So a number of interesting things happened in politics this week. I’m not good at writing about this stuff [1] so you get pictures, video, and links to other sites.

I Can Haz Change?

The big news, of course, was the US presidential inauguration and Aretha Franklin’s hat. I guess Americans finally have earned the new puppy that coming with the Obamas to the White House :)

The Struggle for Change

Meanwhile, Nadia and I attended a protest rally in Melbourne over the weekend:

And though the people who attend rallies (myself included) all have their own particular agendas, mine was summed up by this poster:

And The Struggle Continues

Finally, if you’re in Lahore, consider attending the peace rally being organized by the newly-formed Amn Tehreek  (peace movement) at 3pm on Saturday, 31 January (click the image for details):

It’s easy to have a “nothing I do will make a difference anyway, so why bother?” attitude towards all this, I know. But if there is one thing that has the potential to make a difference – however small that influence may be to begin with – it’s attending rallies such as this one (at least to start with). Because if you don’t, then you might as well stick your head in the sand, renew your silent majority membership, and lose your right to complain if the future doesn’t turn out the way you wanted. (I extend the same argument to voting in elections, by the way, which is why I love the fact that, in Australia, voting is compulsory.)

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[1] I have a hard time writing about politics because this is not something I talk about often. As a result, I have far too much to say and far too little space to say it in. I also have a hard time cutting to the chase which, funnily enough, I have no problem doing when I’m writing about other topics (…must work on this). Besides, I find that, when it comes to politics, others say what needs to be said much better than I do. People like Mosharraf Zaidi, for example.