Ideologies.
Humanity’s ‘-isms’ are endless, as we are forever exploring different ways of living, thinking and co-existing. The resulting richness of cultural diversity complements the wonders of the natural world. Currently global cultural loss is outpacing deforestation. Most communities are resilient and creative, especially in adversity. They exhibit astonishing examples of altruism, philanthropy and incredulous cruelty. Ideologies exist in the head, but humans live from the heart. Since we thrive also on grand stories, what will we be telling our grandchildren?
The Women’s Movement.
One of the most fundamental and influential changes of the C20th century was the granting of women’s rights and the advent of feminism. Both are well documented in their chronology, underlying reasons, advocates, achievements, and consequences. In the turbulent years of WW1 and its aftermath, suffrage for women over 30 in Britain and for working class men (previously only eligible to those owning property) ushered in a gradual sea-change from an essentially patriarchal society.
The power of feminism.
Many definitions of feminism exist - from the critical lens, the radical lens, and other mainstream views. Yet all of them clearly point in the direction of power structures and equity: what could a society without significant power imbalances look like? Read our guest contributor below.
Human cruelty.
The Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide are two horrific examples of human cruelty in history. The Holocaust was the systematic murder of six million Jews and millions of other victims by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. The Rwandan genocide was the mass slaughter of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by extremist Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. Both events show the extreme consequences of hatred, racism, and indifference to human suffering.