Hope

With the year coming to an end, I’d like to talk about how nihilism, pessimism, and hopelessness can be tools of oppression. This past year has been filled with tragedies all around the world. As people are made aware of these tragedies, systemic oppressions, and humanitarian crises happening all over the world, many of us want to do anything we can to help. This past year there have been countless protests and petitions advocating for racial equality, trans rights, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, and raising awareness for Ukraine, and now most recently, calling for a ceasefire in Palestine.

I think it’s easy to feel helpless when you are constantly exposed to countless images, stories and sounds of pain and violence, especially when you are so far away from the actual conflict. As humans, we have an innate ability to empathize with others and grieve for them. It is very normal for people who aren’t directly affected by the violence to feel helpless and anxious. Witnessing violence, even through a screen, can lead to heightened levels of anxiety, distress, and even guilt. As people across the world watch the horror unfold in Gaza, most of us may feel guilty about our inability to provide aid to the victims directly. Despite the discomfort brought on by guilt, it can serve as a powerful catalyst for action, pushing individuals to contribute positively to their communities and the world.  And I know there are many of us who may feel unsure about the impact of our actions. After all, at the end of the day there are so many things that are out of your control, and it is our world leaders who hold the power to change things. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t making a difference.

History is littered with examples of protests, boycotts, sit-ins, and petitions having powerful and lasting impacts. Right now, I know that many people may be questioning whether their protests and petitions are even making a difference. It is easy to give in to despair, especially when it feels like our leaders are not listening to us but protests only work if we keep them going. Protests and boycotts may sometimes look like failures in the short term, but much of their power is in their long-term effects, on both the protesters themselves and the rest of society. I want to remind you of some of the successes brought on by protests, boycotts, and petitions. There was the Boston Tea Party, a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773. It was the first significant act of rebellion by American colonists against the British. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. It sparked the First Continental Congress in 1774 and led to the American Revolution, which began in Massachusetts in 1775 and ended in 1783 when the British formally recognized U.S. independence. Another example is the Salt Marches of the Indian Independence Movement. Led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930, during the height of Britain’s colonial occupation of India, activists marched over 240 miles to collect salt from the Arabian sea to protest a law preventing Indians from buying or selling salt in the country. ^[1] This peaceful act of resistance was met with a crackdown from the British authorities, leading to the imprisonment of 60,000 people. Which eventually drew publicity for the Indian Independence movement, garnering support from all over the world. There was also the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. This was a 13-month long boycott where African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The protest ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ordering “Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement.” ^[2] There was also the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, South Africa’s National Day of Protest on June 26, 1950, the Stonewall Riots in 1969, and so many more.

Hopelessness and pessimism are tools of oppression, but hope is revolutionary. So don’t give up hope. Keep on protesting, boycotting, and petitioning your representatives for the kind of world you want to see. None of us are free until we all are.

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