Rally For The Maldives Today

MDP rally in the Maldives, February 15th


The Maldives had an elected government that was overthrown by a coup. The deposed President, Mohammed Nasheed (Anni) is calling for fresh elections to, you know, elect a government, which the coupers are resisting because, you know, they weren’t elected. Many have called Anni foolish and said that there’s no hope. I don’t even know if he’s a great President, but he is calling for elections, so that the Maldives can be ruled by the people, not by the connected (which in the Maldives is some damn wealthy and often dodgy people). So I fully support.

They’re having a rally at Raalhugandu today, like now. Allahspeed, may everyone be safe, and good luck. Here’s Anni’s status update from a few minutes ago. He’s gone from political prisoner to President to effectively back again. He’s never given up.

There were times sitting in that prison when i felt more alone than you can imagine, there were times when i started to believe the doubters, who said the Maldives will never become free, sometimes it felt like the doubters where right, the dictatorship had all the guns, bombs and the tanks, we had no weapons other than the power of our word and the moral clarity of our cause…

But, in spite of the odds, we refused to give up hope.We refused to listen to the voices of doubt and discouragement. We refused to be swayed by those who could not see that change was on the way. And we were right to stand up for what we believed….we meet here to confront another seemingly impossible task…. There are those who tell us to give up hope.

….

Well, I am here to tell you that we refuse to give up hope. We refuse to be quiet.We refuse to believe that a better world isn’t possible. (Anni, Facebook)

Photo from a youth rally yesterday

The People of Maldives believes that their president should be someone directly elected by the people via a ballot box & not by the Police & Military. Especially NOT by mutiny. (Youth For Justice And Democracy)

People don’t even need to vote for Anni, but they have a right to vote, and have that vote respected. Governments can’t be overthrown by a few mutinying police backed by a few politicians. That order can’t be maintained by arresting elected leaders and beating their supporters in the streets. The people of the Maldives had the courage to throw off dictatorship once. I hope they have the strength to throw off zombie dictatorship once more.

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2 Comments »

2012-02-25 09:51:09

[...] capacity, so read it and think about it. I think it makes sense, but I give more weight to the ongoing protests in the Maldives, demanding elections. The Maldives had an elected government that was overthrown by force. Now [...]

 
2013-02-25 01:04:48

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