'I am sorry but I don't want to be an emperor..."

When I first saw this video, I got chills. I thought of people around the world suffering from dictatorships, torture, inhumane treatment... I thought of my country where a lot of things have gone wrong and unfortunately its leader being nowhere close to saying that he doesn't want to be an emperor. Because he is one and he rules his country with no reservations to anyone including his very own people. 

We have known Charlie Chaplin for his impeccable humor but this speech is not such a script of a movie, its something much more powerful. I putting the text of this speech below the video. 


And I would like to thank Peop1e.org for mashing up this video.

I'm sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business - I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.

We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little.

More than machinery we need humanity; more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish...

Soldiers - don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate - only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers - don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written " the kingdom of God is within man " - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. 

Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.

The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up."

In case you were wondering... a little bit on March 11

Here is an article i just translated on March 11 that was published originally here [AZ].

It has been few days now that a group called “March 11- great nation day” was created on Facebook. A group of over 20,000 active Facebook users were informed of its purpose. The creator of the group, Elnur Majidli who currently lives in France and is also the founder of European Azerbaijanis for Democracy organization says the aim of this group is to break mass hopelessness:

“The date March 11 was picked purely by coincidence. But it also coincides with Mubarak’s resignation marking exactly one month. On February 11^th, Jabbar Savalan was arrested on charges of drug possession (that were planted on him) shortly after his call to people to come together at Freedom Square. On February 11^th, while Jabbar was in prison, in Egypt, a dictator fell”.

There is nothing planned on March 11, “its simply a people’s incentive” says E. Majidli:

“Azerbaijani people, community, individuals will do whatever it is they see in March 11 themselves. Maybe there are going to be tens and hundreds of different protests, someone will hang out an Azerbaijani flag from their window, someone will wear a t-shirt, others distribute leaflets and etc.”

When asked whether it was also a coincidence that all of the group moderators live abroad, E. Majidli said, despite some people being offered to moderate the group in Azerbaijan, they refused:

“Many people refrain, so we put more brave ones to break this avoidance. If I would have opened this Facebook page have I lived in Azerbaijan, I would  have possibly get arrested. That is why I understand those who are in Azerbaijan”.

Among creators of the group is Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, who lives in Azerbaijan. He says, his involvement has to do with the technical issues of the group.

In the meantime, Chair of one of the pro- government political parties and a member of the national parliament Fazail Agamali, expressed his opinion regarding March 11, calling it “special project prepared in the kitchen of the radical opposition parties”.

E. Majidli however, criticized this statement, adding that he has already faced criticisms from the opposition parties regarding the event."

Changing Azerbaijani society or how to get rid of bad habits

Few weeks ago, I shared the following link on my Facebook profile. It takes you to an album from a day- campaign aimed at reminding local Azerbaijani citizens of something very simple and yet neglected all the time- standing in line. Everywhere you go, rarely you could see a proper line. In fact, there is no line culture in Azerbaijan. Most of the time what should look like a line would look like a bundle of people all trying to get ahead of the others by pushing, jumping in front and what not.

The campaign was initiated by a group of young Azerbaijani citizens calling themselves Positive Change. Today, I cam across this article introducing this initiative:

The group, also called Positive Change, grew out of the election campaign of a young candidate for the Azerbaijani parliament, Baxtiyar Haciyev (Bakhtiyar Hajiyev).

Haciyev, a Harvard graduate, went into the recent parliamentary elections with a campaign based on his U.S. experience and with the slogan of "Positive Change." He lost to a pro-government challenger in a process widely deemed fraudulent. 

But unfrustrated by the defeat, around 50 young volunteers working for Haciyev's campaign decided to set up a new youth movement to continue their advocacy for much-needed positive change in Azerbaijan. 

The video below is a reportage [AZ] about the campaign the day it was happening, with the speaker introducing the idea. "We tried showing that standing in line is possible and that while you are in line you could do more beneficial things too, like reading a book and thus use your time effectively" says the young man talking in the video.

Thumbs up for these guys as these are some of the initiatives much needed not only in the capital but also across the country.