Political Protest In The World

The United States currently has 1.25 million people in state and federal prison, a total of 1.9 million people incarcerated, including broader facilities. Prison systems are known to be a corruptive authority, but issues have been gaining acknowledgement through various protests. Political protest is a public action where individuals express their criticism toward government systematic injusticeness. In the novel, Chain Gang All-Stars, written by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, members of society challenge a dystopian world consisting of inhumane and normalized incarceration standards spread all over the media, where prisoners fight to the death. Numerous reporters and journalists have covered a variety of stories of protesters disapproving authoritarian actions in the world we live in. Overall, citizens protest to sensitize communities for reasons where human rights are being threatened all around the world. In order to preserve these rights, the government needs to take accountability for their actions, and if they fail, protestors' rights should draw public attention and demand policy change.

To start, political protest is necessary to raise awareness on federal issues, and for accountability to be taken into account. Adjei-Brenyah uses a fictional dystopia to create a feeling of familiarity of how the real world is similar to the absurdity of his story. In the novel, revolt is a highlighted part of the story that's essential to get rid of executive abuse. Prisoners such as Loretta Thurwar go against the system of their encapturement, “We the enslaved of the GEOD system facility…reject the separation of families and the inhumane violence set against innocent refugees…we demand an end to neo-slavery in GEOD systems, and all American detainment institutions, which have long kept the harsh flame of slavery alive in this country” (Adjei-Brenyah 279). Using the words “neo-slavery in GEOD systems”, the prison system is emphasized as a new thinking of slavery, illustrating how the purpose of  prisoners themselves protesting is to create awareness of the corruption being ignored. Adjei-Brenyah creates a juxtaposition of how exaggerated ideas in the novel are unthinkable in our society, but actually revealing how it’s not far from the way we live. The petition proves the facts of the wrongdoing the authority gets away with, and how using different methods can spread the information out. Similarly, citizens in the real world struggle with the mistreatment of state officials. In an article about workers in Argentina, protests are designated to the overhaul of worker protections. Their president Javier Mile represents , “a government that doesn’t care about the people,” said Sergio Aguirre, 51, a bus driver at the march. “Costs keep going up and our salaries stay the same. We survive on overtime pay. Now they want to take that away with the rest of our benefits” (Debre). As Aguirre claims that “they want to take…the rest of our benefits,” he emphasizes the unsatisfactory tone protesters have as their regime is failing to protect them. In this rally, citizens are calling attention to government failures to protect citizens from the injusticeness of their basic rights. Simple anecdotes from different perspectives aim to pressure the officials to bring back guarantees from official labor codes that were stripped away from them. Shifting back to the novel, Adjei-Brenyah addresses authoritarian issues by connecting real world issues to his story. A character Simon Craft, is punished through torture in prisoner, “The hole is black, I only see when the door opens…Solitary confinement has been consistently found, nationally and internationally, to induce anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, depression, panic attacks, memory loss, and other cognitive defects” (Adjei-Brenyah 165). Through the use of Simon's story shifting to the author's footnote, administrative use is criticized as unacceptable as our world has been incorporated into a dystopian society. The utilization of “solitary confinement”, a form of torture in the writing, is continued to be used in real life which creates danger to people by transforming a person’s mind into worse and takes away human freedom. Adjei-Brenyah personally calls out the justice system by creating this novel as a form of objection, to spread awareness to the readers and prove how similar our justice system can be to oppressive fiction. In a different place, Japan, thousands of citizens are protesting their lives being at risk, due to changes in new government officials. They oppose the executive plans, by wishing to stay pacifist for the country's good, “In their view, any revision to the constitution risks remilitarizing Japan, hurting the reputation… as a rule-abiding, nonthreatening economic power. They are also concerned that Ms. Takaichi will embroil the country in war, escalate tensions with China and contribute to the broader long-term trend of militarization around the world” (Notoya). The fear of having, “risks remilitarizing Japan”, encourages participants to influence political decisions as authority is threatening to put people's home in purposeful danger. Symbolizing Japan as a peaceful and pacifist country, people draw the attention to political policies that desire involvement in the world to prove that the law has no concern of placing citizens in a risky spot. Large demonstrations of protesting are used to put pressure on the leaders to encourage reconsideration of and believe in “No-War”. Political questioning is essential to make a change, as the government abuses its power to take human rights away, and will not stop until called out.

