Tuesday, October 25, 2005

People of Change

This last week, there have been several leading individuals who have sparked the movement for change or have influenced others to take up the fight for rights. Whether it be by civil disobedience or going against the grain of reality, they are moving people to see that there is hope for change.

Rosa Park: She was the tipping factor for civil right movements to take place in the US. She refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and was fined for this act. In response, leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. took up the cause to change the law in the US.

Stephen Lewis: He seems to be the buzz with the new release of his book, Race Against Time, as the UN Special Envoy to Africa on AIDS. He has been doing a cross country Canada tour through the Massey Lecture series. If you miss one of his presentations, you can also hear it through the CBC in November.

Mukhtar Mai: A Pakistani from Meerwala speaks up on violence against women. After defending her brother at trial for the honour of her family, the tribal council sentenced her to gang rape. She decided to take her case to higher courts and a flurry of media picked up on the story, well-publicizing the unfair treatment of women. She was compensated for some of her suffering and put the money towards building the first two schools in Meerwala.

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