On MLK day: why communicating matters

First, congratulations to all the winners and all the nominated blogs to the Best of Malagasy Blogs Contest. It is awesome to see the variety of writings out there. Deciding who was ultimately worthy of prizes must have been quite a difficult task for the jury.

When it comes to writing, we sometimes wonder how much it matters in the grand scheme of things. The obvious answer is that what one posts probably won't change the fate of the world. And that's fine. However, from time to time, one would write about a topic that particularly resonates with another person. A reflexion or a discussion then takes place prompting both to further the thought process on that specific topic. When you think about it, that instant of communion, although brief, is quite a thrilling moment. There are a lot "stuff" on the web but you always remember the pieces that made you either reminisce, dig deeper or just smile.

Madagascar has a strong culture of story telling (tantara) and lengthy discussions (kabary).
Here is a piece called " L' Ecriture A Madagascar" (Writing in Madagascar) that relates the rich history of Malagasy literature.
Excerpt (Fr):

"Dox (pseudonyme de Jean Verdi Salomon Razakandrainy) s'est trouvé accordé, par son lyrisme élégiaque et ironique, à la sensibilité de la jeunesse des années 1960 et 1970 : ses chansons, ses poèmes, ses pièces de théâtre (sur des sujets originaux ou bien traductions des chefs-d'œuvre de Corneille et Racine) lui ont valu un succès durable.
Mais ce qui fait la popularité rapide des poètes malgaches - l'engouement pour des poèmes lus dans le journal - se retourne contre eux.Leurs textes ont rarement eu la chance d'être recueillis en volumes.Ils sont restés dans les collections de vieux journaux, destinés à s'enfoncer dans le sommeil des bibliothèques, où personne ne sait plus les retrouver.Une grande partie de la littérature malgache dort encore dans ces archives à explorer."

Then there are writings ( and writers ) that change history. Everyone knows about the "I have a dream speech." but one article by Dr. King was just as essential in my point of view an still very relevant nowadays. It is the letter from Letter from Birmingham Jail in which Dr. King uses the term "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"and he explains why civil disobedience is justified in the face of unjust laws.

( Dr. ML King and Malcom X via wikipedia)

Here is a comprehensive list of must-reads from Dr. King posted by Texas Liberal.

One does not need to aim that high to express his/her thoughts. However, with today's possibilities (ICT, open source software...) someone's experiences or ideas that might have gone unnoticed otherwise, can have an important impact with people who care for the same issues. This is what citizen media is all about. This is also what this project is trying to help achieve.

I will conclude with, what else, a quote from Dr. King:

"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."