Friends,
I spent the day demonstrating in Salt Lake City to show my support for the mostly-peaceful demonstrators in Iran, who are being severely punished for their promulgation of ideas and yearning for a transparent democracy. I encourage you to go online and read about the ongoing protests and the massive human rights abuses that the government of Iran (GOI) is committing against the activists. Stories have come in about government plans dropping boiling water on protesters, doctors being tortured, a unique crystalline tear-gas being used in order to prevent one from washing out the painful substance- up to 150 dead. I am glad that Obama spoke out against today's atrocities saying, in paraphrase, that the violent crackdown by the GOI was not acceptable.
Today's rally was inspiring, 150 + people braved the rain and wind to show their support for democracy everywhere, chanting mostly non-violent slogans such as "freedom for Iran", "democracy for Iran" and "human-rights." We marched from the City and County Building to the Capital, receiving approving honks and thumbs-ups as we marched forward. The air was pregnant with hope and optimism, yet tinged with sorrow at the loss of life and ongoing repression in Iran. I was inspired that the demonstrators defied the Supreme Leader's exhortation to give up the protests or else- what courage. I will continue taking the streets with the local Iranians and their concerned cohorts until a new election is called in Iran.
Regarding the Burma "house arrest" party last night: About 8-9 people gathered at my house to have a symbolic birthday party for Nobel peace prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was forced to spend her 64th birthday in prison for no crime. We ate traditional Burmese Dessert, watched short films on Burma and Suu Kyi, wrote letters to our representatives regarding Burma, signed petitions, ate good food, and socialized about activism and beyond. We raised a little over $30 for the cause, and more importantly, opened minds to a cause that they never knew about- empowering a few people at a time. I was extremely happy that people showed up- it was difficult to say the least to get people to come- everyone is so "busy" with day to day life I suppose. All in all the past two days were wonderful and I plan to keep the activism going with continued fundraisers for the Vumilia mill and for my second trip to Kenya, amongst other initiatives!
Pictures were taken by Vincent Longa, view them here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1588411916&ref=profile#/album.php?aid=117974&id=772622753
Keep up with the news and keep serving.
Respectfully,
Cameron
Word booty. Both events were pretty awesome to say the least, and I'm looking forward to some creative fundraisers for the remainder of the summer and the coming Fall! We should encourage our members to sign up for twitter as well and we can have Vinny use his mad internet-based talents to keep everyone up to date on weekly activities and goals. The more we poke people in the direction of service and activism the more likely they are to realize how fun and rewarding it can be!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I'm going to make it a goal to encourage STAND members to use social networking to make STAND more effective. Facebook and e-mail has helped me raised $723 for the Vumilia mill project, so I am a fan!!!
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