Monday, February 7, 2011

Current Events: Egypt

Opinion
            First it was Tunisia, and now it’s Egypt; other countries brew with unrest too. Honsi Mubarak has been President of Egypt for almost 30 years, and Egyptian citizens accuse him of oppressive corruption. They call for his resignation, and they say they want a real democracy. The protests against Mubarak were peaceful until Mubarak supporters took to the streets too, bringing violence with them. Citizens threw rocks at each other, and the military stepped between the two groups and tried to stop the fighting. Foreign journalists are harassed and blamed by some for the country’s problems.
These events are not to be taken lightly; they signal that our world is shifting. Everyday, the world is becoming more connected through technology, a process called globalization. The Internet is allowing people in countries that were once “closed” to see what’s going on in the world around them. Social networking sites obviously have a big impact on the way citizens act; the Egyptian government shut off all Internet access for five days because many of the protests were being organized on websites like Facebook. These people are looking for change, and they’ll use anything they can to benefit their cause.
Why should high school students be informed about these conflicts around the world? The Middle East is infected with oppressive governments, and, as a people who believe in freedom, we need to be aware of the injustice people in other countries are experiencing.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote those words from a Birmingham jail in 1963, he was fighting for African-Americans’ rights. As citizens of the world, we must stand together to make sure that people have basic freedoms around the world. If that means telling Mr. Mubarak to leave office, then that’s what our country needs to do. 
Lauren Pell, Editor-in-chief

March issue preview

Students, teachers, parents, administrators:
We’re busy writing stories for the March issue of the Bear Facts. We want to know how you feel about some of the stories we're working on. 
The following stories are just a small preview of our March issue:
  • problems with Bethel’s building 
  • the “kissing disease,” mono 
  • what happens in the bathrooms at school
  • Boys Varsity Basketball team
  • Self-image
  • Good, bad, and ugly relationships

Do you have questions, comments, or suggestions for any of these stories?

Do you have a other great story ideas? Is there something going on that we should write about? Do you have suggestions for us to improve the paper? You can comment on this blog or email us at hcs-bhsnewspaper@hampton.k12.va.us with ideas, comments, questions, or photos.

December Issue 2010

We hope you enjoyed the December 2010 issue of the Bear Facts… Here’s a digital copy of the issue if you missed it!