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MIF21: Festival Square 17/7/21 – Part 1 of 3

Voices Of The People

Arriving at the gardens, to say goodbye to Marta Minujín's  Big Ben Lying Down  I got in the mile long queue to get my free book (I was allowed to take two) and as I looked at the volunteers inside dismantling the sculpture I remembered being a child and taking a double decker bus tour of London with my mother and seeing the real thing. Britain has certainly endured some upsetting times that have knocked it over since I’ve been in the US.

I collected my books (We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi and Black And British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga) and was about to leave when the We Are The Hong Kongers display caught my eye. One of the organisers there was kind enough to take the time to explain who they were, why they were there and some of the atrocities that the people of Hong Kong have to endure even as you read this now.

If you have the time to mindlessly scroll through your social media feeds, or listen to toxic people in your life who don’t care about you then why not use some of that time to go to the link, educate yourself and use your voice to make a difference? (Thank you.)

https://wethehongkongers.mystrikingly.com/

The question "Why does it matter to me?" is posed on the site and it matters to me because it's a human issue, because people who have so much to give to the world, artistically, intellectually, culturally and scientifically are not being given the chance to, they are losing their rights and their lives instead of being able to live freely and happily. I have a voice, it might not be loud, but I can use it for the people who are forced to stay silent. We are all interconnected in different ways, so what affects others will eventually affect me. So for me the question really is, "Why wouldn't it matter to me?"

I left the display and made my way through the Gardens, fully aware that while I was enjoying the perfect weather, and the joyful screams of the people playing in the fountain in other parts of the world other people don’t have that luxury. It was a thought that made my heart ache slightly. I remembered why I decided to stop watching the news. I don’t think of myself as a fighter or activists because I know I don’t have the unconditional passion and energy needed to fight all the time. Sometimes I just want to enjoy my life, so I switch off and ignore the pain of the world simply because I can’t take it. But if I do have the energy, in the moment, then I’ll use it, whenever I can.

Detouring into The Manchester Corn Exchange to photograph the wall that caught my eye as I passed I saw the Black Live Matter march pass by (another thing I had no clue was going to happen) and after thanking the very beautiful and photogenic, David for letting me photograph him, I went and joined it. It had stopped outside The National Football Museum, bringing traffic to a holt, to signify the participants’ solidarity not only to the BLM movement but also to the three footballers who endured such racial hatred and visceral written attacks following England’s loss in the Euro 2020 game. 

 Seeing people of all skin shades, genders and sizes should have moved me but I was numb. Over the last few months I’ve become slightly desensitized. I left the U.S.A. hoping to leave racism behind, but I was naïve. I know now that I am in a battle that I never signed up for, one I was born into; a battle I’m willing to fight in and that battle is equality. 

I am very proud to be a feminist, although I’m not a good one and I’m still learning, I believe every human should have the right to food, affordable shelter, education, clean water, equal pay, being whoever they want and loving whoever they want and be treated with respect (unless they abuse children, adults or animals) and I believe that every human being should be able to go anywhere without being ashamed or afraid…..I believe in basic human rights and I know that being in a world where everyone has that is not something that I will see in my lifetime, it may not even be possible to see within the life span of the generation that is younger than me and who will rule this world when I’m gone. But they are fighting for it and it gives me hope that, for them (and the generation that follows it) a healthier, unified, peaceful world might actually be possible.



Summer in the Sun


David (I love his pose; he looks so pensive)

Crane in The Manchester Corn Exchange (I love the golden rays around it's head)





Time to stop and listen


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