While I was in India this last weekend, I went to a political rally. A man named Anna Hazare is doing a hunger strike against corruption in the government. Anna Hazare was on a stage in a huge field, and there were at least a football field of people sitting cross-legged in front of him. On top of that, there were a bunch of people standing around, milling about, and parading around in large groups with flags and face paint. There were so many people there, speaking Hindi so I didn't understand anything. I think if I would have been at a rally that huge in the US I would have been really nervous that it would turn violent unexpectedly. But I felt completely safe there. It was so cool! Also, Jo and I got interviewed by a news station, a film crew making a documentary, and a woman working with a newspaper or something.
I'm not sure if a hunger strike would work in the United States. The only person I could think of everyone getting behind and supporting the way the entire nation supports Anna Hazare, is Oprah. But that's not really the way we commonly instigate change in the US. Yeah, we have protests and stuff. But I don't feel like they're effective compared to this campaign because the Indian people are united behind it, while the American people don't seem to be ideologically united unless a lot of Americans are killed or something.
Here's a picture of one of the protesters at the rally:
I'm not sure if a hunger strike would work in the United States. The only person I could think of everyone getting behind and supporting the way the entire nation supports Anna Hazare, is Oprah. But that's not really the way we commonly instigate change in the US. Yeah, we have protests and stuff. But I don't feel like they're effective compared to this campaign because the Indian people are united behind it, while the American people don't seem to be ideologically united unless a lot of Americans are killed or something.
Here's a picture of one of the protesters at the rally:
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