Even when faced with the direst situation imaginable, the people of Yemen continued to choose peace over violence, bringing a beautiful strength to everyone fighting for justice. And we need to learn from the people of Yemen. Because their actions that day are a message to the entire world. They are a message to you. You have a voice. You have the power to change. Change your children, change your community, change your world. Make yourself aware of the unrest and injustice facing the world today. And fight it. Fight it with the one voice you were blessed with. Choose peace over violence, and teach others to do the same, especially your children. Demand that our government stands up for the basic human rights of people like the people in Yemen, those fighting for their voices to be heard. And remember that practically every moment of every day, you hold in your hand the technology to reach the world. Technology that you can use to make people aware of unfairness you witness. And you must use that power for good. To promote positivity, to raise awareness, to speak truth, to choose kindness, and to fight for justice.
This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust.
Leave the rest behind, it will turn to dust.
This is the sound of all of us (The Wailin’ Jennys).