In addition, people who are incarcerated are mistreated by the control, making prison a highlighted place for political protest. In the fictional world of Chain-Gang, prisoners can participate in the CAPE (Criminal Action Penal Entertainment), where prisoners fight to the death. Tracy Lasser goes against this system as, “America has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. We cling to the archaic and destructive practice of using death as a penalty for crime, when most countries have abolished the death penalty altogether…we’ve allowed the state to administer public executions as entertainment” (Adjei-Brenyah 175). Prisoners in this world feel pressured to join the CAPE program, clinging on to the hope of false freedom, when in reality these people are not cared for but used for the media. In Tracy’s words, “we’ve allowed…public executions as entertainment”, she’s creating a melancholic tone as citizens have accepted this way of treating people who have done crime. The reason for her dissent is to pinpoint that incarcerated people are still human, and don’t deserve to be treated less than due to their status. In the reality of the U.S. systems, it is almost identical to the CAPE program. A prisoner in Alabama state prison claimed ,“You could have guys that will go to prison for a simple theft, but once you get there, it’s kill or be killed. That’s the way you have to live in there, and it’s messed up” (Alabama Prisoner System). What this author does is uses a form of ethos through exemplifying the people who undergo these systems, proving how disgusting the conditions are. Having to, “kill or be killed”, in order to live validates the misuse of power authority has as it doesn’t attempt to do anything. Living in fear of death everyday, is abnormal as a human being who is supposed to be in the hands of a protecting jurisdiction. Living in complete dominance is also a factor of prison that is a wrongdoing against inmates. Adjei-Brenyah creates a perspective about daily life in prison through a fictional character Hendrix Young. He visualizes the restriction he endures, “I look at my wrists. I look at the blue line sitting at the vein…Use your voice and feel the hard lightning. Blue line means shut the f-ck up as long as it's there, which is forever. Blue line means here we are. Still. In here it’s always a blue line on our wrist” (Adjei-Brenyah 63). In the diction of “blue line sitting at the vein…hard lighting”, Hendrix uses imagery to demonstrate how this control feels by having unusual rules you are threatened by. Repeating the word “blue line”, is a form to tell the reader that this line is all he knows as a prisoner, and he isn’t any more. The way citizens are treated by the law in the form of neo-slavery, by capturing people and restricting mobility. Likewise, Venezuela is going through a crisis, where political oppression is acted on Venezuelan citizens by keeping them in detention facilities. The outcry was caused because of “The government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez quickly released all U.S. citizens in its prisons. But it did not free hundreds of Venezuelans whom human rights groups contend are being held on political grounds” (Garcia Cano). Prejudice left a damage on these communities as people were carelessly left in restriction without a reason. A tone of betrayal was sent to these innocent individuals as they were not able to see their loved ones and were treated as nothing due to biasness. Many women challenged this political party by gathering outside of jails to question and put pressure on them. These political protests against jails help uncover the truth about influential systems that damage the meaning of human rights.

In contrast, some people might say that protests are unethical, and government power is needed. Yet, the bureaucracy is the system that is a reason for complaint, as its corruptiveness is best shown when interfering with protest. Our nation's president, Trump, believes that he should use authority to maintain strong control over societal turmoils. During a peaceful protest about justice for immigrants, he claimed in a social media post, “We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California…If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated” (Blake). In this claim symbolizing the protest as “violent", Trump is creating a hyperbole of the declaration's effect, to try to prove that authority is necessary. Creating a derogatory tone of this citizens' way of expression is proved to be dangerous, and doesn’t help support a civil way to establish disagreement. From this perspective, large riots can make it harder for leaders to govern and ensure stability in democracy. Yet, this hypocritical way of thinking proved a valid reason for authority. In the same article, CNN footage showed that, “After Trump’s comments on Tuesday… law enforcement from the California National Guard, Department of Homeland Security as well as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement fired non-lethal tear gas outside a federal detention center to disperse protesters” (Blake). As National Law Enforcement was used in the protest, it is stated that they “fired non-lethal tear gas”, using rough actions trying to detain the people who were participating. There is a juxtaposition in Trump’s words, versus his true actions as he used the power of his control to as he said before "obliterate" the scene. Violence is the main attack protesters have for why a ruling power is unsustainable, which in this case is seen to be proved based on this interference. In the non-fictional world, Chain Gang, these same demeanors happen as a way to criticize our mankind. A grievance against the CAPE program led to the scene of “The same officer pointed his weapon at a woman in black and fired a round of rubber bullets that exploded into her clavicle. The ammunition broke her bone; she shrieked and fell and several protestors pulled her into their cave of bodies” (Adjei-Brenyah 312). Similar to our current place of America, officers of the law responded with a violent way, creating a disappointing tone of how higher officials treat citizens. The “rubber bullets” impacted a protester by breaking “her bone”, an attention to detail that the author created to explicitly demonstrate how too much power leads to doom. In both universes, protesters are triggered by the fact that danger is set onto the human race through the administration that is failing to recognize human rights. Public rallies are beneficial for change as they prove government morals, that are especially shown when interfering with citizens practicing their rights.

