I’m writing this on the Eurostar – about to meet a very dear friend called Didid who inspired me when I was in my 20s to follow the child rights path – he has been a champion of street children and has helped me more than anyone to understand the concept of freedom (‘Merdeka’ in Indonesian). He and his family are visiting Europe (from Indonesia) but can’t get a visa to the UK – so I have to visit them in Paris. I’m a little bit apprehensive about meeting up with Didid – it will be the first time we’ve met outside Indonesia. He has been my ‘guru’ (Indonesian word for teacher) for many years – but not in the ‘instructive’ sense; he doesn’t act anything like a ‘teacher’. He trusted me from day one (invited me to live with his family when having a foreigner in your home was heavily questioned by the oppressive government regime at the time) and I was hugely honoured by this trust.
I’ll report on how it went on the journey back.
Ah well it is now several days after my journey back (missed my train, long, boring story) but I’m glad to report that the meeting went very well – we met up at an Indonesian restaurant in Paris that had been the centre of communist activism for Indonesians during Suharto’s oppressive regime (during the 1980s and 90s). We met with a leader of the communist party who had been an activist with Didid but was kicked out of the country in the 80’s. It got me thinking about activism – particularly as I like to think of myself as a children’s rights activist (in certain circles – i.e. not when I’m talking to a bunch of investment bankers – although who am I to presuppose that would put them off me!). Sorry, getting distracted…what I’d been thinking about was the way people always assume activists are angry, loud, shouty kind of people – but many are not. Didid is not, he is quiet and unassuming; the humble activist! Also, people assume activists are on the outside criticising ‘the system’ (whatever that may be) whereas I know there are many people working for ‘the system’ trying to change it from the inside. We need both types of activism of course – but I do feel that the loud, shouty outsider generally gets the glory whereas the quiet insider (who probably achieves more) looses out a little on the glamour stakes.
This also got me thinking about an organisation I’ve just heard of called thesuburbanpirate.com – a tongue in cheek campaign for middle class revolutionaries. It was explained as a campaign for those of us who are a little bit trapped within the system – with our mortgages and our concerns about school places – to speak up about our (middle class) concerns. It was the ‘trapped’ thing that I was interested in (although the tea towels and greetings cards are hilarious – do check them out). It connects and contradicts the myth that you have to be completely outside the system to criticise it (an angry, loud activist). Doesn’t this rule out the vast majority of people? We can’t all be anarchists!
So here’s three cheers to the quiet, unassuming activists, those on the ‘inside’ trying to bend the rules and make positive change happen. Keep up the fight comrades!
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