Activism

I've always had an earnest interest in current affairs and human rights issues but my short attention span and fickle lack of commitment to one thing for more than five minutes don't lend themselves to social activism. These traits are generally frowned upon by the brothers and sisters who fight for a cause that is right and true....to the end....not till you start hula hooping salsa classes.

This year I decided enough was enough. It was time to put my money where my mouth is. Less talking, more doing.  Having said that, the only examples I've got to share with you involve me sitting and listening to other people talk and some writing on post-it notes. I haven't tied myself to a railing yet or even been arrested. Nil points!

First I went to my local mosque for a talk about the East Africa crisis. I was late because I'd been having my hair done. Not a great start. They had already started so my friend, Pete, and I scurried in and sat at the back as inconspicuously as we could. At first I put the uncomfortable staring down to a general frowning upon lateness but it turns out it was much worse than that. Pete soon spotted that we had sat in the 'red chair' section, which had cleverly been separated off from the rest of the blue chairs in the room. This section was just for women. Not for Pete. Once we realised our error it was quite difficult to know which social taboo to break. Do we disrupt the event by getting up and moving to another seat thus drawing even more attention to our mistake, or do we stay there and undermine the whole red chair section, challenging the faith choices of the the 'red chair women'? Tricky. Our very British compulsion not to cause a fuss prevailed and we stayed put..and very uncomfortable.  Think Monty Python's 'The Life of Brian'. "Are there any men in the red chairs?""Noooo", he squealed.

I went to see Mark Thomas who got me all fired up about Palestine. That spurred me on to go and see a talk given by an ex-American soldier. That was an eye-opener and I left there thinking I had to 'do' something. Then I slept and it went away. Most recently I've been to a day run by CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade). I was late (again) so I missed the handy bit where they show you a video which encapsulates everything you need to know in 5 minutes. I arrived just in time for excruciating 'audience participation' exercises with post-it notes. The most memorable part of that day was making small talk with a blind man in the break. I asked him why he'd come along. He worked at a local college and decided he needed to be better informed if he was going to teach others. I said, "yeah, otherwise it's be like the bl........ cough...splutter....good idea."

Has activism changed my life?
It's been a bit of a non-starter really. I do care about people and injustice but I haven't translated that into action yet. I'm also a bit intimidated by people that are so passionate and focused too because I just see a gaping void reflected back at me where my heart should be.


Rating: 4/10
Comments: It's a strange phenomenon but all the 'right-on' lefty do-gooders are also pale-faced, sandal-wearing misfits with awkward social skills. I'm with them to a point but I don't feel part of their family. I need to find my own way and a kind of protest that suits me. I like John and Yoko's idea of staying in bed. Now that's the kind of activism I could get involved with!

Development ideas: Come up with my own ingenious forms of protest....like watching Mad Men episodes with only cups of tea and salt and vinegar chip sticks to sustain me until they stop female genital mutilation.