Empathy: Changing the narrative on global politics

It sometimes feels that the world is a pretty dismal place to be living in right now. The past few months where we as global citizens have beared witness to so much unspeakable suffering borne out of hatred, seems to be unending.

All of it arising from human actions, from the shooting of concert goers in Paris, targeting of the LGBT community in Orlando, the frequent deaths of those from the African-American community at the hands of the police authorities, the recent horrific attacks in Nice and in Syria, to the suffering of millions of refugees, who are lost, in a world where their plight is ignored, because of their race, religion, colour or beliefs.

Alongside these incidents there has been a total lack of humane leadership from the top. 2016, has seen the rise of a new political paradigm, where the politics of nastiness prevails. A world where Donald Trump openly and consistently uses racist language cheered on by his supporters. A world where the people of Britain voted to leave Europe, based on a smear campaign against immigrants. A world where this hate speech of these so-called leaders, constantly invades our space through our social media timelines, newspapers and on our televisions – where the most vulnerable in society such as the unemployed or refugees are targeted, humiliated and virtually spat on. A world where those leaders who lead with honesty, integrity and humility such as Jeremy Corbyn are vilified, and consistently attacked for speaking the truth.  A world where a courageous young MP, Jo Cox who spoke for the most marginalised was murdered for her conviction to assist the voiceless.

Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed by everything that is happening in the world, one of my favourite things to do, is to look at images of the Earth from Space. I often think, that if only we instilled this perspective into our young children growing up, to consider our world from this mindset, it would be so abundantly clear, that we are all one – and there would be so much less hatred in the world.

So in this changing world, where our global order is so uncertain, what can we do? How can we make ourselves resilient? How do we avoid despairing from the negative energy all around and the hate that consumes the world we live in?

Basic science tells us, that for every reaction, there must be an “equal and opposite reaction”. In applying this analogy, I think the answer lies in the little things that each of us can do – in being that opposite effect.

I work in youth organisation Future Voices, with young people who seek to turn negative situations and bring about positive change to their own everyday lives as well as the communities they hail from. Often it gets frustrating for these teenagers because inequality doesn’t disappear overnight, and negative stereotypes and prejudices because you come from a ‘rough’ area cannot be reversed with a magic wand. I like to tell the young people a personal story, about an experience I had with the Travelling community to inspire them to keep going.

I previously worked with Travellers and Gypsies in the UK, representing them in a human rights capacity and was heavily involved in the Dale Farm eviction, involving the forced eviction of 400 Travellers from their own land. As such, we managed to garner the support of international institutions including the UN and Council of Europe who came out and condemned the eviction.

However, this was not enough to stop it ultimately going ahead since the UK Government were determined to proceed. But on the evening before the eviction took place, we were gathered in darkness on the site, all sat around a campfire having a sing-song. Then came a powerful moment, when the Travellers began weeping. But it was not tears of sadness, at being thrown off their own land, it was actually tears of happiness. The reason for this? The Travellers were overwhelmed that so many people were with them on that evening in solidarity with them. This was particularly touching, because there were so many individuals there who would not normally be associated with being supporters of Traveller rights including middle class teachers, social workers and Oxford University students. Each there, because they wanted to do the right thing and play their part.

I like to tell the young people this story, because I think in many ways it captures the power of solidarity in counteracting everything that is currently wrong globally. In all of the hate that exists in the world, what we CAN do is show empathy. By walking on their journeys, alongside those who are most marginalised, whether they are refugees, the homeless, Travellers or members of other vulnerable communities who are the easy targets of the haters, then we let them know that someone cares. That they are not alone. That what is happening is not acceptable.

Sometimes it is as small as smiling at the lady in the hijab, or having a chat about the weather with the man who is homeless, or refusing to laugh at the joke which pokes fun at someone from an LGBT background.

Our world, which is so beautiful viewed from space, is in reality just a huge ball of energy composed of particles. In individually empathising, and standing with those who are oppressed both internationally, nationally and locally, then we as particles can collectively shift the mass of energy. In so doing, we utterly change the narrative.