Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
From Our Readers

The ones who are most worried about protests are the government. The usual point of view is that protests should be prohibited, and social problems and grievances of the people should be addressed through the ‘normal channels’, most commonly through voting, lobbying, and writing letters to politicians.

However, these ‘normal channels’ are normally not quick enough or entirely unworkable.

A government does not start listening to the people until they want to win your votes a few months before the general election, which typically only comes around every four to five years. Lobbying is discriminatory in nature as they will only benefit those with money and power, and even then, lobbying for social justice had almost never been successful. Writing letters to politicians or government are so inefficacious they are almost nugatory.

We need a more participatory democracy to reclaim the power that belongs to the people, and using orthodox channels will not always work.

There is a dangerous trend developing - the government had been very active in using repressive means to stifle dissent from every corner with its arbitrary, ruthless and selective enforcement of the law. The argument that the people should only use the “normal channels” is particularly weak when the state represses dissent. Instead, the reality of repression lends justification for protest being part of a wider political struggle.

Far from purporting to destabilise democracy, protest had played a fundamental role in forcing the introduction of most of the freedoms that exist in democracies today that we have come to identify as ‘status quo’. Non-violent protests were instrumental in abolishing slavery, extending enfranchisement, improving labour rights and upholding the rights of women and minorities.

Many of the rights that we have today - particularly those enshrined from the constitution - are not won by the use of these “normal channels”, but from struggles through public rallies where individuals show personal concerns by their presence and their collective concern by their numbers.

The people’s power

The power took from the people must return to the people, and liberty must flourish. You are not just one person, but you are a collection of human strength that have a great say in determining the decent lives that we should live together as a nation. We are the ones with the power to substitute hate and intolerance with reason and compassion.

There are two questions that we have to ask as citizens to recognise the necessity to protest:

1. Is the government listening to our needs?

2. What direction do we want to move in as a nation?

If we can conclude that the government had never addressed our grievances, then we will have to ask the second question of whether we would be satisfied with doing nothing and move in a direction of greater polarisation filled with hatred and mistrust, or do we want to make an effort to make our voices heard.

We have to make it clear that we cannot allow oppression to happen, because everyone wants to live in a country that sees justice to every single humanity. Indicting one soul for dissent would mean indicting all souls that crave liberty and freedom.

One of the greatest rights in the world is the right to protest for rights. Protest brings light to the darkest chambers of despair, awakens the exhaustion of pessimism, and ushers our people to the eminence of hope.

There must come a time when the position we take are neither safe nor popular, but we still take them because our conscience tells us it is right. No lie can live forever, because although the moral universe is long, it bends towards justice.

This Saturday on March 7, 2015, Malaysian Progressives in the United Kingdom will be holding a demonstration at an iconic location of Old Palace Yard, London SW1 in front of the Houses of Parliament. We wish that you join us.

ADS