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Tag: protest

  • I’m Fasting in Solidarity with the People of Zimbabwe

    The situation is getting very bad in Zimbabwe. Hyperinflation, lack of clean drinking water or food, violent oppression of citizens, Mugabe is destroying his country through clinging on to his power. We’ve all seen the images.

    I got word from Avaaz that hundreds of activists, including Desmond Tutu, have started a hunger strike in solidarity with the 11 million people in Zimbabwe who can have only one meal per day, or less.

    It’s time for a change. This Sunday, February 1, heads of state are meeting in Ethiopia. A call has gone out for people to fast in solidarity during that day. The pledge is as follows:

    We, the undersigned, pledge to fast for a day in solidarity with the Zimbabwean people. We call on leaders throughout Africa—and the world—to act now to decisively support their struggle for justice, democracy, and survival.

    The fast is just from sun up to sun down. I’ve always wondered about fasting, about ascetics, or Muslims during Ramazan/Ramadan, what they go through. I’m quite sure I won’t enjoy the fast, but it’s for a great cause and after all, I have a choice. Many people around the world do not.

    Take the pledge. Do it with me and 25,000 others. Just for one day, between sun up and sun down, how hard can that be?

    Go to take the pledge now!

    Photo by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe, shared under a Creative Commons license.

    Are you in? Why is this worth fasting for?

    Keep in touch with me next Sunday to see how I’m doing. Follow me on Twitter.

  • Netherlands to ban ‘magic’ mushrooms starting December 1

    Dutch Christian Democrat minister of Public Health, Ab Klink, has announced the ban of selling and growing ‘magic mushrooms’, or shrooms, will take place on December 1. This knee-jerk reaction follows a media and political hype caused last year by the suicide of a 17-year old French tourist who was said to be under the influence of mushrooms at that time. It was also her second suicide attempt.

    Politicians got riled up as the media started covering every mushroom mishap in Amsterdam. Since nobody really stopped campaigning since the last government was formed – as they’re doomed to fail – they saw this as a good chance to speak up, speak out and win votes. At the cost of liberty and sanity.

    Ab Klink, minister of Public Health, previously asked the Coördinationpoint for the Assessment and Monitoring of new drugs (CAM) to research illegalizing shrooms. They concluded that these are the risks involving mushrooms:

    • Health of the individual: no risk.
    • Public health / society: minimal risk.
    • Public order / safety: minimal risk.
    • Criminal involvement: no risk.

    The CAM advised against a ban on mushrooms for the following reasons:

    • The smartshops selling the mushrooms might replace them by substances which carry more risk;
    • It will lead to shrooms being sold in tablet-form, like XTC pills;
    • Users would pick mushrooms in nature, which could lead to serious problems if they mistake the wrong type of mushrooms for the ones they are looking for;
    • Users might switch to other drugs, which might be more interesting from a criminal perspective and possibly carry more risk for usage… Leading to more danger to the public;
    • The banning of mushrooms is a rather tough sanction given the current problems its causing;
    • Maintaining a ban would bring costs.

    What did Ab Klink do? Ban them! Of course. The CAM was surprised as this is the first time a minister has ignored the advice of this advice organ. Minister Klink is obviously tripping. Or maybe he’d like to see the Bible as our lawbook?

    Dutch ‘smartshops’ that sell magic mushrooms and other legal mind-altering substances are taking this to court. For updates on this matter you can follow Dutch blog Red De Paddo (Save The Shroom).

    Recently a Christian Democrat politician called for the closing of all coffeeshops in Holland and illegalizing cannabis. In a follow-up poll, Dutch citizens expressed their opinions about the Dutch policy regarding drugs. 36% want coffeeshops illegalized, but 34% wants to see them completely legalized. Coffeeshops in Holland are currently in a grey area, more can be read about this in the article below or on Wikipedia. In short the sale of softdrugs is legal in Holland, but supplying coffeeshops of them is not.

    Last year I wrote about the pending mushroom ban in several articles, one of which is reposted below, the others can be found via these links:

    Stay updated. Follow my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

    Below a repost of my article “Dutch government to ban cultural identity“. (more…)

  • PhotoHunt: Wrinkled

    I took this shot during the Global Day of Action for Tibet on the Dam square in Amsterdam. Besides this being one of the few pictures that corresponded with the theme, I also feel quite strong about the Tibetan issue. If you haven’t already, check out the BBC documentary “Undercover in Tibet” (for free via the link).

