On a weekend trip out of the city, PSP’s Peru team visited the Andean city of Ayacucho for its infamous Semana Santa festivities.  In the nearby village of Quinua, this 44 metre high obelisk (pictured above) sits atop hills 3,300 metres above sea level to commemorate the 1824 victory of the Battle of Ayacucho.  This victory secured Peru’s independence after 44 years of struggle against its colonizers, and even ensured the independence of the rest of South America.

Latin America’s revolutionary heart is such an inspiration - one from which we can all learn so much.  In our daily lives, it’s often so easy to become complacent, to accept oppression as “the way the world works”.  By various cultures and colonizers we are all told not to challenge the status quo, not to upset the norm, not to speak out for what we know in our hearts is just.  We are taught to fear revolution and change, not to embrace and harness it.

I want to challenge you all to foster that passion within you; that revolutionary spark that can and is changing the world for the better.  While nations have by and large won the battles against their colonizers, we are all still greatly affected by colonial thought: in paradigms of racism, inequity, and exploitation.  The time for change is now, and the movement is united across all hemispheres of our globe.  Let’s look for these connections, and embrace a revolution in the way we look at the world.