Demotix: giving voice to the silent

There'll be a time I hear tell

When all will be well

When God and man will be reconciled

But until men lose their chains

And righteousness reigns

Lord, protect my child
– Bob Dylan

It all started in when I read Pakistan governments’ decision to sign a deal with the Taliban in Swat early April. After reading the whole text of the agreement I felt as if a noose has been tied across my neck, literally. It was then that I decided to write and let my voice be heard in the chaos that was happening in Pakistan. I felt that the Taliban are just exploiting peoples’ problems to which the state has turned a blind eye for decades. So I wrote a letter explaining my opinion and emailed to some leading newspapers of Pakistan but nothing happened and I never saw anybody’s opinion remotely similar to mine although New York Times did run a similar story.

Not disheartened, I turned to the other option I had; the World Wide Web. But even there I felt alone when I learned that writing blog was not an answer to my problem. How would anyone find my blog and why would anybody take their time out to read what is written there. I then realized that I had run out of options.

In this desperation I stumbled across Demotix and when I read peoples stories there I realized that there is a whole world out there waiting to be heard and suddenly I was not alone. The idea behind Demotix is truly revolutionary; it promises to give a voice to people like myself, people who want to be heard, the people who are not willing to take things as they are, and the dreamers who would like to change this world for the better only for the sake of their children. There were many dreamers and revolutionaries before us who sincerely believed that this world will change for the better one day and who spent their whole life pursuing this dream. This rare breed is still not extinct; rather they feel empowered because of the web and specifically they have Demotix.

It is a very recent phenomena, which is not only restricted to the poor countries but in developed countries also, that increasing number of people feel that their respective governments or political parties are completely out of sync with peoples feelings, their problems and their issues. The best written example of this is the downfall of Republicans in America and there are countless other examples.

As the technology sets pace for globalization and the world becomes smaller, geographical boundaries will become meaningless and governments redundant. But while critics point so many evils of globalization but it is a fact that people from allover Asia particularly India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are increasingly raising their voices and it is indeed very surprising to learn that their issues are similar. This crossover of imaginary boundaries will continue at an increasing pace despite temporary setbacks.

What I want from my Demotix is a chance to empower all genres of journalism not only photo journalism, to write, be heard and to form a consensus in the form of input from my fellow writers.

I would like to end my first input to Demotix with the words of a true revolutionary, Bob Dylan when he says “I feel a change comin’ on”. I have no disagreement there; together we all will bring this change.