Being described as a ‘cultural activist’ on the page did not stir my thoughts, but it was different when I heard the label spoken aloud in a large hall. As the evening’s officialdom continued, I wondered how that designation had come about and what it means to be an activist.
The pages of this newspaper have teemed with homages to her from a wide array of individuals in many areas of endeavour, after her recent demise. They all agreed that the depth and breadth of her interceding for a better society was as remarkable as it was personal. One wonders how, with such a long list of political and social ills to put right over an entire lifetime, did she make the space to get under the skin of umpteen individuals. Her strategic vision and undying passion were probably key factors, as well as her boundless honesty and generosity.
The very first time we met, she encouraged me to continue advocating for our society to recognise its wide cultural heritage. She had ideas about how I should further target my literary-development activities and the quality of the impact they could have. Her radar was always on full alert and she understood the value of joined-up thinking, something we tend to ignore.
Her primary focus was women’s rights, but women are integral to a society’s fabric and wellbeing and her activism therefore reached into all sectors of society.
When we think of other well-known activists, Nazma Muller might leap out for her rebellious brand of advocacy – she is a longstanding and unapologetic champion for a change in our laws on the use and possession of marijuana in our country. The English suffragettes, like Nazma, put themselves in the frontline against the forces of law and order in the fight for women’s voting rights, back at the start of the 1900s.
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In a similar vein, Wayne Kublalsingh has also relentlessly pitted his very person against the state and its various organs in order to safeguard rights and to protest against abominations few of us recognise or care about.
But not all activism grabs the headlines in highlighting the need for change. Incipient, reforming activists like Living Water co-founder Rhonda Maingot and Paula Lucie-Smith of ALTA, UWI professors Rhoda Reddock and Patricia Mohammed constitute another brand of activism. They have all dedicated themselves to long-sustained activism around single-focus issues such as women’s rights in the case of the two academics. They promoted gender studies at UWI, establishing an institute for gender studies (IGDS) and bred a new generation of feminist activists, including fellow columnist Gabrielle Hosein.
Lucie-Smith linked illiteracy and poverty, while Maingot tackled economic and spiritual poverty and inequity.
The strategic work of these women continues to achieve structural change and have a wide-reaching impact.
Other activists are unobtrusive change agents, insinuating themselves into the grooves where change is needed, such as the founders of Banyan, th
