Inspiring People Inspiring Action
'Protest' movements are high profile, attract a lot of attention, move others to join a fight against injustice, inequality etc. I know there are times when it is necessary to take up arms, figuratively or literally, I wouldnt be here if others had not done so in the past. My problem however lies in the question - what then? How can I recognise, understand and take action that might help to bring into being a world in which humanity flourishes?
How people can fight and win battles and wars - there is thousands of years of accumulated and collective knowledge on that subject from which to learn. How people can live together harmoniously in an egalitarian, inclusive and emancipating world - that is a different form of knowledge. I find odd bits of personal knowledge but I have yet to find any collective systemic knowledge from which to learn. So, the best I can do for now is to try to notice and learn from the knowledge created by individuals as they try to have an educational influence in their own learning, the learning of others and the learning of the social formation they are a part of. I do not have or want 'role models'. I do not want to replace one statue on a plinth with another. I do want to try to recognise, understand and work with the knowledge generated by people who have contributed to the sort of learning I believe is necessary for a world in which humanity can flourish to be brought into being. Hmmm... clear as mud but I want to keep a more careful note of people and ideas which give me an occassional, albeit fleeting, glimpse of clarity along the way. Who knows - maybe eventually someone else, like you, will be able to create a coherent and useful picture and help contribute to growing the accumulative and collective knowledge of humanity so humans might eventually learn how to live together in a peace full world where their humanity can flourish.
What follows is, as usual, in no particular order. I am just adding to it as and when I come across something and remember to make a note here.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) Good Citizenship: The Purpose of Education. Originally Published in the Pictorial Review in April, 1930.
Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) Challenging the narrow nationalisms of nineteenth-century Europe, Suttner believed that disputes between nations should be settled by means of arbitration rather than armed conflict. She devoted her life to campaigning for the cause of peace, and in 1905 became the first female recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid is a Mauritanian politician and advocate for the abolition of slavery. A courageous leader of the international anti-slavery movement, Biram has been arrested and imprisoned several times by Mauritanian authorities.
Edna Aden was raised in Somaliland in an educated and wealthy family, and went on to a distinguished international career with the World Health Organization. After retiring, Adan returned to her roots and opened Somaliland’s first maternal health facility. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/edna-adan/
Sakena Yacoobi is the CEO of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she founded in 1995 in response to the lack of education and health care that the Afghan people were facing after decades of war and strife http://www.afghaninstituteoflearning.org/our-founder.html
The 51% - https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/51-percent/
Books
Osha Gray Davidson's book The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South.
The Third Wave by Ron Jones https://www.thewavehome.com/1976_the-third-wave_story/
Margot Lee Shetterly's book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race is a 2016.