There comes a time in every Blogger’s career where he or she has to decide whether to mesh politics into their posts. Normally I don’t discuss politics here but, my conscience is beseeching me to talk about what is happening in Venezuela with my readers. Last weekend, I watched a YouTube video describing and depicting how college students in Venezuela had taken to the streets to protest peacefully against a government that was denying citizens its civil rights.
Now, I don’t plan on spending a lot of time talking about the government because, frankly, they just don’t deserve that kind of attention. What I would like to focus upon is that we live in modern times where we would expect people to be able to speak freely and to be guaranteed basic human rights.
That is the real issue here, human beings are being denied the right to be free and to exercise free will. As Bloggers, we cover topics regularly on a variety of subjects and our readers respect what we say. Since we are public figures, to a certain extent, we have a responsibility to use our influence on social media to draw attention to the causes that affect our readers directly.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” –Desmond Tutu
That time has come for me. As I sat last Saturday morning watching the video in this post with tears running down my face, I realized that I could not sleep peacefully at night unless I lent my support to the people of Venezuela.
Being the mother of two young sons, I cannot imagine a world where my boys could not speak for fear of being silenced through the use of violence. We have a social responsibility as parents to create an environment where our children can enjoy freedom and equality no matter where they travel to on this planet.
Unfortunately, the current injustices that are taking place in Venezuela are also taking place in the Ukraine and in other countries throughout the globe. It’s heartbreaking to think that we have come so far in highlighting the importance of preserving human rights yet there are so many examples of the complete opposite taking place throughout the different continents.
It is our silence that allows these situations to perpetuate and to thrive and I choose to speak up. I will be the voice of those whose voices have been quieted by injustice. I will speak…
Let’s Discuss: Do you think that we can all make a difference if we use our collective voices when injustice it taking place?
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I agree with you Maria-it is totally unacceptable what is still happening globally. Tyrants seem to be able to get into power and invariably they are also bully’s who will accept nothing but total obedience from one and all. I am glad that the people are fighting back-I can only hope that they (the people) win. What can we as a people do-I am not really sure–would it help if we wrote letters-possibly. If you have any suggestions please let me know.
I had no idea this was happening down there. I kind have always taken the stance that the US should be fixing their own problems before they stick their noses in other people’s.
Thank you for letting us know about this. I had no idea this was happening.
Heard about this on yesterday’s news. Seems a lose-lose situation, hopefully in the end democracy will win out.
Read about this in the news. I agree with Scott. Hopefully things will work out, but unfortunately, it seems like there is pretty much constant turmoil everywhere. 🙁
I love that you’ve taken action when your heart has been touched. I hope things get better, very soon.
I am totally with you on the discussion of politics. I’ve never been one to be silent about things happening in my environment. I do hope things would get better in Venezuela.
great cause, this is the first blog post i’ve seen about this- glad you were the first
I love this post. I love to travel and I read about this in the news.
I have been on the road and out of touch with the world, I would not have known about this if you had not shared, thank you for bringing attention to this. It would be nice if we had a perfect world where we could all have free speech and used it to help – not hurt each other.
I try to stay out of politics when possible. Sometimes, though you have to get involved!
While I understand why you do not get into politics, I commend you for standing up for what is right. I am not sure that the article I saw was real or fiction but I saw somewhere where Miss Venezuela was killed due to her protesting. It is horrible that these actions are happening anywhere.
Remaining silent about global injustice is saying yes to the abuses. Th more people get informed and weigh in, the more likely our leaders will act more boldly.
I have a hard time talking about the politics of the world as they make me so ill. I try to stay out of things like this most of the time but eventually I just have to speak my voice.
I’ve lived in fear of my government and it’s awful.. it feels helpless and the only solution is going out to the streets in support of justice and peace. Thanks for educating us about Venezuela.. I’ve been avoiding it.. 🙁
I don’t talk politics because I realize I don’t fully understand them myself and sometimes it just breaks my heart.
I will definitely be keeping these people in my thoughts. I hope that things get better soon.
I need to research a bit more as I’m not up-to-date on all the happenings, but peace and freedom are important.