On Friday 20th January, the world looked bleak and dark. British MP's including the leader of the Labour party having the choice to halt an advisory, non-democratic, populist, multi-opinion vote altogether, decided not to use that power and walk us on a dark march through to a parliamentary vote and triggering what many of us now by now, will bring dire circumstances for most with advantages only for a tiny elite.
Cycling across an eerie, snowy landscape, had the feeling that we would never never ever be the same again. Complacency took deep roots long ago and spread whilst silently darker forces, tread upon our ignorance and fear gradually taking hold of everything that we held dear. Whilst we had our heads in our own self obsessed lives, our rights were slowly and silently being taken away from us, until we suddenly realised, it's too late.
No, it is not too late to fight back. On January 21st we woke up as two million people around the world, mostly women, but also men and children woke up, rose up and took a stand. Yes, be angry at your own sleep walking silence, as well as those around you, but don't just be angry. Channel it into a deeper love for humanity, one that we have not dared to come to life before. Let waters of forgiveness mix with your fire of anger and frustration, so that you find peace and calm, walking softly, in non-violence and love.
If you knock us down, this will only make us stronger. What has been awoken is like fire inside a mountain, ready to erupt. Not only women stood strong with us. Men, proud, strong, brave, fearless joined. I felt a kind of union that I hadn't felt before. Something that went beyond duel opposites of masculinity and femininity, to a brotherhood and sisterhood being built upon ashes and ruins, that dismissed any cruel divisions of distrust and disharmony, to a union and bond that could be built on honesty, trust. Naked souls walking through unfamiliar territory, together in the dark.
When language has been used as a weapon, just like Amie Cesaire and the Blaxploitation films, that very same language can be turned upon its head and used against those very people who tried to oppress them. The same oppressive language can be transformed to that of empowerment by first claiming it as your own, to subvert it, mixing with your own language and particularities so it becomes a third voice, that of empowerment and resistance. Resistance is the only way forward now and it is fully within the hands of the people. For too long the we have relied on institutions and people we have elected into power to do the work for us, but democracy is flawed on so many levels there is nothing left for us now, but to take action. Power to the people. This means taking part where you are at, when you can. It may just feel that small actions do not mean as much, but steps like starting your own civil society project, like doing workshops about history of resistance through posters, or host your own singing/ rap workshop of resistance songs, the possibilities are endless.
Start where you are, when you can, with what you have...and don't stop. Don't stop until those very rights that you may have taken for granted start to come back, not through luck or a change of tide that is somewhere out there, but through your own and collective dedicated action. When you see that fire inside the mountain, keep watch of each others souls and let the fire rise.
Taken as part of this collection on 21st Jan. at #WomensMarch, Munich 2017 follow this link for the whole collection: https://goo.gl/photos/xV5i4DdGDvr16k6k6
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