[Content Warning - discrimination, harm, wrongdoing] activism

PS - see also: 

• “From the Lemkin Institute on genocide prevention / investigation [Note: Content Warning - mention of and links to documents concerning genocide. Reader discretion is advised]”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/   This provides links to a genocide prevention toolkit prepared by the Lemkin Institute   

• “A rebuttal of the so-called “Rapid-onset gender dysphoria” conspiracy fantasy”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-rebuttal-of-so-called-rapid-onset.html   

• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2023/07/links-for-activism.html; 

• “Can Social Media Activism Actually Work? - PBS Voices”   https://youtu.be/0IkQ-AxJb8A?si=dG_cJ1dev7lSr37E   Yes, is the answer - if it is done correctly   

• “(efficacy of) nonviolent protests”   https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2023/04/efficacy-of-nonviolent-protests.html   including links to   “Post No. 1,614 - How Large Do Movements Have to Be to Succeed?”   https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/07/post-no-1614-how-large-do-movements.html   and   “Powering Learning about Nonviolent Action”   https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/index.php/   “The Global Nonviolent Action Database provides free access to information about hundreds of cases of nonviolent action, from all continents and most countries, for learning and for citizen action. The database is a project of Swarthmore College”   and https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/browse   &   https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/search/node?keys=  

• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2023/09/80000-hours-has-updated-their-career.html;  

• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2023/08/another-activism-email-to-mps-on-hate.html (and other examples emails from my political blog which I may add here if I get the time - and energy);  

• The need for a “Permanent, Specialised International Crimes Unit”   https://acij.org.au/our-work/policy-and-law-reform/permanent-specialised-international-crimes-unit/   

• “10 Reasons Why Societies Fail to Respond to Their Greatest Threats”   https://www.okdoomer.io/you-arent-the-one-panicking-they-are/   These reasons are real, and important to know so they can be countered    

• the term “‘Ethnic cleansing’ bleaches the atrocities of genocide”   https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/18/2/204/449611  
  

and some useful better language guides that were circulated during the West Asia war that commenced in October, 2023: 

• “Israel-Palestine: Avoiding Antisemitic and Islamophobic Hate Speech. Solutions Not Sides”   https://solutionsnotsides.co.uk/blog/2021/avoiding-antisemitic-islamophobic-hate-speech   

• “American Jewish Committee's Translate Hate glossary empowers you to identify, expose, and report antisemitism. Click on the terms below to learn more about how antisemitic tropes, words, and symbols hide in plain sight - from the internet to pop culture.”   https://www.ajc.org/translatehateglossary   

• “9 tropes about Muslims that are a product of Islamophobia”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/11/us/islamophobic-tropes-muslims-in-america/index.html   

• “Fact Sheet on the Elements of Anti-Semitic Discourse”   https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/AboutUs/CivilSociety/ReportHC/75_The_Louis_D._Brandeis_Center__Fact_Sheet_Anti-Semitism.pdf  

Additional posts of mine (see some listed at the end of this post): 

• “Post No. 576 – Activism”   https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2014/07/post-no-576-activism.html  
  

When I was a small kid, knee high to a grasshopper, I became very disillusioned with Christianity for a number of reasons, one of which the presence of people who were called, at that time, ‘Sunday Christians’ – people who talked of love on Sunday, and stabbed you in the back on Monday, people who I now include in the term ‘neochristian’ (as opposed to people who are genuine about Christ’s message of love, who I term Christian). I’ve gone through similar experiences in other religions - for instance, people who don’t use Buddhism to make themselves better people (see here and here).

To me, spirituality is something that must be lived – and, if it includes love, or compassion, or wisdom, or growth, then in my view it must include attempts to help people and/or the world.

Those people include oneself, of course, but, just as charity is said to start at home, it doesn’t finish there, either.

There are a few other aspects of this concept.

Firstly, there is a balance between helping the world to be a better place, and improving oneself to be the sort of person who is good “no matter what”. Much of what I came across in spiritual movements (particularly New Age stuff) was based solely on working on oneself, and saw the world as a place for one to be tested: the concept that the testing could also be of what one could do to help people – particularly people not seen or known – seems to be utterly alien to those groups (and yet it is so innate to spirituality to me). That is quite true, and I’ve written about it: being able to develop, or to accomplish things in spite of circumstances, can potentially be good – but not when it becomes an excuse to leave those circumstances as they are for the next person.

In my opinion, acknowledging that there is a balance between improving the self, and improving reality, is a vital first step in being able to do something about deciding where the balance should be …

It is also vital to acknowledge that the balance point will vary, depending on circumstances, and the people involved … including their varying levels of spiritual evolution. This is as important as being prepared to acknowledge that evidence may show that our efforts to be of help may not be as good as we thought, and thus we need to adapt (particularly if circumstances change).

That is called wisdom, that objective summing of evidence and adaptation …

In terms of the pagan world, there are people who do much as the other religions do (fund raisers, letter writing, signing petitions and street marches), but where we can add so much, where our skill lies, is in the performance of magick (with full respect for free will!). We can summon energies to inspire, create energies to prevent conflict, and talk to the Goddesses and Gods that others don’t.

And that is exactly what I consider we should do, as pagans, in addition to anything else.

If this appeals to you, a starting point might be joining us in our Sunday evening meditation, or using the Hope, Peace, Love and Prosperity Spell, or committing to peace (here and here).

As of the time this definition was written, I’ve touched on this idea in the following posts:

Post No. 532 - Phagic attack

Reading

Warning! Warning! Warning! Major vent / rant ahead :)

Things are busy

A Frustration

A too-hot Sunday's miscellany

Weed control, and other weeds

An old set of notes for a post: daring to judge and daring to do

Fear

A few Friday thoughts: bullies, boot camps, genes and whistleblowers

Convenience vs. responsibility

Rapping (not the music)

For my original writing ONLY on this blog: 

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/   

Links to others works and excerpts from others works are NOT covered by the hereinbefore, and remain subject to the conditions of the original source.