How real is our Democracy?

As we uncover the role of a democracy in class, I thought I would post about the American democracy, something that we can all relate to. Although America is stereotypically the ideal democracy, I find more and more that our country isn't "governed by the people"-- the definition that Ms. Finn gave us in class. I cannot say that we are all equal and that we all exercise complete freedom. As we know, we elect officials who we think are going to make right decisions, but we rarely have say in what actually happens in our political system. I know it seems impossible for everyone to have a say in everything, but then is this a true democracy?
Following is a letter to the editor from the New York Times (October 14, 2007) from a woman from MA who feels like her voice (and actually many others who agree with her) is not being heard and that she is not living in a society where justice and democracy are supposed to be prevalent.
"Thank you, Frank Rich, for calling attention to the troubling reality of American apathy that has allowed the Bush administration to violate our most cherished principles of justice, democracy and human rights.
Along with millions of other Americans, I have participated in a multitude of events protesting the policies of this administration, including a famously underreported march of half a million people in Washington right before the start of the Iraq war.
Along with my friends and family, I have written letters, signed petitions, contacted my Congressional representatives and actively campaigned at the grass-roots level. None of it has helped.
I am profoundly discouraged. What can we do? "

So my questions are:
Do you feel part of a truly democratic society here in the U.S.? If not, why not?
What are the advantages and disadvantages to the U.S.'s form of democracy? Does one outweigh the other?
Can you answer this woman's last question: "What can we (as individuals) do"?

Self-Deception and Equality in America

While discussing the question of "self-deception," in class, an interesting question came up: what exactly do we mean, or more precisely, did the Founders mean, when they wrote "all men are created equal?"

Obviously, not everyone is created equal - everyone has a different talent or skill. So then what exactly does "equality" mean?

Does equality mean equal rights under the law? What kinds of rights?

Does it mean equal opportunity... ie... "pursuit of happiness?"

Does it mean equal wealth?

Can equality be all of these things at once? Can it be something else?

Who determines what this "equality" is?

And... relating back to the original question - does this "equality" exist in America today? Do we tell ourselves that it does? Why?

Anyway, lots of questions, few answers, but I'd like to know what you guys think.

-coe

Genocide in Darfur & Apartheid in South Africa

In terms of student activism, the Apartheid of South Africa and the genocide in Darfur have a stiking number of similarities. The Apartheid is an interesting case study to look at because student protests and activism for divestment in South Africa really helped to end the racism and human rights abuses. Here is a brief overview of the Apartheid:

"Apartheid consisted of numerous laws that allowed the ruling white minority in South Africa to segregate, exploit and terrorize the vast majority: Africans, mostly, but also Asians and Coloureds - people of mixed race. In white-ruled South Africa, black people were denied basic human rights and political rights. Their labour was exploited, their lives segregated.
Under Apartheid, racist beliefs were enshrined in law and any criticism of the law was suppressed. Apartheid was racism made law. It was a system dictated in the minutest detail as to how and where the large black majority would live, work and die. This system of institutionalized racial discrimination defied the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Steve Biko is an especially good example of a student activist who was allegedly murdered by the apartheid regime of South Africa and since then revered as a martyr of the movement and a civil rights activist:
"Steven Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement. While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower blacks, and he was famous for his slogan "black is beautiful", which he described as meaning: "man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being". The ANC (African National Conference, governing party of South Africa) was very hostile to Biko and to Black Consciousness through the 70s to the mid 90s[Quotation from source requested on talk page to verify interpretation of source] but has now included Biko in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going so far to use his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first democratic elections, in 1994." Steve Biko (I know wikipedia is bad but this was a good summary)
Apartheid in South Africa
More Info

This relates to the situation in Darfur, which is actually much "worse" given that it is a genocide. My questions are:

• What are the factors that make student activism effective?
• Why was the divestment apartheid movement of the '80s seemingly more effective than that of the divesement movement for Darfur today?
• Is student activism the way that human rights causes should be solved and campaigned for in the first place? Is it up to the students to campaign for human rights or should the government and international community be doing more?
• The connects to our in class thingy about solving genocide, what is the most effective solution? Does student activism only take place because the international community and politicans are too slow?
  

Also I want to let everyone know about the DAY OF ACTION FOR DARFUR tomorrow, Wednesday October 24th.

Social Justice Club will be hosting a petition drive in the foyer all day, where you can come by and sign the global petition for Darfur and learn more about it as well.

Claims of Genocide in Hunters Point

This post is a little belated, but I felt that it was worth sharing:

About two weeks ago I attended the official San Francisco Mayoral debate, and one of the questions was about how the candidates would deal with the violence in the Bayview/Hunters Point area. One cadidate, I believe it was Josh Wolf, stated that Gavin Newsom's lack of action against the violence was genocide. This brings up a few interesting questions- would this be considered genocide? And also, if it were considered genocide, who would be the pertetrator? That relates back to the questions of bystanders and perpetrators. If you did believe the murders to be genocide, would the perpetrators be the individuals who had committed the murders, or the Mayor for not doing enough to stop them, or both?

*Even if you don't believe this is a genocide, I'm still curious about your answers to the other questions*

Armenian Genocide Bill and US Polotics

First, I would like to retract a statement I made in class a few days ago. I guess this only applies to H block folk, unless there were people from other blocks spying in class who I did not see. I made an incorrect statement that I had not seen the Armenian Genocide bill debate on the front page of the New York Times. After rushing home to make sure my claim was correct I realized it was not. The bill debate has been on the front page numerous times over the past week or so. The stories seem to be on the right hand column and are not close to the main picture, which is what I usually look at first. My apologies...

But as I was looking in the NYT I read a very interesting article about former Representative Robert L. Livingston that appeared on Wed. Oct 17th. (This is the website: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/washington/17lobby.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
In brief the article talks about this man who has become the main lobbyist for Turkey in blocking the many congressional attempts at a Armenian Genocide bill. He has received more than 12 million dollars for his work from the Turkish government.

Up until 1999 he was a Louisiana congressman and was elected House speaker in late 1998 only to leave office because having "extramarital" affairs during a time when a main news headline was the Clinton sex scandal. (In the spirit of citations I got this info from another NYT times article that can be found at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E1DC173CF935A15751C0A96F9582
60&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/L/Livingston,%20Robert%20L.)

Anyway, on the topic of lobbyists. Some questions: Do you think it is okay to have so much money surrounding legislation? Are lobbyists good for the political system? For democracy? Should representatives be listening to lobbyists? Does any sum of money taint the democratic process?

Please respond to these or any other topics of your own.

Turkish Incursions Into Kurdistan

Yesterday 20 Turkish soldiers were either killed or captured by Kurdish rebels in south-eastern Turkey, prompting a response throughout the country and reinforcing Turkey's plan to attack northern Iraq. Because we had talked about possible ramifications of passing the Armenian Genocide bill I thought it was interesting that a Turkish invasion of Iraq is becoming an increasingly viable possibility. In the face of these new developments, and the immanent effect it could have on America's interests overseas, does anyone still think passing the bill was the "right" thing to do?

This is the link to the story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071022/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey