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#WhatToKnow LIVE! with @JoeChonlawit | "The People" Protest Happening Now At Parliament -\-\- Teargas Is Being Deployed
#ม็อบ17พฤศจิกา #รับทุกร่างคือทางออก
Tomorrow evening, the 14th Parliament will hold its very first sitting. For the first time the opening will be held in more than one location, due to safe distancing measures. Parliamentarians will be sworn in both in the Chamber in Parliament House and, very appropriately, The Arts House, which was the Old Parliament House.
President Halimah Yacob will deliver her opening Address, which will set out the Government’s priorities and plans, with a focus on how we will tackle the healthcare and economic impact of COVID-19. The proceedings will be telecast live on TV.
In the following days, ministries will explain what they will do in support of this agenda, after which we will have a debate on the Address. Looking forward to hearing from all MPs, both experienced and new. – LHL
(MCI Photo by Betty Chua)
Well said Niki
Reports are coming in from Trump's first TV appearance. It's not looking pretty.
All week, there have been so much written, trying to figure out what happened. And of course, the few pieces focusing on Clinton and Obama's conciliatory messages, and some on the things Trump has said since his win which appears to be u-turns (we'll see).
Take away policy - he is President now and the conservative right has congress and the senate, so only politicking and civil society resistance will work to restrain them (hopefully) - but the implication of this win, and Brexit, and Duterte and then Le Pen and so many more is emboldening (legitimising?) an ugly rhetoric and behaviour that is only all to familiar for people who live in (both hard and soft) authoritarian countries.
Let's not even begin to talk about how institutions of democracy - Parliament, the fourth estate, rule of law and more - are being compromised.
More than ever now, those of us who believe in justice, equality and fairness need to fight on and fight hard. It's not enough to just post (things like this) on Facebook and Twitter.
Protest. Get involved in communities. Pen letters. Boycott. Go into politics. Change the system. Write articles, write books and write plays. Compose. Sing, perform, dance.
At the same time, we need to reflect on what we have done, or are doing, to defend the progressive values we believe in. We also need to call ourselves out for our flaws instead of blaming everything else.
We need to read, and read, and read more about what is happening in the world today, and what has happened in the past. We need to educate others (and ourselves) and we need to pressure for more funding for the social sciences and the humanities.
We need to find a different language to communicate with people who disagree with us. We need to be angry, without being violent - both physically and verbally.
We need to engage with (lay) people (politicians and those who exist in the political sphere is a different story), and most importantly, be willing to listen and be compassionate. We need to stop shaming those we disagree with on social media and call them names.
Look what has happened in the UK, the US and Singapore. When people go silent, they take it to the voting booth - it is Noelle-Neumann's Spiral of Silence in effect.
We "progressives and moderates" are no longer the "silent majority" we often claim to be speaking for (were we ever?).
We need to get out and be counted. So we need to do more.
We just need to.
