Most people when they think of activism they think of protests, public meetings and solidarity with some cause far away. The reality of things , for me anyways, is that the majority of activism is dealing with people and there prolems and trying to find solutions, in other words casework. This encompasses advocating for people getting screwed by there bosses, reffering people to lawyers, court support, dealing with really screwed up landlords, disability and a whole variety of other things that screw working class and marginalized people over. Sometimes this work is rewarding, othertimes its downright draining.
The thing is that being exposed to all the injustices that one faces everyday when doing this work you sometimes get cynical, especially when you deal with like three four fucked up cases in the same day.
The thing is most people hold this illusion that if they have all there documents in order and do everything that they are told and jump through all these hoops, there is some mysterious force of justice that will suddenlly apear and everything will go right and be sunshine and smiles. The reality is that the system of exploitation is so entrenched that by playing there game and jumping through there ropes one will eventually lose and then give up.
Courts for all there talk of justice and rule of law are like a blood thirsty monster that can destroy lives and not really care since to the system these people are not humans but rather cases to be prossessed. I have seen many familys destroyed, people lose all they have and lives tossed to the wind soley at the discression of paperpushers and people dressed like penguins more concerned about winning or getting payed then actual justice.
After a day of dealing with all sorts of shit i met a friend of mine whose whole carrear and life was destroyed by the stupidity and racism of beurocrats. in his hands he was holding all his court documents, disclosure, evidence etc with all his life as if these peaces of paper could restore what he lost. I reffered him to a friend for legal advice and wanted to talk strategy outside the box, eg. how to successfully apply pressure to win. Me , being familiar with his case already knew what was up , still he showed me court desision after court desision in his favour, as well as emails faxes etc, as if these peaces of paper in front of the right judge could change something, after over two years of being fucked over and pretty much losing everything.
At some point I almost lost patience with him, but knowing what he was going through bit my tounge. So calmly i changed the subject to media strategy, phone jams etc.We agreed to meet again shortly, given the fact that all the stress he was under we needed to find solutions quickly.
I lit a smoke as i walked away, and inhaling the bitter nicotine I started thinking to myself. To expect justice from a system built on violence and exploitation is just fooling yourself, at the same time to throw up your hands in defeatism and become numb to the injustice surrounding you makes you complacient in it. As humans we have an obligation to speak out and not be silent to all the fuckery that surrounds us, and though i have been accussed in the past of being angry at police courts cas and others that i know are corrupt and fucked, i dont necessarilly think its a bad thing. I think the bad thing is when you become indiffrent too all the fuckery around you and stop seeking justice. As humans we have a hereditary part of us that believes in right and wrong and seeks to fight injustice, and if we cant find it in there law, then we must find otherways to do it!!!
