Post by shea on Jun 27, 2007 3:11:44 GMT -5
there are some seriously amazing people in the world.
this was a bulletin on myspace from a band called Harry and the Potters. i think it is absolutely fabulous. and i think it amazing the importance a fantasy book can have. and the connections it can make to the real world.
anyway, please pass it on. and please, do whatever you can.
this was a bulletin on myspace from a band called Harry and the Potters. i think it is absolutely fabulous. and i think it amazing the importance a fantasy book can have. and the connections it can make to the real world.
anyway, please pass it on. and please, do whatever you can.
How could people have spent so long denying Voldemort's return?
Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, and Barty Crouch Sr. were murdered. Mad Eye
Moody was kidnapped by a famous Death Eater. Voldemort's most loyal followers escaped from Azkaban, And of course, the two most celebrated figures in the Wizarding World, Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter told them that Voldemort had returned.
But while all the evidence was pointing towards the fact that Dumbledore and Harry were right, people preferred to be lied to then face the truth.
"it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place." (Ootp 94)
They didn't want to think about going back to the "torturing..terror
every where, panic, confusion..." (GoF 527) that used to dominate the last time Voldemort had power. And so they chose not to believe Harry and Dumbledore. They chose to let the media and government lie to them about the truth.
And that's very similar to what so many of us are choosing to do with the genocide in Darfur .
Darfur
For those of you who dont know, Darfur is a region in the Sudan (a country in northeast Africa) that has been facing genocide for over three years. Quick history: the people of Darfur were being abused by the government of Sudan . So a small group of them started to rebel....just a small group.
The Sudanese government responded by basically saying, "well...why should we have to deal with this rebellion or even have to deal with the rights of people in Darfur ? Let's just get rid of them. Let's just exterminate all of them. And let's teach everyone to be afraid of us."
And so they started hiring a militia known as the janjaweed to go into Darfur and systematically burn down every home in every village, leaving nothing behind. The men get systematically killed. The women get systematically raped (and sometimes killed as well). And so do the children. These are people that are ordinary people....who are just being systematically destroyed.
In the course of three years, the world has watched as the Sudanese government and their janjaweed militia have killed over 400,000 innocent people and displaced over 2 million. And this is not just any displacement. This is getting kicked out of their homes and displaced in the middle of the desert.
It's horrible. It's beyond horrible. It's maybe the most horrifying thing that is happening in the world right now.
And it's not like we're talking about something that happened. It's happening right now. It happened today. It happened yesterday. It will happen tomorrow. Innocent children being slaughtered by the hundreds and by the thousands. Women and men tortured, killed, raped, etc. It's happening, and still the world is asleep at the wheel.
Sure some leaders get up and make a few speeches that this is genocide...but they have done virtually nothing to end what should have been ended over 3 years ago. There are practical things that could be done that are not being done. And most of those things don't involve violence. There are ways of pressuring Sudan to stop this genocide. And yet, we have done so little.
And why? Because the leaders in the US and Europe and all over the freakin' world do not feel enough pressure to stop this genocide from their citizens. They don't realize that we care. That we will support them. We can show them our support.
HP Alliance House Parties
We can wake them up the way Harry and Dumbledore's Army woke up the leaders of the Ministry to Voldemort's return. We can wake everyone up from this denial.
And when I say "we" I mean you and I. I mean HARRY POTTER FANS. The media is watching Harry Potter fans this month! They are watching us more than they are watching the children in Darfur who are being massacred. We can speak for them. We can do something. We can make this story huge.
We can do it by taking time out of Harry Potter week when every newspaper in the Western World will be running a story on Harry Potter and throw house parties where we celebrate Harry Potter and actually do practical things that will notify our leaders that we care about this genocide ending. We can do it...every one of us...and we can have thousands of Harry Potter fans do it. Can you imagine? Thousands of Harry Potter fans working to save the lives of tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent people?
Of course, it won't be just our efforts alone....we can't do that....but we CAN make a big impact. A real difference. We can show that evil actions on a wide scale like this will not go unseen and unheard. We can show that we will not turn away from genocide because it's more comfortable to just watch MTV.
We can show all those companies marketing to us that we are more than just mindless consumers...that we actually care about real issues that can affect real people.
We can show that not only do we love the idea of Dumbledore's Army, but that we are the real Dumbledore's Army.
We have the power to do it. We have the power to do something that could help save a lot of innocent people.
And we can do it while celebrating the books that we have known and loved for so long. What better way to send Harry off before Deathly Hallows comes out, than following his lead and waking the world up to fight the Dark Arts? Waking them up with our love and with our creativity!
We are going to send you all the resources that you need to make these house parties happen. Just send Jenn an email to let her know that you'd be interested in throwing one somewhere between July 14 and July 20 at jenn@thehpalliance.org
Let us help our world break out of its denial--away from our fears and towards the truth.
For like Harry and all the students at Hogwarts the time is now to choose between what is right and what is easy. Let us choose what is right. Dumbledore would expect no less--and get moving by organizing a party today.
Now if you can't organize a party, we understand. Just let us know that you're interested and will show you all sorts of ways to get involved. Or simply go to this web site..
Thank you all so much for being who are. Let's work together to do this!
Let me close with this quote:
"'But Dumbledore is gone Harry. Hes gone.'
'He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,' said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
'My dear boy...even Dumbledore cannot return from the---'
'I am not saying he can. You wouldn't understand (HBP 648-649).
