Yuka found a reference to 12 year old Charlotte Aldebron on the Asahi New web site. She seems to be getting a lot of press for her view on war. Of course, it took us forever to find her web site, as names are written different in Japanese, and we had to guess... Charlotte's Peace Rally Speech is interesting to me, as it is something that gets heard in the media in times of trouble... young people taking the future by the horns and making an impassioned plea for peace/the environment/willy the whale. I'm a teacher, so of course this is good. But what triggers the ever close to the surface cynic in me is how great a sound bite it makes in the media, and again how easily it is dismissed by most people with the condescending "children just don't understand the issues" retort..
Posted by jason at March 27, 2003 09:01 AMThe speech transcribed in this morning's Asahi Shimbun was actually a newer one given by Charlotte at a peace Rally on March 3rd in Maine. Here is one link to the text:
http://indymedia.no/news/2003/03/7238.php
Alternately, you can listen to an interview with Charlotte in which she reads read the speech on air at:
http://radio.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1822&group=webcast
This interview touches on much of the information also found in the Asahi Shimbun piece, including how Charlotte started out by writing an essay on the American flag for a class assignment. Her teacher responded to the essay by telling the other students that there was an unpatriotic girl in their midst, and Charlotte was ridiculed by her classmates.
Go get 'em, Charlotte!
Posted by: wallah at March 27, 2003 10:59 AMWallah to the rescue! Thanks!
Posted by: jason at March 28, 2003 06:59 AMCool site!
Posted by: casio at January 15, 2004 07:24 AM