Peace is the New Black: 2011

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Occupy the World

The Occupy Wall Street protests have inspired other "Occupy (insert location here)" protests in countries all over the world. Recent reports state that the Occupy movement has spread to 82 countries so far.

Occupy protests have taken place in London, Rome, Chile, Tokyo, Madrid and Berlin, to name a few. The world's spirit of revolution was awakened in 2011. Starting with the protests in the Arab world that turned in to the Arab Spring to the protests in New York City that spread everywhere; we are the 99% and we have had enough.

The protests in Rome attracted more media attention than any other city. This was due to the protest's violent nature. The protest organized by the Occupy movement was peaceful until anarchists (known as the "Black Block") appeared and began tearing up pieces of cobblestone from the street to hurl at buildings and the police, reports TIME. Furthermore, the anarchists burned several buildings and cars with Molotov cocktails. Occupy protesters were forced to barricade themselves in side streets or run for cover.

Aside from the unfortunate incident in Rome, the other protests across the world were largely peaceful. I found some photographs of several of the protests that took place yesterday, October 15, 2011 the Global "Day of Rage".

Rome, Italy

Berlin, Germany

Frankfurt, Germany

Julian Assange of Wikileaks in London, England

Brussels, Belgium

Madrid, Spain

Vancouver, Canada

Tokyo, Japan

Santiago, Chile

NYC

Occupy Wall Street

Los Angeles, CA

Seattle, WA

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Egyptian Army Violently Disperses Coptic Protesters

In #Maspero, Cairo a group comprising mostly of Coptic Christians and some Muslims were protesting against the persecution of Egyptian Coptic Christians, they were then attacked by the Egyptian Army. The death toll is reported at 24 with 200 injured. The video below shows the Egyptian Army attacking unarmed protesters.

Twitter has been erupting with images and videos of the attacks on the protesters in Maspero. Some of the pictures are below, follow the hashtags #Maspero, #EgyArmy, #SCAF or my personal fave, #FuckSCAF for live information.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Incredible Video of Protesters in Syria

It's graphic, yet inspirational but it's only inspirational once you get to the end of the video. If you stop halfway through its just straight up depressing. The video is in Arabic without subtitles but trust me, their actions speak louder (and clearer) than their words.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Massacre in Hama, Syria

On the night before Ramadan 2011, the Syrian regime demonstrated their moral bankruptcy and sheer desperation by massacring a staggering amount of people, mostly in the central Syrian city of Hama. Reports claim that at least 80-100 civilians were massacred in Hama alone, with several others killed in other Syrian cities.

The massacre today has even caught the attention of President Obama; "The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime," Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

News agency Al-Arabiya tweeted, "The Syrian army in Kiswa prevents people from performing Ramadan Tarawih night prayers #HamaMassacre #Assad."

For Tweets from the ground in Syria, some Tweeps to follow are @SyrianProtests & @MalathAumran

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Morocco's Protests in Pictures

Big banner reads: No to the joining between power and wealth

Sign reads: "The people want a new Morocco"

Monday, July 4, 2011

Egyptian Police Kill 14 Year-Old Boy

Reports are surfacing on Twitter that a 14 year-old boy was killed by an Egyptian officer in Abu Qarn area. The officer was from Manyal police department and today the family and neighbors of the young victim and some protesters went the Police station. Another report from Twitter claimed (in Arabic) "a 14 year-old boy was shot with a bullet in the head and his corpse is still in the street and the army and CSF (Central Security Forces) are protecting the police department." Another report from Twitter claims that tear gas is being used to disperse the crowd.

This is only a recent report of the police brutality in Egypt that has been going on for decades. We must not forget that the Egyptian revolution was started because of the outrage caused from the torture of Khalid Said by the Egyptian police.

Below is a video of another peaceful youth being gunned down by police for no apparent reason.

Some hashtags to follow for this story are #Manyal #14yob

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Palestinians Revolt Through Art

Many people are used to seeing Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli tanks as a symbolic form of resistance. What may be a less familiar image of a Palestinian, is one of the Palestinian artist using his or her art as a form of peaceful resistance.

Several creative Palestinians have used their own interpretation of art as a means of expressing their identity in a land where they have been robbed of an 'official' identity.

Khaled Jarrar, a Palestinian artist, has come up with an original way to express his identity. He created a passport stamp for Palestine and he offers to stamp the passports of people visiting the West Bank. Watch the video below to see Khaled in action.

Khaled Jarrar's Palestinian passport stamps

Instead of passport stamps, a young group of Palestinian guys have found another way to express themselves; Parkour. Parkour or Free Running is about physically overcoming obstacles in your own way, something Palestinians can definitely relate to. Watch the videos below to see Gaza Parkour in action.