No, Scrimgeur wouldn't understand. But we do. We understand. Let us stay loyal and fight the Dark Arts in the real world. Let us stand together against the genocide in Darfur .
Please write Jenn today!
Thank you all and may "the Fawkes" be with you,
Andrew Sl
Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, and Barty Crouch Sr. were murdered. Mad Eye
Moody was kidnapped by a famous Death Eater. Voldemort's most loyal followers escaped from Azkaban, And of course, the two most celebrated figures in the Wizarding World, Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter told them that Voldemort had returned.
But while all the evidence was pointing towards the fact that Dumbledore and Harry were right, people preferred to be lied to then face the truth.
"it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place." (Ootp 94)
They didn't want to think about going back to the "torturing..terror
every where, panic, confusion..." (GoF 527) that used to dominate the last time Voldemort had power. And so they chose not to believe Harry and Dumbledore. They chose to let the media and government lie to them about the truth.
And that's very similar to what so many of us are choosing to do with the genocide in Darfur .
Darfur
For those of you who dont know, Darfur is a region in the Sudan (a country in northeast Africa) that has been facing genocide for over three years. Quick history: the people of Darfur were being abused by the government of Sudan . So a small group of them started to rebel....just a small group.
The Sudanese government responded by basically saying, "well...why should we have to deal with this rebellion or even have to deal with the rights of people in Darfur ? Let's just get rid of them. Let's just exterminate all of them. And let's teach everyone to be afraid of us."
And so they started hiring a militia known as the janjaweed to go into Darfur and systematically burn down every home in every village, leaving nothing behind. The men get systematically killed. The women get systematically raped (and sometimes killed as well). And so do the children. These are people that are ordinary people....who are just being systematically destroyed.
In the course of three years, the world has watched as the Sudanese government and their janjaweed militia have killed over 400,000 innocent people and displaced over 2 million. And this is not just any displacement. This is getting kicked out of their homes and displaced in the middle of the desert.
It's horrible. It's beyond horrible. It's maybe the most horrifying thing that is happening in the world right now.
And it's not like we're talking about something that happened. It's happening right now. It happened today. It happened yesterday. It will happen tomorrow. Innocent children being slaughtered by the hundreds and by the thousands. Women and men tortured, killed, raped, etc. It's happening, and still the world is asleep at the wheel.
Sure some leaders get up and make a few speeches that this is genocide...but they have done virtually nothing to end what should have been ended over 3 years ago. There are practical things that could be done that are not being done. And most of those things don't involve violence. There are ways of pressuring Sudan to stop this genocide. And yet, we have done so little.
And why? Because the leaders in the US and Europe and all over the freakin' world do not feel enough pressure to stop this genocide from their citizens. They don't realize that we care. That we will support them. We can show them our support.
HP Alliance House Parties
We can wake them up the way Harry and Dumbledore's Army woke up the leaders of the Ministry to Voldemort's return. We can wake everyone up from this denial.
And when I say "we" I mean you and I. I mean HARRY POTTER FANS. The media is watching Harry Potter fans this month! They are watching us more than they are watching the children in Darfur who are being massacred. We can speak for them. We can do something. We can make this story huge.
We can do it by taking time out of Harry Potter week when every newspaper in the Western World will be running a story on Harry Potter and throw house parties where we celebrate Harry Potter and actually do practical things that will notify our leaders that we care about this genocide ending. We can do it...every one of us...and we can have thousands of Harry Potter fans do it. Can you imagine? Thousands of Harry Potter fans working to save the lives of tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent people?
Of course, it won't be just our efforts alone....we can't do that....but we CAN make a big impact. A real difference. We can show that evil actions on a wide scale like this will not go unseen and unheard. We can show that we will not turn away from genocide because it's more comfortable to just watch MTV.
We can show all those companies marketing to us that we are more than just mindless consumers...that we actually care about real issues that can affect real people.
We can show that not only do we love the idea of Dumbledore's Army, but that we are the real Dumbledore's Army.
We have the power to do it. We have the power to do something that could help save a lot of innocent people.
And we can do it while celebrating the books that we have known and loved for so long. What better way to send Harry off before Deathly Hallows comes out, than following his lead and waking the world up to fight the Dark Arts? Waking them up with our love and with our creativity!
We are going to send you all the resources that you need to make these house parties happen. Just send Jenn an email to let her know that you'd be interested in throwing one somewhere between July 14 and July 20 at jenn@thehpalliance.org
Let us help our world break out of its denial--away from our fears and towards the truth.
For like Harry and all the students at Hogwarts the time is now to choose between what is right and what is easy. Let us choose what is right. Dumbledore would expect no less--and get moving by organizing a party today.
Now if you can't organize a party, we understand. Just let us know that you're interested and will show you all sorts of ways to get involved. Or simply go to this web site..
Thank you all so much for being who are. Let's work together to do this!
Let me close with this quote:
"'But Dumbledore is gone Harry. Hes gone.'
'He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,' said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
'My dear boy...even Dumbledore cannot return from the---'
'I am not saying he can. You wouldn't understand (HBP 648-649).
No, Scrimgeur wouldn't understand. But we do. We understand. Let us stay loyal and fight the Dark Arts in the real world. Let us stand together against the genocide in Darfur .
Please write Jenn today!
Thank you all and may "the Fawkes" be with you,
Andrew Sl
