The Wave

I got a second-hand copy of Todd Strasser's The Wave, and last night, I decided to read it. And guess what? I finished it that very night itself. While the book itself is only over 140 pages, the story was so arresting that I somehow wanted to finish it in one night - something no book has made me done in a long time. I first heard about this book while reading The Freedom Writers Diary.

The Wave is a young adult novel published in 1981, and this book was based on a telemovie, which you can see below in its entirety:



The story is set in Gordon High School, in 1969, where Ben Ross, the main character teaches history. During one lesson on the atrocities of Nazi Germany, his students asked him how could those horrible things happen in an advanced society. They were upset, and Mr. Ross wasn't sure how he could answer them.

So he devised an experiment to show that fascism can exist in a democratic society. He begins to "indoctrinate" the students in his history class and have them perform acts of discipline and shout slogans in order to bolster "unity" among the students. He then formed a group called "The Wave" in order to strengthen their solidarity further. "The Wave" even has a symbol, and members greet each other with a particular hand movement...does this sound eerily familiar?

At first "The Wave" receives praise from the school community, as it successfully instils discipline and a sense of community in students who are largely lackadaisical. Even the "class creep", Robert Billings becomes more socially acceptable through his participation in "The Wave". But as the "The Wave" expands, things change.

The thing is, this book is actually based on a real high school experiment that was carried out in 1967 in Palo Alto, California. The teacher, Rob Jones, wanted to prove that the ideals of fascism appealed even in a democracy. On the fourth day of the experiment, Ron Jones terminated the experiment as he felt it was getting out of control. He wrote about this experience some nine years after the original experiment, in this lengthy essay.

This book has also inspired the German movie Die Welle (The Wave), whose trailer follows:



If you can find this book, I highly recommend you read it. It is an interesting study on how people in a supposedly democratic society can be influenced to behave in conformist manners, even destructive ones. 

Colman McCarthy - Teaching Peace

This is a really inspiring talk by Colman McCarthy about peace and the need for peace education in schools.



He started off righly by saying that all of us got to where we are due to the effort and help given by others. And the best way to repay those debts of gratitude is to become a peacemaker.

He rightly points out that "peace is the result of love, and if love was easy, we'd all be good at it." The great peacemakers that he has interviewed, like Mairead Corrigan,  Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Yunus, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, always told him that in order to decrease violence, you need to go to where people are.

And thus, he started going to local high schools to "teach peace", and to introduce peace studies. He also mentioned that students today graduate from high school peace illiterate, and are therefore vulnerable to cycles of violence. "If we don't teach the children peace, unless we teach them peace, somebody else will teach them violence."

People would ask him. how would "peace" ever work? He cited examples where brutal dictatorships and social systems were brought down by peaceful, non-violent means. He cited Ferdinand Marcos, Augustus Pinochet, and how apartheid was demolished by non-violent means.

This talk, given at the University of California at Santa Barbara,under the auspices of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation headed by David Krieger.

I found it to be a very inspiring talk on how important it is to teach our children peace. The education system is working overtime to teach children "knowledge" and "skills", but not values that enable them to live the right path in life.

Peace studies, dialogue, conflict resolution are among some important studies that ought to be taught to students in the future, and soon.

The Future of Nuclear Weapons

Jayantha Dhanapala is the President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and former United Nations Under-Secretary General for Disarmament. In this video, he talks to Steve Paikin of The Agenda on the future of nuclear weapons.

He says that today, "the greatest worries are that we could have a nuclear weapon being used, either by accident, or by design, and by state actors, who have nuclear weapons, or by non-state actors - terrorist groups. It's become much more diversified, much more complex, and much more dangerous than the cold war situation."

He also stressed that dialogue and negotiations are the way towards resolving our nuclear problem, not sanctions and pre-emptive strikes. He also called upon the major nuclear states to show leadership in reducing their nuclear arms. Eventually, nuclear weapons must be outlawed, and a nuclear weapons convention must exist.

He also pointed out the hypocrisy of major powers on allowing the peaceful use of nuclear power, saying that when a regime change occured, their attitudes suddenly changed. He also pointed out that it cannot be proven that nuclear deterrence and the "balance of terror" has helped kept the peace.

The host asked at the end, perhaps with some disbelief, "Is a world without nuclear weapons genuinely achievable? Mr. Dhanapala replied confidently that "It is achievable. We scaled many mountains in international relations. We though that slavery could not ba abolished because it was an institution that fed a lot of economies in the world - but it was abolished.  We thought that women's right to vote would not be achievable, but it was achieved. We thought that apartheid was immutable, but it was destroyed finally. And so, I'm sure that we can, with the right political will and the part of countries, and the leadership of the right people like President Obama, achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons."

