Like most people I have been shook by the recent events in
the Ukraine and Venezuela, particularly the footage of government soldiers
gunning down their own people. The whole thing is a mess. An absolute mess. Speaking
solely as an admittedly ignorant, far off observer, it doesn't matter who
started it. What matters is how it finishes.
Images of protestors in the streets are not foreign to our TV
sets and twitter accounts of late. What started with the Arab spring has spread
across the planet. From anti government protests in Thailand to all out civil
war in Syria, even our own "Occupy" movement here at home, the theme
remains the same.
The citizen does not trust their government anymore.
And is it coincidence that this loss of faith in our
governing bodies comes at a time when information travels around the planet faster
and more freely than ever before? It can't be, can it?
If you plot the course of human history, you will notice
that all great societal shifts occur at a time where knowledge that was
previously hidden from the general public is suddenly distributed in vast
quantities. The renaissance is often romanticised as a time of enlightenment
and cultural expression, when in reality it was chaos. Especially in the
beginning. Inventions like the printed press played a huge part in the
redistribution of knowledge, which were soon followed by wealth and power, creating a
vacuum. Most efforts to counter act this vacuum resulted in violence. Check out
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast for
some great examples.
The internet is our printing press. The cat is out of the
bag. We've been lied to and man are we pissed.
I had a teacher who predicted this. Fourth period in my
final semester of high school was spent in Mike Morrisette's 'World Issues'
class. I had all my credits and football season was over, fourth period was the
only reason I still came to school. While Mr. Morrisette did his best to
enlighten a bunch of small town teenagers, I always left class with the same
three themes: Russia can't be trusted, North-Korea is kinda scary, and the
internet will be responsible unprecedented political reform around the world.
"Soon everyone around the world is going to see how you
kids are living," he would say. "And soon they're gonna want a piece
of that life too."
What I don't think anyone saw coming is what an effective
tool social media can be to the reformist. There is nowhere to hide now.
Everything is exposed, most of it in 1080 high definition pixels. Video of
clashes are uploaded instantly, making anyone with an iPhone a battlefield
reporter. Networking sites like Twitter are also extremely effective for
co-ordinating masses of people on the ground.
Which brings us to a disturbing revelation; the lack of
footage, photos and general lack of information coming out of Venezuela. While
Kyiv has most of their communications infrastructure operational, internet and
cell phone communications have been suppressed in many cities across Venezuela.
I spent 3 weeks in Venezuela in 2006. Chavez had just started to intensify his
squeeze on the people and even then the streets of Caracas were ripe with political
graffiti and small groups of activists either protesting or listening to
speeches. There was also what appeared to be a larger than needed military
presence, almost a type of posturing. This all points to signs of a regime that
planned ahead, and pre meditated murder of one's own citizens is super spooky.
The images coming out of Kyiv have made the international
community aware of what's going on and governments around the world have already
imposed sanctions. Some will say the international response is not enough,
others will argue the opposite but the important fact is that they were
informed enough to make a decision in the first place. Venezuela isn't getting
that right now.
While the rule of law is essential to a functioning society,
it is also important to provide a forum for change. Take the analogy of a dam.
If a little bit of water is allowed to trickle through, the dam holds up,
society more or less functions. If you do not allow the water to pass through the dam, the pressure
builds, the dam bursts, chaos ensues. When a government opens fire on their own
people, the dam is gone, all bets are off.
This government needs to go.
For every protester that falls at the hands of a corrupt
government, he is replaced by 2 more. The fastest way to turn political protest
into all out civil war is to kill unarmed civilians. Today's protester will be
histories revolutionary. We are now in an era of a worldwide collective knowledge.
Knowledge is power, power to the people.