    To see the whole album of pictures I took during the Global Day of Action, click here.

    If you have a wrinkled picture of your own to share and you’re a PhotoHunter, be sure to leave your name and a direct link to the post below! All PhotoHunt posts get Stumbled!

    Technorati: PhotoHunt

    Previous PhotoHunts.

  • Saving the Shroom

    So it appears that they set up a way to protest the Dutch government’s decision to ban ‘magic mushrooms’. On RedDePaddo.nl there is an email you can sign which is automatically sent to the parliament and ministers. Apparently Monday afternoon, 10,000 people had signed it already… Tuesday morning, this was 20,000!

    They’re taking more initiatives than just that, so be sure to check out their website. At least SEND AN EMAIL! They also give a bunch of great reasons why these mushrooms should not be banned:

    (more…)

  • Young idealists… (Free Burma protest in Sofia, Bulgaria)

    Pieter with rosesWell, it wasn’t big.. but at least I did something. The protest had 8 participants, but it’s probably the biggest protest the Chinese embassy has ever seen here in Sofia. As indicated earlier, I decided that it would be a good idea to get red flowers, because I had a feeling our presence would not be very strong. Turned out to be roses, because they were the closest to maroon red we could find. So we went to the Chinese embassy and went onto the steps to place the roses. Immediately a guard came out to ask us what we were doing, tell us not to take pictures and wanted to know if we had any permit to be protesting… Come on, it’s just 8 of us placing roses. So the only picture I have of us at the embassy is 1 second (literally) before that moment and you can see it at the bottom of the post. We stayed around for about half an hour, seeing if anything would happen. We saw some Chinese employee of the embassy looking at us and making a few calls. After a while we decided to leave the rest of the roses for the embassy employees with a note that said “For a free Burma”. Then we left.

    If there is anyone from Bulgarian protest groups reading this, or has any experience (and knows how to get a permit), please contact me.

    Click to enlarge!
    Representing France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, the UK and Bulgaria.

    Oh, and I realize now that i could use my contacts at the radio and TV next time. Great!

    This proves that everyone can do at least SOMETHING. And it can be fun, I met two new people through it. STUMBLE IT to spread the world!

  • Protest for Burma, Sofia 2007

    Since nobody is taking the initiative, I will. In the hope that people will find this post through Google.

    This is the plan!

    If you care about the situation in Burma at all… Please do the following.

    Go find the Chinese embassy (search: China Embassy on Google Maps), and lay a maroon-red flower there. Preferably between 2 and 3pm today (but if you read this too late, any day will do – I plan to do it once every few days).

    Why maroon-red? It’s the colour of the robes of the Buddhist monks who were imprisoned, tortured, mutilated and killed in Burma.

    Why the Chinese embassy? They’re Burma’s main ally… THEY can do something about this situation, but so far haven’t.

    Why only a flower? Because of the small scale of participation. If we can’t organize a mass of people to come together at the same time… Let’s at least do something.

    The people in Burma were killed and abused while the world was watching. They’re blood’s not only on the junta’s hands, but on the hands of all who failed to act to prevent it. So please, do something!

    If you’re interested in setting something up, please email me at baslife (nospam) gmail – com

    Some news just got out: Injured protesters in Burma are being burned alive!!

  • A Day of International Action for Burma

    Basically it’s like this… remember the first things we heard about Burma, and the images of protesting monks? Well… they’re dead now. Or as good as dead. They’re either dead or facing serious torture, or locked in their pagoda’s (where they store no food). We stood by and watched while this happened. At least I tried to get people active.. but I wonder how people who didn’t even bother to sign the petition feel.

    Tomorrow is your chance. A Day of International Action for Burma (or have a look at the petition link and scroll all the way down for a list of places to go). GO. GO. If there’s anything near where you live you MUST go, you must do something, we must do MORE. There is nothing scheduled here, which really sucks, but I called friends and told them to let people know. I’m probably heading for the Chinese embassy tomorrow at 2pm.

    If you’re googling and you’re reading this.. In front of the Chinese embassy in Sofia! 2PM. I have a feeling not many people will show up, but I can’t let this happen without at least doing something. Had I had more time and known about it earlier, I would’ve set something up properly (maybe I would’ve been able to mobilize a hundred people, who knows), but now it’s too late for that already and I feel sad about it.

    So if you have the chance to join a protest.. DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!

    And if China does not intervene… let’s boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics.

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