We face various kinds of protests in our everyday life. These protests may be formal and informal, political and diplomatic, within the family or of the external character. Various protests are regarded in literature, cinematography, or simply in everyday news, and the aim of this essay is to regard some of the sources and to sum up the main heroes’ experience in protesting and relating with state institutions.
One of such novels is RAW by Scott Monk. This novel is written for young adults and is claimed to clearly inform the reader about the impact of institutionalization on an individual. The text reveals the influence it encompasses on the behaviors of those who are placed in institutions. An explanation of any institution could be “an organizational prototype of group behavior established, and usually accepted as an essential part of a culture,” as a result, the institutions submit to psychological circumstances which have been brought about due to a depersonalized environment. Automatic behaviors often take place as a result of institutionalization, such as inexpressive faces, along with general indifference. Their personal appearances, as well as personal principles, become less important.
Institutionalization is likely to surface if the residence in which their uniqueness is, interests, and strengths are not respected. There are few kinds of institutions such as Education systems, Legal systems, and Economic systems, along with Health and Social Culture systems. The main character Brett faces the law system as he is imprisoned, but his actions have not deviated from his criminal actions. His withstand to the system is described in the mentioned above book by Scott Monk and can be characterized as an unsuccessful attempt to change the state system during his sojourn in state prison. (Scott Monk. RAW 2001-2007)
Another example of withstanding the system and sociological incongruity can be the movie by Clint Eastwood, “The last samurai.” The character by Tom Cruise faces the problem of social inappropriateness. When he gets into a Japanese village, the first problem is that he is regarded as a foreigner and treated standoffish, as any gaijin (from Japanese – foreigner, white man). To communicate with the villagers and to express his wills or thoughts, he needs to study the Japanese language, and thus he starts to study it, taught by non-English speaking children. Another example of his social noncoincidence is the ability (more disability) to defend himself. To survive in that world of unfamiliar civilization, anybody needs to have a sword and be able to use it. This film is a fictional story, which describes occasions absolutely incompatible with real life. But it could be a bright example of noncoincidence and the attempt to struggle the system. (eBay, 1995-2007)
The real story which is necessary to describe in the present essay is the story of David Hicks, also known as Abu Muslim al-Australia, and Muhammed Dawood, an Australian citizen who is accused of terroristic organizations assistance. His official verdict is “providing material support to terrorism,” for which he was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2007. A kind of protest which he provides is called an affidavit. It describes all the sufferings and humiliations he had been exposed to. It needs to be amended in advance, that this information is rather subjective, and it can not be regarded as a source, showing the whole objective picture of the occasions. This affidavit provides 27 points, including a short biography of David Hicks and all his complaints. After looking through the text, the reader can conclude that he had been subjected to beating every day, before and after interrogation. But the fact is that we can not persuade if it is really so.
Australians and some of his followers argue that this imprisonment violates international treaties and Australian law. Peter Vickery, a Special Reporter of the International Commission of Jurists. Vickery stated that the verdict of “providing material support for terrorism” was a “retrospective offense.” Australian law proscribes protection for offenses committed before the laws that made them indictable offenses had come into force. According to Vickery, so make both the Geneva Conventions and the Civil and Political Covenant — both treaties to which the USA and Australia are signatories. (Wikipedia, David Hicks 2007)
The text of the official verdict provides the information, according to which Hicks cooperated with Al Qaida and participated in preparing Muslim hit men training to conduct battles in urban conditions. According to international law, any assistance to international terrorism development is unlawful, and any who assists materially or spiritually to terroristic organizations must be imprisoned, according to international lawmaking. The full text of the affidavit by David Hicks may be found on the page of Fairfax Digital (Fairfax Digital, 2004) and compared with the text of the official verdict, which is available at Wikipedia. (Wikipedia, Charge sheet 2007) As only by comparing different and opposite to each other sources is it possible to get the whole picture of any affair.
References
Fairfax Digital, 2004, The David Hicks affidavit. Web.
Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia. 2007 David Hicks. Web.
Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia.2007 David Hicks. Charge sheet. Web.
Mega essays.com, 2001-2007. Scott Monk. RAW. Web.
eBay, 1995-2007 “Last Samurai” The description of the movie.