Opinion
15 September 2015
The Fat Lady Sings ~the theatrical component in the global delivery "The 3rd Millennium":
“Is
it a play with music? Or a musical in the style of a play? That's
just one of the many points to wonder about in the new production
from Marscom Television, The Fat Lady Sings. Drawing inspiration
from Monty Python and referencing celebrities as diverse as Michael
Jackson and Martin Luther King, The Fat Lady Sings will have you
hooked in one moment, laughing the next, confronted a moment later,
and probably bewildered into the mix.
A blend of comedy, drama, music and social commentary, The Fat Lady
Sings will definitely cater to all audiences."
Brendan J. Raymond, Associate
Director and Actor.
By calling
on living and dead celebrity activists, such as Bob Geldoff, Ray
Charles, Elton John and Princess Diana, the sceptical students begin
to realise that even the victory is worthwhile. These ‘SOS’ calls to
celebrities add a musical element to the production, using the
compositions of musicians Saxon Docker and Jake Haines to convey the
important message of Gen3M- that this generation will be heard, and
no children will be left behind.
Currently
the production is set to be streamed to globally, where the funds
raised will go directly towards the assistance of disadvantaged
children, as well as raising awareness of social injustices to bring
about change in the future.
“I
generally just feel good just being part of something that is
genuinely trying to help people. It's awesome meeting other kids at
different universities who just want to get involved, you know?
Start making a difference now, instead of waiting until we're older
and more established in our own lives,” says musician and actor
Saxon Docker. “On another note this play is legitimately nuts! A
weird concoction between crazy and clever, I'm not quite decided on
which one it's leaning more towards just yet. Still, it's sincerity
is inspiring.”
The Fat Lady
Sings will be performed for the first time in Sydney, Australia
later this December at the Science Theatre University of NSW,
December 14 to 18, 2015.
Jack Owen, 2015.
3 July 2015
Josie, 14 years old, speaks out about domestic violence after losing her mother to suicide. SMH
30 April 2015
There was excellent news for Nigeria
yesterday as 200 girls and 93 women were rescued from a Boko Haram
stronghold in the Sambisa forest, believed to be the group’s last
stronghold against the African Union and Nigerian forces.
The girls, a handful of thousands kidnapped by the militants and
believed to be sold into slavery, were allegedly used as human
shields by the group before their rescue.
Although not the internationally
known Chibok Secondary School girls, the rescue provides hope to the
North African peoples and will lead to further progress in
eliminating the threat of Boko Haram and bringing our girls home.
We, Gen3M, demand to be heard.
21 April, 2015
Three weeks ago on March 29, New South Welshmen were
voting on who would lead their state for the next four years. The
voting polls across the state were surrounded by sausage sizzles,
cake stalls and supporters of all parties as some members of Gen3M
were casting their first political votes.
Across the globe in Nigeria, their people were participating in one
of the most important events in history: the 2015 election.
After the
postponing in February, in order to make way for African Union
intervention with Boko Haram, there had been a serious tension
between supporters of both parties as well as the ongoing militant
threats. Following unfortunate events of violence, protest and
malfunctioning polling stations, Muhammadu Buhari of the All
Progressives Congress defeated 15 year president Goodluck Jonathan
of the People’s Democratic Party by 2.1 million votes.
"This is the first time in Nigeria that a sitting government will be
voted out of power using purely democratic means," Lai Muhammed of
the APC said, and he is correct.
Buhari, who
I discussed in January, is believed to be a non-corrupt leader whose
military background shows him to be the best bet in defeating
terrorist group Boko Haram, responsible for the kidnapping of Chibok
schoolgirls as well as the displacement of over 800,000 children.
“There
is no doubt that in tackling the insurgency we have a tough and
urgent job to do. But I assure you that Boko Haram will soon know
the strength of our collective will and commitment to rid this
nation of terror, and bring back peace and normalcy to all the
affected areas. We shall spare no effort until we defeat terrorism,”
Buhari stated in his acceptance speech.
