Blog Post

Just-Do-It.org.uk

June 26th, 2010 in Blog by adminView Comments

How far would you go to stand up for something you believed in?

In 1906 Emily Pankhurst chained herself to the railings of the Prime Minister’s Office and was later arrested and beaten. Her actions helped win women the right to vote.

In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, was arrested and fined. Her actions directly led to the introduction of racial equality laws across America.

In 1977 Wangari Maathai was beaten, almost to death, for planting the first of 7 billion trees and starting the greenbelt movement.

The list goes on.

The point, as far as this blog is concerned, is not whether or not we have recorded the actions of these individuals correctly, whether they really acted in the way that they did or for the reasons we like to believe they did. Rather it is that history has recorded these actions favourably, that we admire those who stand up for their rights and the rights of others because we have a healthy respect for this kind of bravery.

We all like to think that, should we find ourselves in similar situations, we would behave as admirably. We like to think that if we knew in our heart of hearts that society’s behaviour was completely unfair or unjust, that we would do something about it.

This said, we just don’t see huge numbers of people out on the streets every weekend, protesting about social and environmental injustice. So does this mean that we just don’t believe?

Don’t believe that climate change is happening, that global food prices are starting to rise and that food riots will ever be of concern to us? Does this mean that we don’t believe that deforestation and loss of biodiversity caused by our hunger for timber, biofuel or beef is an issue? Is it that because we can’t see the build up of pollution in developing countries we just don’t believe we are responsible for the environmental degradation (despite the fact that this build up is caused as a result of manufacturing processes that predominantly exist to maintain our western lifestyles)?

The West End play Enron ends with a comment about the bursting of the technology bubble “One of the properties of a bubble is that you don’t know when you’re in one, you can’t see the world outside it”. The comparison with consumerism today is easy to make, nobody wants to believe that we are in a bubble and that one day it may burst.

How else might we explain the lack of Direct Action in the UK?

Perhaps it can be explained by a belief that protest does not create change. That protest is not able to effectively influence policy and, in any case, is often un-enforceable. Possibly, that UK policy is ineffective on its own given that it is increasingly necessary to consider environmental impact on a global scale.

Alternatively, are we just too concerned about personal safety to act? The personal risk associated with Direct Action can be substantial. Whilst it is an extreme example, the man who held up a tank in Tiananmen Square using white flags was later executed for his actions. In the UK the Drax protestors who hijacked a coal bearing train faced criminal convictions for their actions.

So whilst history (the recorded view of society) has a “healthy respect” for those who are willing to break with conventions (and often the law in doing so), it seems that most of us simply decide to accept the status quo.

Just-do-it.org.uk presents a trailer for a feature film that documents the actions of 3 organisations (Climate Camp, Climate Rush and Plane Stupid), 2 loose affiliations and 1 Domestic Extremist. These are individuals who have decided that they do believe in their respective causes. Individuals who do believe that they can make a difference. Individuals who, (whilst they may have been scared), decided to get up and “just do it” irrespective of that fear.

Perhaps most importantly the trailer reminds us of the energy, passion, personal commitment and leadership shown by a few across 2008 and 2009. A real inspiration.

The feature documentary is due to be released in early 2011. Please donate to help cover production costs at Just-do-it.org.uk