I'm currently reading the book Not For Sale by David Batstone (also a documentary well worth watching). I'd recommend you check out the website - it's got some great ideas for local advocacy (some stuff is American but some of it is global).
He offers a realistic yet hopeful look at the global slave trade and how we can fight it.
"That, in fact, was the unexpected surprise of my journey to monitor the rise of modern global slavery. I had steeled myself emotionally to end up in the depths of depression and despair. To be honest, I made some unpleasant stops in my journey. The day I went undercover to investigate a brothel in Phnom Pehn, for instance, broke my heart... but my journey did not end at the station of despair. The prime reason: I met a heroic ensemble of abolitionists who simply refuse to relent. I felt like I had gone back in time and had the great privilege of sharing a meal with a Harriet Tubman or a William Wilberforce or a Frederick Douglass. Like the abolitionists of old, these modern heroes do not expend their energy handicapping the odds stacked against the antislavery movement. They simply refuse to accept a world where one individual can be held as the property of another."
I'm praying to Be A Hero... want to join me?
3 comments:
I love justice. As we are taking on large scale efforts, how do we stay grounded ? Is there a danger in thinking too big and having our efforts become phylisophical, like a head without hands and feet ? And also is there a danger of becoming so hands on that we loose sight of the big picture ?
yes on both counts... and the I love justice bit.
I love Justice when it's rooted in love and results in freedom for the oppressed. Taking the blinders off to the bigness of injustice is the world is pretty overwhelming... but to keep narrow minded on the injustice right in front of us is also limiting... so there is this amazing thing about realizing the big picture and aiming big - and setting about getting there in local, rooted and measurable ways... we used to say that strategy was the legs on the body of a dream... perhaps the local scene is part of the walking out of the big picture of justice?
It's good thought - in the early days the Army attacked parliament (with thousands of petitions and addreses - writing the Queen for support etc...) after they had bought a girl prostitute (to prove it was done)... they went small and then went big... they also set about helping establish the freedom of one woman at a time... all in a local context - it gave them credibility to tackle the big stuff...
it's gotta be both. (that took a while to say a simple thing?!).
God help us figure out how to do both... and effectively.
Danielle
yes on both counts... and the I love justice bit.
I love Justice when it's rooted in love and results in freedom for the oppressed. Taking the blinders off to the bigness of injustice is the world is pretty overwhelming... but to keep narrow minded on the injustice right in front of us is also limiting... so there is this amazing thing about realizing the big picture and aiming big - and setting about getting there in local, rooted and measurable ways... we used to say that strategy was the legs on the body of a dream... perhaps the local scene is part of the walking out of the big picture of justice?
It's good thought - in the early days the Army attacked parliament (with thousands of petitions and addreses - writing the Queen for support etc...) after they had bought a girl prostitute (to prove it was done)... they went small and then went big... they also set about helping establish the freedom of one woman at a time... all in a local context - it gave them credibility to tackle the big stuff...
it's gotta be both. (that took a while to say a simple thing?!).
God help us figure out how to do both... and effectively.
Danielle
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