Lastly, people establish protests to create efforts of catching the attention of communities to warn people of the commanding corruption we endure. In Chain Gang, Tracy Lasser used her platform as a news broadcaster to establish a message about the CAPE program. She admitted that, “I wanted to be a part of this program to talk about achievement, not murder, not lynching, not death…I stand in solidarity with those around the country who have demonstrated against so-called hard action-sports. I support the repeal of B3 and all so-called hard action-sports just as I support ending the death penalty. We are fighting for a more humane society” (Adjei-Brenyah 112-113). Using a live broadcast she decides to guilt-trip the audience for allowing a normalized death penalty. The words, “so-called hard action-sports” are being repeated to put attention on the fact that the directors mask the program as sports, when in reality it is an inhumane system. Her message is to pursue the community into recognizing the damage higher officials have done on society's outlook and morals. Correspondingly, in Argentina, people organized street protests to draw attention to the concerns of changes to the labor code. A worker who was personally affected claimed, “We’ll stay in the street until the government changes or backtracks,” said 47-year-old Manuel Correa, who works at a textile factory on the outskirts of Buenos Aires that slashed its workforce in the last two years by 58%, or 350 employees. “We don’t have an alternative” (Debre). What this person does is use the appeal of logos of factual statistics of how government law “slashed its workforce” by “58%” demonstrating how workers have been affected to exclaim the abuse of power they endure. The article itself aims to use the media to inform people internationally about how the ministry has disappointed citizens. This effort was made to encourage public discussion to advocate for reforms that can help make a more accountable predominance. Similarly, in Venezuela, women stand in the street outside of departments led by the state, to gain attention and for their needs. They, “began gathering outside police stations, jails and prisons expecting to see their loved ones walk free. But they did not. Scores of women refused to leave and began camping out in front of those same detention facilities to put pressure on the Venezuelan government” (Garcia Cano). Although the presidency failed to recognize the inequality of withholding citizens in detention camps, it did not stop them from persevering, a critical step to confront on a deeper level the corruptiveness happening. The use of the words,“women refused to leave…began camping out” symbolize the courage of these women that can inspire people to push for accountability by revealing the suffering the people in charge have placed on specifically their community. Women coming together with similar concerns, creates a powerful form of voice which can be hard for leaders to ignore. Equally, activists in the dystopian literature of Chain Gang, have a voice to go against the CAPE system, for citizens to understand their reality. The character Mari, a part of the Coalition to End Neo-Slavery made a critical effort, “And even though the men circled her, the entire stadium could see the message…before the producers had forced the Jumbotron cameras to black, the message had been magnified for all to see. Where life is precious, life is precious, and it dawned on the crowd…that life might not be precious here” (Adjei-Brendyah 371). By the italicized diction of “Where life is precious, life is precious”, it directly challenges the audience at the BattleGround stands to question the entertainment they have consumed. There is a tone shift into tension as individuals are being informed as it “dawned” on them “that life might not be precious here”, displaying that the remonstrance is making a difference and bringing out anxiety. Adjei-Brenyah’s goal of this novel is to inspire the citizens in the real world to push for a harder change, and create enormous efforts to restrict us from becoming a society such as Chain Gang All-Stars. By protesting, it effectively grants awareness to situations and helps gain support from people to abolish the ways of depraved thinking.

In conclusion, people need to care about the government injustice we face, because systematic abuse of power thrives when nothing is done about it, keeping us vulnerable to damage. Political protest is often seen as spontaneous outbursts of the public which is violent and has no remorse, when in reality citizens are overwhelmed with the injustices, and have clear concise goals that require aggression for acknowledgement. The novel Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah exaggerated the underlying problem of the prison system that people who are incarcerated have to live under fictionally, to emphasize the deep frustration of how the reality of our network truly is. Articles about political marches have demonstrated the issues that have surfaced globally due to our political system, and the actions people have taken to determine righteous outcomes. To become more involved in protests and activism, joining advocacy campaigns is simple through national organizing platforms, connecting to local locations. Political protest is essential for creating a change in society, by exposing ascendancy wrongdoings to educate communities of the human rights that are being violated, and challenge unjust systems. The government is eligible to protect its citizens from harm, and when it is the one not taking responsibility, we are privileged to practice our rights to demand liability.