Newspaper headlines this weekend (26-27 June 2010)

The newspaper headlines (The Star, especially) over this weekend have not had really good things to talk about. Today, were were greeted with news that foreign workers working on the spanking new Istana Negara had not been paid their wages:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/27/nation/6557795&sec=nation


Yesterday, it was this news about the rise of teenaged mothers in Malaysia:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/26/nation/6549733&sec=nation

It would be a shame indeed if the palace meant for our sovereign is built on what could turn out to be slave labour (how was the White House built originally?). In this country, we love to moralise about all sorts of stuff, but there is this RM 800 million behemoth being built in our capital, on prime land, fuelled by discrimination and suffering. It was particularly disturbing to read that one of the ladies, who lives in the kongsi on the construction site, had to hide in the nearby woods with her baby to avoid the authorities during raids. Sometimes, she had to spend the night there with her baby.

As for the case of teenaged mothers, we still have a long way to go in educating our youth on the consequences of sexual relationships and how to handle them responsibly. Simply demonising and condemning young people and pregnant teens obviously do not work. For those who become pregnant, yes, they may have made a mistake, but the last thing they need is to face humiliation and punishment. They are in enough pain already. What they need is counselling and support from society.

"Life is the most precious of all treasures", a Buddhist sage once wrote. Babies that are born out of wedlock are not guilty of any crime or sin.

Where both news are concerned, we must recognise that they involve human beings just like us. Simply applying labels like "illegal", "imigrants", "slut" and others will not help the situation. We must recognise their humanity too.

What happens to human beings when a nuclear weapon explodes?

This is what happens to human beings and living beings when they get close enough to the epicentre of an atomic bomb blast.



The clip is from the 1983 Japanese anime, Barefoot Gen (Jpn: Hadashi no Gen). This anime is in turn based on a manga series of the same name by Keiji Nakazawa. The comic itself is loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing (commonly known as hibakusha in Japan).

The scenes, though just animation, was horrifying and cruel. Therefore, justifying the existence of nuclear weapons as "strategic" is nonsense indeed. The existence of nuclear weapons will always hang like a sword of Damocles over humanity. As it is, we already have enough nuclear weapons to annihilate all of humanity several times over.

Nuclear weapons are the ultimate threat to the dignity of all life. There is no other choice but for us to work towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (movie)

It's been more than two month since my last post, and I have to admit that I haven't been particularly inspired to blog. However, I think it's time to get back on my feet, and post something here, before it becomes another "forgotten effort", or as it is much better put in Malay, "hangat-hangat tahi ayam" (or staying hot as long as chicken droppings).

This movie, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008), based on the book of the same title by John Boyne, tells the tale of friendship between two eight-year old boys in Nazi Germany. Bruno (played by Asa Butterfield), the son of a Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) officer was made to leave his life in Berlin behind when his father, Ralf (David Thewlis) receives a promotion and has to transfer to the outskirts of Germany.

Bruno and his family arrives at an area where there are hardly any other people around. One day, by chance, Bruno sees a farm in the distance from a window.  He begins to become curious about what happens on the farm, and sneaks out to the farm.

There, he meets a boy, Shmuel, who is the same age as him. They soon become best friends. In fact, they seem to be the only children their age around that area. But Shmuel cannot come out from the farm. When Bruno asked him why, Shmuel says it is because he is a Jew.

Bruno begins to see Shmuel more frequently, and often brings food to Shmuel, who is always hungry (not to mention always dirty and unkempt as well). The only clothes Shmuel has is the grey-striped pyjamas that all inmates of the farm have to wear.

Bruno manages to keep his friendship from Bruno a secret from his family, until one day. Meanwhile, Bruno's mother, Elsa (Vera Farmiga) begins to discover the horrific truth of the work that her husband is doing.

Bruno and his sister, Gretel a tutored at home by an old man who feeds them biased ideas about who Jews are. Bruno meanwhile is confused as the Jews that he came to know, Shmuel, and a kitchen help named Pavel, are anything but evil.

Soon, the brutality of his father's work begins to permeate their daily life, and leads to a calamitous ending. I'll leave you to read the book and watch the movie to find out those details.

The hubris of war does not spare anyone, not even innocent young children. Children, who are without prejudice and hatred towards others, become living sacrifices to the madness of war. Women and children often becomes the targets of war violence.Innocent children like Bruno and Shmuel, though belonging to opposites, are both mercilessly consumed.

War is cruel, barbaric, inhuman.

Funny Poems by Ogden Nash

Wah, it's been almost two weeks since I posted anything. Amidst all the "tension", I thought I just might post some humourous poetry by Ogden Nash instead. Enjoy!

A Word to Husbands

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up. 

Reflections on Ice-breaking 

Candy
Is dandy
But liquor
Is quicker  

 To My Valentine

More than a catbird hates a cat,
Or a criminal hates a clue,
Or the Axis hates the United States,
That's how much I love you.

I love you more than a duck can swim,
And more than a grapefruit squirts,
I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,
And more than a toothache hurts.

As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,
Or a juggler hates a shove,
As a hostess detests unexpected guests,
That's how much you I love.

I love you more than a wasp can sting,
And more than the subway jerks,
I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
And more than a hangnail irks.

I swear to you by the stars above,
And below, if such there be,
As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,
That's how you're loved by me.