The ISIS
pledged group, who today killed two soldiers in Borno State, is
thought to be struggling to continue their occupation of the area
due to both the Nigerian army and African Union forces. Boko Haram
are currently in the Sambisa State Forest, one of the groups few
remaining strongholds and last believed location of the 200 Chibok
schoolgirls, troops are preparing to raid and eliminate the group in
what may prove to be the most challenging campaign yet.
We, Gen3M,
will not give up until the group is no longer a threat and the
displaced children are returned to their homes.
We, Gen3M,
demand to be heard.
Jack Owen, 2015.
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5 Feb 2015
Boko Haram militants are
showing a large amount of activity in the weeks leading up to
Nigeria’s federal election, raiding towns and villages, killing and
kidnapping throughout Nigeria and Cameroon in order to expand and
support their self-declared Islamic caliphate in the north of the
country.
Despite the wreckage, there has been good news in the form of
international assistance from not only the Chad military- who killed
200 militants in Gamboru on Tuesday- but the African Union’s troops
as well.
7500 troops from the African
Union have formed a Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) against
the terrorist group, who have killed thousands in their years
violently controlling the north of Nigeria. The United nations are
similarly offering assistance to eradicate the terrorist group, with
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon supporting the AU’s action and
hinting at further intervention if necessary.
"They
have committed unspeakable brutality. Not a single country, even the
regional countries, can handle this alone," Ki-Moon stated. "The
United Nations is ready to fully co-operate with the African Union."
The acceptance of outside help is the first real effective move the
Nigerian government has made against Boko Haram and brings hope of
peace and for the safe return of hundreds of stolen children,
including the Chibok schoolgirls.
I hope that this diplomatic move to eliminate the threat of Boko
Haram will be successful, that it will right some of the injustices
committed by the terrorist group, and that a minimal number of lives
will be lost.
We, G
en3M, demand to be heard.
Jack Owen, 2015.
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23 Jan 2015
The Nigerian schoolgirls remain captive ~ world leaders are remarkably silent ~ Jack Owen speaks out ~
The
stories of courage and unity in recent terrorist events such as the
Charlie Hebdo attack and the Sydney Siege are enough to warm the
heart of any human being who witnessed the emotion and strength of
the victims. Combined with the ‘#illridewithyou’ and ‘Je Suis
Charlie’ campaigns of support, started and spread mostly through the
acts of Gen3M, the world has seen an impressive demonstration of
resilience in the face of evil.
Despite this, it saddens me to think that these events, with their
low death tolls and swift resolutions, overshadow similar yet more
deadly atrocities around the world simply due to their first world
proximity. It seems we have forgotten the Nigerian terrorist
organisation Boko Haram and the kidnapping of over 200 Chibok
schoolgirls in April 2014 which caused a global uproar, birthing the
hashtag
#bringbackourgirls.
The
group, associated with Al Quaeda and Islamic State, have been
extremely prominent in the Islamic northern states of Nigeria since
2002. There has been approximately seven thousand deaths related to
the group and over three hundred thousand displaced peoples since
2009; yet the group continues to expand, only days ago raiding a
Cameroonian village and kidnapping up to 50 children. These
children, much like the students of the Chibok government school,
will be raped, beaten and converted to follow an extremist view of
Salafi Islam before being forced into marriages, combat, or trained
to be suicide bombers.
This
Valentine’s Day, 14th February 2015,
Nigeria will be holding their national
election where the votes will be hotly contested by the two main
parties; The People’s Democratic Party
and the All Progressive’s Congress.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP):
The
PDP, led by southern Christian President Goodluck Jonathan, has been
in power since 1999, a time marking the end of Nigeria’s
Dictatorship past. In this time the PDP has encouraged religious
freedom, economic liberalism as well as a health care system. This
party has led Nigeria to become the largest economy in Africa,
utilizing its massive population to support its neoliberal ideology.
