My pet hate with school committees is that everyone has an opinion expecting someone else to do it. I am the one running the art table at the school fair and it's suggested we should do hand prints when a perfectly beautiful Chinese (splatter free) fan I made is sitting on the table.
I just spent 40 minutes on one giant comment polemic to a pro-democracy organization in LA asking why they are spending energy on petitioning our local government to make a statement or policy on the triads when the Chinese government could give a whatever to Kerry, Cameron, and the French Foreign Ministry. What will be achieved if the city of Santa Monica makes a statement?
Then I went on to lay out a grand plan of growing their organization, fixing and updating their website, creating a press core to send out press releases and improve communication to the members.
Yes, right. I didn't offer to do it. I just suggested it. Fantastic.
But I know it's right. I know that with all the goodwill, there must be more we can do.
Even if President Obama laid on the ground in Central, I highly doubt China would ask CY Leung to step down. If Cameron and Patten laid down, the CCP probably would bring out the tanks to roll over them just for personal satisfaction (45% of the Scottish probably garner some too.)
So all we can do is educate the public, make the US public pay attention
But what this country (US) doesn't have is any China correspondence on any mass news organizations on TV. ABC Southland said HK people were protesting so they could elect their own "mayor." Considering the powers of the mayor in the US versus the Chief Executive, it made us seem like a joke. NBC spent 20 minutes talking about make up instead. CNN did a "guide to one country two systems," drawing the whole of Guangzhou as HK. Slate wrote a rambling article about some obscure document Occupy HK and how it "trained" the protesters to behave like that. Considering none of the students leaders or students were aligned with the Occupy movement and the protesters were so organic and spontaneous. I really doubt it.
There must be a way for groups in the US to hand feed pro-democracy news to the network affiliates. Make it easy for them. Have a few ready talking heads, some good local visuals.
I also went onto say that we should prepare for the next round of protests, the next time possibly in China and have a network of communication ready, a way to communicate to lots of people where the next protest will be, because I had searched for a possible rally to join but didn't find it, only to see a group did meet the next day.
If not today we gain some powers, the wants will manifest itself again. And it will keep happening because even if (and this is a great leap) HK gains direct elected Chief Executive tomorrow. Does that mean we will still in 2047?
It will go on and on and on. It will come back. If not today it will again in the future. We just don't know when, and how, and where.
So I more or less asked a group of peope to be ready for the next wave of democratic protests, that we have no idea when will happen. But it's true, imagine it happening and there is an organization prepared. One that has all the contacts of local news organizations, from the Pasadena Weekly, to the LA Weekly, and the network affiliates, and with a robust site ready to aggregate news. Ready to post on reddit and other social media.
But that organization is not mine. Despite having tried a number of times to join, I have never had an email returned, so I am not even an official member. (I will happily write a $50 check if someone gets back to me though.)
As I said, I have many suggestions but not really mentioning who will do it. I was possibly encouraging the 40 something people who "liked" the idea of the letter and the three people who disagreed with me insisting that local government statement is surprisingly powerful and should ban the triads from getting student US visa to the US etc. (The guy who suggested it, was the most open to having a conversation about what can be done.)
But the truth is, it's really easy to like a suggestion when someone else does most of the work, and we all sign it.
But now my how to start an non-profit organization book sitting unused on my shelf is beckoning me. Instead of suggesting everything to someone else, shouldn't I be just do it myself? Shouldn't I create something?
But thinking about it overwhelms me. I currently volunteer and plan events and even offered to teach classes for my son's school, my cantonese language group, my apartment association, and I trying to work on a business idea, and creative projects, plus the responsibility of raising my son nearly full time. I haven't worked on my novel or writing since my son started school.
Where can I ever find a moment to start an organization, find reliable members, execute a vision I have? I have no idea. But I know I hate people in committees that suggest things for other people to do. But then maybe no today, but in the future.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 