1/18/10

Lesson from Dr Martin Luther King Jr. for Madagascar

Today is Martin Luther Ling Jr. A day to celebrate a vision of struggle for justice, in a non-violent manner.
Here is a photo, one of many of Dr. King at a civil right movement, marching at the front of the line.

 (in Memphis, photo credit Sam Melhorn via AP)

A few words come to mind: Courage, Dignity and Accountability. Dr. King would never let his supporters face risks that he was not willing to face himself.
Now, It's certainly not a fair comparison but take a look at this photo on feb, 7th:


(from the following video)



Followed by this tragedy:





There is still no official account or an investigation of what happened that day (02/07/09), only that close to 80 people died.  None of the people killed or injured were among the ones who organized the walk to take the palace. In fact, none of the political leaders were anywhere to be seen when protesters advanced close to the palace.

It will be a full year in a few days since the sad events of Black Monday and Red Tuesday.

The lesson:

Leadership matters. Real leaders give speeches and then walk the talk, in front of the line.
Leaders do not vanish in a sheltered place when they know things are about to get dangerous and let protesters walk in harm's way to serve their agenda.
The only thing we know for sure about what really happened in Madagascar a year ago is that we could have used a Dr. King back then.

[In memoriam of all the victims of this senseless crisis]

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