Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Witness Account : The Revolution of a Common Man

I am not an armchair fascist, neither an overground maoist nor a closet anarchist. I am a common man. Seeking what he has not got in sixty years of search for freedom. The search for freedom from corruption. A fight to release from the clutches of a corrupt system. A fight where he has had to hang up his gloves so many times. So many times that he has been booted out of the plans for a nation led by governments that only appease its vote banks. Living in the nation of slum-dog millionaires, the nation where you make the news if you are at the extremes. Anywhere in between, you are a nowhere man. A nowhere man, a common man. So common that no government thinks you are special. So common that every government takes you for granted. So common that you start believing it yourself. So common that finally, someone wants to stand up and change all that. Change a corrupt system that is so rotten that the stench is unbearable. The time of a social awakening, the rise of a social consciousness, the revolution of a common man.

The last couple of weeks, I have witnessed history being made. I have seen the unfolding of a movement of the common man. A movement by the people, of the people and for the people. It is a revolution of people that you and me know. I have never before seen a revolution unfold in my social space. One of my professional mentors posted on Facebook that he had courted arrest with the movement. Another friend posted back that he was on the way to court arrest. I hear conversation in every street corner about the fight against corruption. On my way to office, I see scenes of peaceful protest in support of the movement. Protests by people like you and me so close to the sterilized office complexes of the modern nation. As I return home, I see my neighbors hold a peaceful candlelight march around our locality. I have never before seen the angst of the common man spill over in such a show of solidarity. I have never before seen a movement of an awakened people up close as I see it now. I have never seen it this real, the revolution of the common man.

I have not seen the failed revolutions of the past to stop believing. I have heard enough about the success of the big people movements to start hoping. Public opinion is building on the social network sites. Public angst is overflowing on the streets. It is a click and mortar revolution in a new age. I live in a new age, in new times when things they are a changin'. Old world protest marches and new age social networking, hand in hand to change a corrupt system, bit by bit. I hear strains of Dylan singing.....

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.



I am not an armchair fascist, or maybe I am...who cares. But, I am a witness to the revolution of a common man. And this is my witness account.

1 comment:

  1. Really well written...I am hopeful that this people's movement is fruitful...and I am sure it will be...because the intent is pure

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