14 Days of Freedom: Day 13

Well, I'm not superstitious or anything...but this is Day 13, the one day you'd expect to be associated with bad things. The universe seems to have conspired against me in this as well, so...

...One thing I've learned about activism - in fact it's a lesson that I've had drilled into me by experience (though I'm young and haven't done much myself) - is that it's really, really, really hard work, particularly in places like Egypt. It's not an easy thing to do. It requires sacrifice. Some will leave because it gets too hopeless - and that reflects more on the population at large than it does on the activists themselves.

I know people who would cheer at this. They make me absolutely sick. They are cheering at suffering and at loss of hope; they are cheering as good people, some of the best I've ever known, decide to throw in the towel because the weight of oppression is too much for them to bear. And they are cheering because it means their precious fake reality isn't upset.

Activism needs a lot of resilience, but resilience alone isn't enough. All of the resilience, intelligence, passion and hard work in the world can only do so much before other people have to get involved or the whole thing collapses: the people who want to be activists but are too scared, the people who want to be activists but don't know where to go, the people who are scared of and disdain activism in all its forms all need to join. They're not the same - I doubt they are even on a continuum - but all need recruiting if something is to be achieved.

It is not pretty. It is a lot of hard work. We must all do what we can, even if it's just a little bit. We must free our minds. We must work. We must fight. It will take a little of the pressure off, at least, and we can do more if there are more of us working together.

Listen. If you care about your world - if you want a good one - move beyond your fears and prejudices. Actually talk to people. Work together. Get off your arse and do something, anything, no matter how small. We are running out of time and energy to change things for the better, and inaction is not helping.

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