White doves in Thailand
"Millions of paper birds fell from the sky today giving the people of southern Thailand a brief respite from the violence that has plagued their lives over the past year."
This is the first line in the related New Straits Times article followed, further down by the statement that "Each crane carried a wish for peace to return to Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where on-going violence has claimed over 500 lives."
I am not 100% sure if I like it or how I see the impact of it. But all in all, it is a statement. May be it is a weak one, but it is something that stands out from the crowd. It is different from all the speeches and the wishes by politicians and religions leaders. Those haven't shown any effect. The killing still went on. Will paper-cranes change something? May be not, but it is a start. I remember the time when there were chains of people holding hands with each other to demonstrate for freedom and against the newly installed cruise missiles in Germany - this was way back in the 1980. Or the people marches with candles at night. It didn't change things at once, but it made a mark. Slowly. May be not at the "grown-ups" but the kids asked questions, why this was done by those people.
So may be, yeah, may be this is the first step to change. And if it fails, it was worth the initiative.
Or do I see this totally wrong?
"Millions of paper birds fell from the sky today giving the people of southern Thailand a brief respite from the violence that has plagued their lives over the past year."
This is the first line in the related New Straits Times article followed, further down by the statement that "Each crane carried a wish for peace to return to Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where on-going violence has claimed over 500 lives."
I am not 100% sure if I like it or how I see the impact of it. But all in all, it is a statement. May be it is a weak one, but it is something that stands out from the crowd. It is different from all the speeches and the wishes by politicians and religions leaders. Those haven't shown any effect. The killing still went on. Will paper-cranes change something? May be not, but it is a start. I remember the time when there were chains of people holding hands with each other to demonstrate for freedom and against the newly installed cruise missiles in Germany - this was way back in the 1980. Or the people marches with candles at night. It didn't change things at once, but it made a mark. Slowly. May be not at the "grown-ups" but the kids asked questions, why this was done by those people.
So may be, yeah, may be this is the first step to change. And if it fails, it was worth the initiative.
Or do I see this totally wrong?
posted by Andreas @ 4:03 pm
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