I thought about this today after I read the news on human rights violations during the Wall Street occupation and how cities are utilizing public force in order to keep people from protesting in public places all over the country. The mayor of Oakland, the first person to utilize force (I believe) during this event, says the people in NYC are in a “private” park and not in public domain. I’m here thinking, is there anything in the constitution that says people have the right to public assembly? I know there is such statement in both Colombian and Canadian constitutions… so enlighten me here, please.

After I graduated high school, my parents sent me to a nice private university in Colombia. A year later I decided the distance was too much to bear and I went back to my hometown, applied to enroll in a public university (one of the best in the country) and that’s where I went for 5 years. Public schools in Colombia (and many Latin-American countries) are well known for student protests, sometimes marked by violence (I had my share of escaping gun shots back in 1994, but that’s a story for another day). Anyway, many days of classes were interrupted by protests, assemblies, students demanding a better education, better cafeteria lunches, better prices, etc. A semester even got cancelled, and everyone had to graduate months later than they were supposed to. You learn to live with it; you may not be part of it, but it becomes a second nature.

I remember very well one day when one of my classmates told me I should go to protest because they were going to increase the price of lunches in the public cafeteria. At that time I didn’t understand why I would have to risk someone hitting me in the head with a rock when I really didn’t eat lunch there. At 18-19 I wasn’t fully aware that there were people who could hardly pay for their food and who struggled every single day, travelling long distances, so they could go to school. If they had money to pay for transportation, they probably couldn’t afford lunch. And there I was, kinda privileged girl who MADE the choice to go to a public university, but who lived like she was going to a private one. My friend called me an oligarch, I laughed at him and continued studying for a test while the protest went on outside.

Did I ever make part of a protest? No, not really, except against the war in Montreal, on a very cold winter morning and against the FARC when we lived in KC. Would I attend a school protest now? ABSOLUTELY. Last week, thousands of students in Colombia went out on the streets after weeks of protests, to ask the government not to make an educational reform that would greatly affect public education and people who rely on it. They said what they wanted, they occupied the streets of the major cities in Colombia, nobody was attacked with rubber bullets, water hoses or tear gas. At the end of the day the president said “OK, we won’t do it.” It worked, the protest worked, and nobody took that right from the students, to express their needs and tell the government “DO SOMETHING ALREADY!”

As I have matured, I understand the needs of many people and the intricacies of this world a little bit better. I am not blind to suffering and injustice, and I’m not blind to the reasons behind the Occupy Wall Street movement. However, my husband and I have been blessed and shielded during the current economic crisis in the U.S. We both have our jobs, we can put food on our table with no problem, our house is not going on foreclosure, etc. So, it’s hard to have perspective; and while I would never apologize for not struggling, in my head it is VERY clear that the inequality of this country’s social classes is abysmal. There we have the very rich 1%, getting richer every day and the 99% having to conform to whatever the powerful say. Does it sound fair to you? IT ISN’T.

And now we have city governments telling their people they have no right to protest? That it is unsanitary to occupy a place for so long, that it is an inconvenience to have a bunch of “hippies” soiling the streets. Don’t they see that these “hippies” are well-educated people who are tired of getting doors slammed on their faces no matter how much they busted their asses getting prepared to face the world? Instead of throwing people out, why don’t city governments help the protesters to set up peaceful protests? After all, isn’t that a human right? Yes, a human right that is being violated… in the LAND OF THE FREE.

Discuss?

December 2, 1993. Pablo Escobar, one of the men who has caused the most pain to my country was found and killed by the Colombian National Army. Images of his body covered in blood on a roof top were shown all over the news and people rejoiced. I didn’t… I cried. Because that’s who I am, I don’t find death funny or happy, no matter if it’s the death of my enemy.

The death of Osama bin Laden has brought memories of that December day when Pablo Escobar was finally captured/killed. Do I feel the same? Not really, but my first reaction was to wonder why people think this is a moment to “celebrate” when death is something so ugly and it’s exactly what has caused so much pain. And then I feel guilty because I’m not blind the horrors Osama bin Laden subjected the USA to, yet I look at the celebration as something just as vengeful and hateful as what he did… the whole eye for an eye. It makes me realize that violence and hate can only be fought against with the same and it breaks my heart to see what humanity has come to.

I’ve never agreed with the war. I don’t understand why people think this is a “happy” moment while all it brings is memories of that very dark day in 2001 and no real relief for those who lost someone (because killing the killer doesn’t bring the killed to life). To me, it is bitter and it shows the darkness of human nature as its best, what we can become and how far we are from peace. Call me naive, but I’m not the one with the sentiment. An article on Salon.com says it clearly: [...] We have been rightly disgusted — not only because they are lauding the death of our innocents, but because, more fundamentally, they are celebrating death itself. That latter part had been anathema to a nation built on the presumption that life is an “unalienable right.”

I don’t think this is time for cheering but a time to make peace with what has happened and to be relieved because justice has been done. A time to reflect and time to say thanks, not only to the US armed forces, but to every group of men and women who fight for our freedom all around the world. Because having to decide that death is the right thing must be pretty darn hard.

Another pretty interesting article in the Hufftington Post: The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s Death — “The bottom line is that we cannot even begin to have peace until we stop the cycle of jubilation over acts of violence.”

This morning while having a discussion on Facebook about the way Obama is being attacked and criticized (another president task, we all know that), I read someone’s comment practically saying he’s not a good element because he was praised by Fidel Castro. Seriously? Don’t people have better things to come up with?

I know Fidel Castro is one of those people who bring shame to the human race, but I don’t believe his praise makes Barack Obama a good or bad person. Fidel Castro is, after all, another guy with an opinion. And I can clearly see why he would admire somebody who represents everything that is contrary to the previous U.S. administration. Isn’t that why Obama won the election in the first place? Yes, change was needed and wanted by the people who decided.

I understand the bitterness of the opposition is the same bitterness people who didn’t want Bush in the White House felt. It’s the same with every beginning of a new presidency; some people won’t agree with it, and will try to bring their own reasons why. It’s called freedom of speech, but sometimes I wonder if people actually read or watch the news to know what’s really going on.

I don’t think the world is blind. George W. Bush got on that helicopter and left behind a trail of deceit. An endless war that has cost the U.S. trillions of dollars. An economy crisis that is costing thousands of people their jobs, including some of my friends. He is, by all means (and I’m not saying it, the media says it), the most unpopular president in the history of the U.S.

So what is there to miss about the previous government? Or how are we supposed to believe that another Republican leader would’ve made things better? People wanted change, and they got it. I know what it feels like when a president has messed up big time and you want change. Alvaro Uribe assumed the presidency of Colombia exactly because of the same reason, and fortunately we have not been disappointed. That doesn’t mean, however, that he hasn’t been criticized. I for one am not blind to recognize he’s made mistakes, and I don’t think another re-election should be in his future plans.

To believe that it is Obama’s task to fix the problems of this country during his first week in office is idiotic. Give the guy a chance to prove every single American he can bring something good to this nation. From what I read this morning, he’s already gone from words to actions. He has to clean a big mess, and anyone who can’t see it hasn’t lived on this planet during the last 8 years.