Friday, September 08, 2006
Ambassadors of Resistance
I was looking at the photo of Gerry Adams laying a wreath on Yasser Arafat's grave today, and recalled a photo of Sinn Fein's president shaking hands with Nelson Mandela. As political leaders of their respective armed struggles of liberation, who were able to make the transition into national statesmen and international ambassadors uniting worldwide resistance to colonialism, they serve as role models to indigenous leaders on all continents.
While not all struggles in the movement for self-determination will take up arms, they have and will continue to experience violent repression by dominant states and cultures. What we can hope for in the tireless efforts of Fourth World freedom fighters like Adams and Mandela today, is that a global awareness and appreciation of the need to be self-governed will somehow override the media-manufactured fear of freedom and hostility to genuine democracy that now pervades the First World airwaves.
While not all struggles in the movement for self-determination will take up arms, they have and will continue to experience violent repression by dominant states and cultures. What we can hope for in the tireless efforts of Fourth World freedom fighters like Adams and Mandela today, is that a global awareness and appreciation of the need to be self-governed will somehow override the media-manufactured fear of freedom and hostility to genuine democracy that now pervades the First World airwaves.
