Bersih 2.0 – New York City
To date, more than 30 cities around the globe held a Bersih 2.0 rally on the same day. All these rallies were organized by people like you and me, ordinary people who want to see change for our country.
By Leng-Feng
Bersih 2.0 is a peaceful rally scheduled on July 9th, 2011 2pm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The goal of Bersih 2.0 is straight forward: demanding clean and fair elections for the people of Malaysia. It is about electoral reform that is long needed in Malaysia.
A group of people gathered in New York City to support their countrymen in Malaysia who chose to go to the streets on 709. This is a grass-root movement in which people rise up to answer the call of Bersih 2.0 to demand electoral reform, so that every vote counts.
This ‘documentary’ records bits and pieces on that day, and the day before.
When I decided to organize the Bersih 2.0 in NYC (simply because I couldn’t find anyone organizing it at that time), about 3 weeks before the event, I thought I might end up showing up there alone, probably with my girlfriend. Roughly 10 days before the event, Kwang Huei from NJ joined me to help organize this event. This is a great help since he is in NJ while I live in MA. A week before the event, we had roughly 30 people who told us they will attend the event. A day before the event, the number jumped to 60. But we didn’t know how many will actually show up the next day.
This uncertainty is a result of the fear of the government of Malaysia, who have threaten its citizens with strong words and declared the rally ‘illegal’. Students under government sponsored scholarships received letters warning them not to participate in this event.
Soon after we started to organize one, at about the same time, San Frans, LA, and later Chicago, D.C. and many other cities around the world started to self-organize Bersih 2.0 in their respective counties. Most of us spread the news and the event through Facebook. Later, we learnt that others shared event info to many online forums, which then attracted other non-FB users. To date, more than 30 cities around the globe held a Bersih 2.0 rally on the same day. All these rallies were organized by people like you and me, ordinary people who want to see change for our country. We formed a loosely-tied global steering committee to share info and materials. All these happened in less than 2 weeks. And as people used to say, the rest, is history.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bersih_2.0_rally
Summary of our event: ~130 ppl; Age range from 1 y.o. – 69 y.o. (even one who is pregnant); Coming from CT, MD, MA, IO, NY, WI, PA, NJ.
News:
1. malaysiakini.com/news/169541
2. malaysiakini.com/news/169523
3. malaysiakini.com/news/169305
4. malaysiakini.com/news/169502
5. sinchew.com.my/node/211719?tid=1
6。merdekareview.com/news/n/19150.html
7. merdekareview.com/news/n/19146.html
I have used clips and photos from Bersih 2.0 NYC participants to produce this ‘documentary’. They are: Lye Lin Lock, Evrim Vildirim, Nicole Wong, Elise Loh, and Tzelin Low.
Music credit: “Freedom” by Maher Zain
Video process with Sony Vegas + MBL.
Would like to acknowledge Kwang Huei, Lye Theng, Lye Lin for their suggestions on the video.
A big “thank you” for all who showed up in NYC, it is you that make everyone there feel that there is hope for this country. Thanks to all the committee members as well as several participants who quickly stood up to help mange the event as we have a lot more people showed up than we expected. 🙂
For all the brave souls who walked on the street in KL on July 9th, 2011 and welcomed by the government with tear gas and chemical water gun, this video is for you. Thank you for standing up for our country.
Watch video at: http://www.vimeo.com/26404460
