TEENAGE DEMOCRACY
ISSUE FIVE
Editor’s Note… Hello and welcome to the fifth issue of Teenage Democracy Magazine… Free speech and humanity. This issue Teenage Democracy explores the meaning behind both concepts and the importance they hold in contemporary society. What makes us human? The body? The soul? Our beliefs? And perhaps more importantly, what detracts from our humanity? In an age of instant news updates our perception of the world and the people who inhabit it constantly shifts. It is easy to devour news information and strong opinions without forming any of our own. Blind adherence to popular belief. It’s quite dangerous. Arguably mob-mentality in relation to race, religion or gender leads to mass dehumanisation. Dehumanisation of the victims subject to mass discrimination and dehumanisation of society through the demolishment of individuality. Free speech and individual thought are integral components to our democracy and humanity. In the wake of journalist oppression, whether it is the ordered smashing of the Guardian’s computers or attacks on Charlie Ebdoe magazine, free speech must be powerfully defended.
Therefore I urge readers to read through this issue, develop opinions and augment them through further research on the featured topics. Unique human expression and love cannot be achieved without free speech and free speech has to be fought for through individual thought and self-awareness. Do not forsake your humanity through indifference. I hope you enjoy this issue…. Peace, Brigitte de Valk
With many thanks to: Shekinah Vera-Cruz : Formatting designer Eleanor Cawte: Front cover artwork All contributors to this edition and those who attended magazine meetings. This issue would not have been possible without all of you. Opinions expressed in this publication represent the personal views of the contributing journalists.
CONTENTS Statism Is Not The Answer: Give Anarchy A Chance (page 4) One Love (pages 5-6) No Sunlight In Solitary (pages 7-8) Activist Of The Issue (page 10) Love Not Judgement (pages 11-12) The Half-Baked Solution For The Pre-Drinking ‘Problem’ (pages 1314) Remembering (pages 15-16) Je Suis Charlie Debate (pages 17-19) A Feminist Cartoon (page 20) Christian Perspectives: Charlie Hebdo Attacks (pages 21-22) Headlines (page 24) Teenage Democracy Artist Gallery (pages 25-32) Gobekli Tepe: The Birth Of Religious Worship (pages 33-34) Dead Spring (pages 35-37) This Issue’s Ultimate Playlist (page 38) Pussy Riot All Over The Globe (pages 39-40) The Revised Fundamentals Of Caregiving (page 41) Film Review: Blade Runner (page 42) Film Review: Now You See Me (page 43) New Things To Love (page 44)
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.�
~EINSTEIN
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Freeset Global
“Freeset is a fair trade business offering employment to women trapped in Kolkata's sex trade. We make quality jute bags and organic cotton t-shirts, but our business is freedom! We would like to see the 10,000 sex workers in our neighbourhood empowered with the choice of leaving a profession they never chose in the first place.� - Freeset Global
A job at Freeset is just the beginning of a woman's journey toward freedom. She might be free from the sex trade but a job on its own does not bring freedom. Freeset teaches the life-skills necessary to truly experience freedom; reading, writing, budgeting skills and basic health care. These are basic necessities that every women, every human, deserves. Every woman who finds freedom through Freeset also brings freedom to her family. They find hope for a brighter future and the means to make it a reality. As the business has grown, a positive community has emerged. Freeset not only supports its own members, but impacts the wider community. The common understanding is "we're in this together".
ACTIVIST OF THE ISSUE
Laura Poitras ‘The disclosures that Edward Snowden revealed don’t only expose a threat to our privacy but to our democracy itself’
Laura Poitras (born 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American documentary film director and producer residing in Berlin. Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden and Iraq documentary My Country, My
Country.
In 2013 Poitras was one of the initial three journalists to meet Edward Snowden in Hong Kong and to receive copies of the leaked NSA documents.[16][26] Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald are the only two people with full archives of the NSA. Poitras helped to produce stories exposing previously secret U.S. intelligence activities, which earned her the 2013 Polk award and contributed to the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded jointly to The Guardian and The Washington Post. In an interview with the Washington Post about Citizenfourshortly before the film's release, Poitras said that she considered herself to be the narrator of the film but made a choice not to be seen on camera: "I come from a filmmaking tradition where I'm using the camera—it's my lens to express the filmmaking I do. In the same way that a writer uses their language, for me it's the images that tell the story ... the camera is my tool for documenting things, so I stay mostly behind it." Citizenfour won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Featureof 2014.
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REMEMBERING LEONARD NIMOY
Leonard Nimoy ( March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, film director, poet, singer-songwriter, and photographer. He was most known for his role as Mr. Spock of the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek, which aired in the late 1960s provided the viewing public with images right out of the liberal left's textbook. Headed by creator Gene Roddenberry, StarTrek was used by its writers, as a vehicle for promoting the political ideas of the liberal American left, as well as for confronting such varied issues as civil rights, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. Yet it was ultimately a product of its time and often reflected the same flaws as the political faction it supported. However, for all its flaws, it was an important first step towards a more progressive kind of television.
“The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have”. 15
50 Years since the assassination of
MALCOM X
Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik ElShabazz, was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. This past weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. He was shot dead as he spoke before a packed audience at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965. Malcolm X had just taken the stage when shots rang out riddling his body with bullets. He was 39 years old.
“You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom”.
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TEENAGE DEMOCRACY TeenageDemocracy@facebook.com
HEADLINES Via democracynow.org
Liberia Releases Last Ebola Patient from Treatment Liberia has finished treating its last Ebola patient, as the World Health Organization announced the country has gone a week without any new cases, for the first time in 10 months. Health officials warn the fight is not over, since a fresh outbreak could still erupt. Sierra Leone and Guinea, meanwhile, reported a combined total of 132 new Ebola cases last week. In total, the record outbreak has killed nearly 10,000 people and infected nearly 24,000.
Michael Brown Family to Sue Ferguson, Darren Wilson Attorneys for the family of Michael Brown have announced plans to sue the city of Ferguson, Missouri, and Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed the unarmed African-American teenager. Attorney Anthony Gray made the announcement a day after the Justice Department said it would not bring civil rights charges against Wilson.
In Historic Move, NYC Schools to Recognize Muslim Holidays New York City has made history by adding two Muslim holidays to its school calendar. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week New York would become the first major city to close school on Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Muslims in New York have spent at least nine years fighting for the holidays’ recognition.
Peru: Indigenous Groups Announce Deal with Occidental Petroleum Indigenous communities in Peru have announced a settlement with oil giant Occidental Petroleum in a landmark case over three decades of pollution in the Amazon rainforest. In 2007, Achuar indigenous communities sued Occidental in U.S. court after a report by Amazon Watch and Earth Rights International accused the firm of dumping millions of barrels of toxic waste directly into rivers and streams, resulting in widespread lead and cadmium poisoning. The settlement was actually reached in 2013, but the terms of the deal kept it secret until Thursday. Occidental will sponsor development projects under the deal, but the sum was not disclosed. 24
Teenage Democracy Artist Gallery Natasha Edwards
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David Allison
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Ellie Harman-Taylor
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Joe Gorecki
Yemen
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Eleanor Cawte
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NEW THINGS TO LOVE! NEW FILMS TO WATCH: Selma Citizen Four Dirty Wars
BOOKS TO READ: Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) Oronooko ( Alphra Behn) Eichmann on trial: banality of evil (Hannah Arendt) ARTISTS AND POETS TO CHECK OUT: Charles Bukowski Kees Van Dogen SSSSSS
PEACE