When the world does you injustice, when yourpleas for being listened to fail to move the powers, and the social mediamovements fizzle out, what course of action do you have? 2020, the year of thepandemic was also the year of mass protests, protests which got together womenand men of all colours, races, and even nationalities to make their messageheard. Even though, all nations big andsmall, had their issues being raised by their citizens, still there were somewhich touched issues more relevant on an international landscape.
BlackLives Matter: The protests to seek justice for George Flyod peaked on June 6,when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the UnitedStates.
One of the defining characteristics of a justlegal system is the correspondence between the crime and the punishment.Attempting to knowingly tender counterfeit currency is a crime, but is it acrime worthy of a ‘summary death sentence’ due to deliberate inhumanemanhandling? George Floyd was trying to get some alcoholic beverages for a faketwenty dollars, and the police rightfully reached the spot as upholding thesanctity of the national currency is in the best interests of everyone.However, one of the four officers who responded knelt down of Floyd’s neck forthe better part of ten minutes while the latter was letting out “I can’tbreathe” as much as he could. The man died and this was the straw that brokethe camel’s back. The Black Lives Matter movement which had been going on touchedalmost everyone’s heart with support for equality of treatment and changes inpolice system being asked for. The support for Floyd has been unequivocal allover the world.
EdwardColston statue
Slavery is the owning of another human as aproperty. As strange as it may appear these days, ownership of men and womenand the consequent abuse of the latter was a reality of the world not so longago. In expression of solidarity to the innate freedom of every human, allattachments with the historical slavery are looked down upon. But what happenswhen a seemingly philanthropist merchant’s true links with slave trade arediscovered. It would be naive to not consider the entire truth, right? The manin the question is Edward Colston and the treatment was meted out to his bronzestatue. This year saw the eruption of a gradual build up of dissent against themerchant who probably concealed his nefarious activities under the guise ofphilanthropy. Ignited by the death of George Floyd, the statue was toppled,paint was thrown on it, and the statue was dragged on the streets to theBristol Harbour where it was dumped. But before the dragging, someone knelt onhis neck just like Floyd was. Later on the city administration recovered thestatue and kept it in a safe place.
FarmersProtest in India
Change is always uncomfortable. Whenmodernisation attempts are institutionalised in laws, a certain amount ofresistance is expected. Now, in India, the central government has enacted threelaws concerning agriculture. The laws intend to make selling produce convenientoffline and online in any marketplace in India, in addition to introducingfutures contracts between the farmers and the consumers. The farmers, forwhatever reasons, do not approve of the same, and are demanding in no uncertainterms that the government to revert the laws. The farmer protests have taken onits side almost every farmer of the nation and also many individuals all overthe world. Initially blocking the Indian Railways in Punjab, the farmers are nowblocking the highways to the national capital of Delhi. The government is inrounds of talks with the farmer leaders and both parties are respectful to theother. It is noteworthy that the protests are peaceful and there has been no targetedviolence against any women or men though property and assets all over Punjab havebeen vandalised by the farmers especially those of Reliance Industries.
2020, a year in which the world was lockeddown has had more than its fair share of protests, but as we saw in thisarticle, the rationale and motivation behind the protests have been reasonableand gratuitous violence has been avoided.