Despite
these positive aspects, the party has had a history of ignoring
social issues and has a history of corruption in its recent years
under Pres. Jonathan. These cases include the previous petroleum
minister funding a $1.1b fake oil company in his name as well as the
government working with the Christian Association of Nigeria to
smuggle $9.3 million into South Africa, allegedly to purchase
weapons.
Under this ruling Boko Haram has continued to grow and kill, as recently as last week the group took the lives of over 2000, levelling entire villages.
Many soldiers in the North, targeting the Islamist group, have
complained that their budget allowance is being stolen by
commanders, leading to a lack of supplies such as food and weapons
vital in preventing the group.[i]
All
Progressives Congress
The
All Progressives Congress (APC),
led by northern Muslim General Muhammadu Buhari, is the result
of four major Nigerian opposition parties merging together in
February 2013 with a common goal- to ‘fix’ the considered
failings of the current government.
Muhammadu Buhari, 71, is an ex-military general who ruled the
nation from 1983-1985, gaining his power through coup d’état.
Lives were lost during this period, however, and due to there
being a lack of global human rights laws there were many
Nigerians detained and punished - sometimes with death - without
a proper trial.
Being a strict Muslim, Buhari originally sympathised with the
terrorist group, blaming the Christian militant presence in the
north of the nation.
Now I know what
you’re thinking - this
guy has dodgy written all over him, but this view changed. The
sickening kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls that put the
group into the public eye caused Buhari to take a very public
stand against the militant group, stating that the group’s
members were “…misguided persons masquerading as adherents of
Islam.” Shortly after, the group made an attempt on the
general’s life, killing 83 in a bomb attack.
[i]
Despite a questionable history, Buhari is well known as
being uncorrupted and a strong leader. Backed by a combination
of 4 parties, I believe that the Nigerian public will gain a
significantly stronger representation and the ethnic divide
between north and south will weaken.
What can we, Gen3M, do about this?
As an individual who is quite liberal in his views and opinions,
I shock myself by showing support for a party fronted by the
leader of a military coup. But Nigeria, neighbouring countries
and our generation are facing the imminent threat of an ever
growing and increasingly more active group with no respect for
what lives they take.
Following the failure of Goodluck Jonathan’s PDP administration
to effectively deal with this threat, I believe that the
military experience and strong will of Buhari will solve this
immediate problem. Furthermore his Islamic faith and heritage
will gain significant support from the northern population,
driving them to feel highly represented and destroying the
belief that the terrorists are, in fact, doing good.
Is there a risk of
Nigeria reverting to the military dictatorship it escaped in
1999? Or to the human right breaches of the 1980s?
In 2015, Nigeria, like every other sovereign state, is in the
public eye for the world to see. There are global human rights
laws the new regime will have to follow, international trading
partners such as the USA in which the Nigerian economy relies on
and as a member of the United Nations there are certain rules
and regulations to follow.
These factors, as well as the multiple parties originally
forming the APC having a vote on congress decisions, drive me to
believe that this risk is low.
Boko Haram needs to
be stopped before more young girls are forced to wed and more
young boys are involuntarily turned into soldiers, before more
towns are destroyed and their evil spreads.
The APC seems to be the only
option in swiftly achieving this goal.
Gen3
M can assist by showing support for the destruction of Boko Haram and bringing them back into the spotlight. Make sure the two hundred missing schoolgirls are not forgotten and support the right decision when it comes to achieving this goal.We, G
en3M, demand to be heard.
Jack Owen, 2015.
[i]
Aziken, Emmanuel (2014), Vanguard Nigeria:
BUHARI TO BOKO
HARAM: You’re bigots masquerading as Muslims,
[i]
Sergie, M, Johnson, T (2014), Council on Foreign Relations
Nigeria: Boko Haram
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