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This article was written by Katie Menzies, intern at the Redwood
Empire Environmental Center, for a political awareness class at
the Hutchins School at Sonoma State University.
Dear
Hutchins,
Our class decided to make a reader for you about tackling the
issues of our modern world. I was designated to find reading about
democracy. I thought long and hard about a valid source that would
convey the things I believe about our democracy. And I realized,
that the meat of democracy is created by our own thoughts, and
ideas about our country. And so I write to you what I think democracy
is, and what I believe is the best way to implement democracy
in our lives.
Democracy:
The common people, considered as the primary source of political
power. The common people are the fuel of our ideal government.
WE ARE THE ONES WHO MAKE CHANGE! Doesn't that make you feel rowdy?
Democracy should make you feel vibrant, alive, and young, because
these feelings are the roots of our democracy. Imagine hotheaded
young men dressing up like Natives in the middle of the night
to shout and through boxes of tea off the deck into the harbor!
Democracy in my sense is not about campaigns, or administrations.
It's about yelling! It's about voting! It's about bumper stickers.
It's about marching. It's about the grass roots society. It's
about believing in a changed tomorrow and having enough inspiration
and imagination to go for it!
Its
easy to feel incapable, its easy to feel overwhelmed and exhausted
by the absolute need for change in our country and world. But,
democracy is alive because the people who fight against the current
of apathy even if its hard. They fight even if nothing comes of
it, because we can always have a voice. Democracy is about our
voices. So how do we make sure that we don't take it for granted?
We get up and make posters and walk for freedom. We yell and sing
and bang drums. We write letter upon letter to our representatives.
We start a non-profit organization with our two best friends in
the neighborhood to stand for noble causes. We ride our bikes.
We debate, and we talk, and we make compromises.
Democracy
is not far away from you. It is so much more then definition in
a textbook, or history tales. Democracy is in our veins! It is
being breathed in and out this very moment! There is no gene or
personality trait that makes one person more active than another.
It's just about us realizing that we are the power. We are every
person in history that has spoken up about the state of the world
and has lead us to a more sustainable tolerant society. Its time
to start believing in our power today!
Ways
to Implement Democracy Into Your Life
o
Protest
o Start a club
o Talk about what you believe in, in daily conversation
o VOTE, VOTE, VOTE
o Don't be shy to write letters to legislators
o Read independent news
o Go to political events
o Run for office!
o Support small organizations
o Be passionate!
"I
believe in democracy because it releases the energies of every
person."- Woodrow Wilson
"Information
is the currency of democracy."- Thomas Jefferson
"
Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better
than we deserve."- George Bernard Shaw
"An
army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot."
Thomas Paine
Si
Se Puede!
Katie
Menzies
Youth Activist Convergence:
"Our Future, Our Choices"
Youth
Activist Manifesto
We,
the Youth-Activist Alliance, offer this first draft of the Youth
Activist Manifesto-a statement of our goals and ideals, identifying
both our challenges and our resources, our motivations and our
priorities in taking action to create the future we envision.
As
youth activists, our vision for the future is inclusive, respectful,
and supportive.
-
We
envision a future with peace, sustainability, and abundance.
We envision communities where people's needs are provided for,
where community members are responsible and responsive, and
nobody is left isolated or impoverished.
-
We want institutions that don't feel like institutions. We want
more sit-ins, less sit-coms. We envision a future where local
community empowerment replaces corporate imperialism and coercive
authority.
-
We
seek a reality that is collectively motivated, diverse, aware,
provocative, safe, truthful, healthy, green, creative.
-
We
envision more youth organizing and facilitation.
We
perceive many challenges to our work as youth activists, including
how we treat each other, lack of knowledge and resources, and
our current government and economic system.
-
We
experience discrimination, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia,
and the use of stereotypes as weapons. We are ostracized for
choosing not to conform, for holding middle ground, and for
our unwillingness to change. We experience self-segregation
and lack of confidence in ourselves and our own power. We see
as a challenge a lack of connection to the natural world, to
our elders and the support of our families, and to each other
because of cultural and other barriers.
-
As
youth, we are often not taken seriously and not given a voice.
We are pressured to emulate our elders, to be more serious,
and to give up unique qualities of our youthfulness. We do not
control our own lives the way those who are older and more established
might.
-
Our
ignorance is a challenge. Just knowing how much we don't know
can be overwhelming. We lack worldly experience, face the challenge
of close-mindedness, and know that there are resources, such
as resources for peaceful interaction, that are not fully being
used.
-
We
perceive challenges in the power structure of our nation's government
and economy. Capitalism, imperialism, war, and patriotism, are
all institutions with negative impacts. Some of these impacts
include economic disparity, the pillaging of the world through
globalization, the definition of success as wealth and greed,
and other corruption of our ideals and intentions. A particular
challenge are monopolies like the corporate media, which markets
propaganda to youth resulting in commercial desensitization
and a destructive self-image.
-
Apathy,
negativism, pessimism, and fear of change are ongoing challenges.
As
youth activists, our principles of unity include the values and
motivations we share, such as:
-
We
value truth, peace, natural law, chaos, insanity and the mysteries
of the universe, native rights, balance, diversity, the interconnectedness
of all beings, the future, individuality, community.
-
We
are motivated by love, courage, hope, spirituality, discipline,
integrity, respect, concern for the well-being of ourselves
and our communities.
-
As
youth we value our elders and our families as means to finding
our own truths. As we value fairness and honesty, justice, responsibility
and compassion. We value happiness and abundance, but not at
the expense of sustainability or equality. We value playfulness
and the wisdom it brings.
We
commit ourselves to taking the next steps required to realize
our vision for the future. As youth activists, we see the following
resources and priorities in taking action:
-
We
want to foster communities which support freedom of speech,
youth media, free media, public art and the freedom to perform.
We intend to utilize our voices and creativity to promote public
awareness and cross-cultural consciousness, and to end the censorship
of important truths. We also see spirituality and ritual as
tools in this work.
-
We
commit ourselves to promoting equality and personal responsibility;
a society which values human and animal rights while respecting
the ecological needs of the planet, through waste reduction,
low impact transportation, and the responsible use and reuse
of our resources. We want more organic gardens!
-
We
seek to establish a nation defined by truly representative democracy
in peaceful cooperation with the international community. We
want to empower labor and consumers through local, community-oriented
business and agriculture. We want to end misuse of religious
and political power, and establish a healing and restorative
justice system. We don't want our country to keep struggling
nations in debt, and we want to make the military budget be
used for things like education and socialized health care.
-
We
want to provide an education for youth with lessons from the
real world emphasizing critical thinking and celebrating diversity.
We want earth-based education. We want to see community mentorship
and apprenticeship used in the integration of learning with
living.
-
We
expect to realize our own utopias at home in our own communities,
and in doing so reconnect those who have been cut off, made
to feel invalid or apathetic. We will organize collectively
and build coalitions within our communities to support this
work. We plan to reach outside of our communities to help replicate
events like the Youth Activist Convergence in other places.
Drafted
at the conclusion of the Youth Activist Convergence by all present,
April 14, 2002, in Sebastopol, California.
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