‽istis reclaims protest
(weekending June 12th 2021)
This week, as noisy, colourful, creative, angry, humorous,
disagreeing, committed, shambolic, stately, formal, rumpled scenes unfold in St
Ives and Carbis Bay – and that’s just from within the G7+ delegations?!…; as a
statue to Emily Wilding Davison is unveiled in Epsom near the racecourse where
she was fatally injured [i],
‽istis ponders the value of ‘protest’…
‽ the
voice that may challenge the ‘group think’ (leaving just 11 who are angered?[ii])
‽ the lone
figure in front of a tank[iii]
‽ the
voice of a young person speaking to the world about theft, about the future,
about responsibility, about the very stuff of life itself[iv]
‽ the
hundreds of thousands marching to try to stop a war[v]
‽ the image
of the death of a 26-year-old screaming through her eyes[vi]
‽ the
wild(ing) gesture in front of Royalty, in front of cameras[vii]
‽ the activists
in a state in a system[viii]
‽ and on, and
on, and on…
So ‽istis wonders at what point does
protest have to become protest; can someone protest too
much (methinks?); how and when could or should someone decide, take a position,
find certainty, hold a conviction, defy convention, risk all, actually know what is ‘the
right thing to do', make a judgement about siding with the judgement of future ‘history’…?
And, as ‽istis ponders, perhaps the
deckchairs are simply being re-arranged; possibly the fiddling is simply accompanying the burning (of Rome and elsewhere); maybe the indecision is in itself something
of a decision…?
Perhaps, possibly, maybe in a world
where and while there are still forests, trees and witnesses - if I object but no-one has
seen or heard it, then have I really objected at all? and can there be a hope
that things might be any different…?
©
Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to
this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily
indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders
[iii] https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/world/tiananmen-square-tank-man-cnnphotos/https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/world/tiananmen-square-tank-man-cnnphotos/
[v] https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/feb/15/politics.politicalnewshttps://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/feb/15/politics.politicalnews
[vii]
See endnote I, above
