In this episode, Julia Wiklander speaks about the horrors happening in Palestine and Israel and in other parts of the world. She talks about the polarisation in our world. She shares how she believes we must let it break our hearts, to allow for compassion and determined action. This episode includes audio from Sim Kern and Filippo Grande.
Violence cannot end violence.
Violence, terror, war, dehumanisation, apartheid, rape, kidnappings, holding civilians hostages is never justified. We must stand with the children, young people and families in Gaza, the victims of Hamas, the civilians living in Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and other places.
Violence cannot end violence, it only escalates violence. Hate cannot end hate, only love can.
We really need to end polarisation and hold more than one thought in our heads.
And we know that an escalation of violence only leads to more civilian casualties. More women and girls will be at risk of sexual assault. More children will be at risk of losing their families or their own lives.
And as we witness the suffering, we know the warnings. We know that despite the rise of anti-migration policies, the global scale of people seeking refuge from war, conflict and persecution is only going to rise.
As people are dying at the borders of Europe or the US, or in refugee camps in some of the world’s poorest countries, we know that the pressures for peace, for security, for unity will only increase. Yet, the reluctancy for our politicians or even our peers to see it is horrifying. And social media only fuels the flames of hate and polarisation.
Let the injustice break your heart.
It is really really disturbing to see the racism, intolerance, anti-semitism, anti-muslim, dehumanisation, justification of violence. Allow it to break your heart.
When we can feel it all, we can allow new strength through the openness and vulnerability and faith in our shared life and world. If we close our hearts, we let hate win.
Set boundaries to grow compassion.
Allowing yourself to feel the heartbreak, requires you to seek out the safe spaces you need to do so. Listen to what you truly need in this moment. When you’re capable to connect with others to take determined action, do so.
Compassion is the only way we can move forward.
This episode includes audio from Sim Kern and Filippo Grande. The audio is taken from Instagram, and you can follow them @refugees and @sim_bookstagrams_badly.
Julia Wiklander is the Founder and President of Girls’ Globe and the host of the Hey Changemaker! Podcast. She is a social entrepreneur, human rights advocate, writer and strategic communicator. Julia hosts an online course in Digital Storytelling for Impact and workshops on the intersection of feminist storytelling, digital media and strategic communications.
