Struggles

I thought I'd start a thread devoted to this, the term used to describe campaigns, fights against oppression by minorities, or fights against oppression by majorities (both of the last two clauses are deliberately ambiguous).

There are too many to count; needless to say, to determine whose efforts are a struggle and whose are not can be difficult, and where people stand against each other there are always at least two opinions.

One defining characteristic is to struggle against overwhelming odds; a textbook example is the McLibel Two affair about twenty years ago.

http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/

I followed this avidly at the time. I think it did hold McDonald's back for a while but I daresay not much of that is remembered, while the problems with companies like that are, if anything, worse. Keir Starmer, the barrister who advised Helen and Dave pro bono at the time went on to become Director of Public Prosecutions and is now a Labour MP and perhaps a future Justice Secretary; perhaps the McLibel campaign had a little to do with that.

Struggles are often thrust on people; Helen and Dave never wanted anything like this high profile but rose to the occasion when they were the only two activists left standing after the others were unable to take up a campaign to prove their innocence. I expect they're glad that they're more able to lead normal lives again now.

Struggles can be where you just don't expect them, which was brought home to me when I was once on some anti-war march. It may have been about Iraq, but I also went on some others. When the very large demonstration got to Trafalgar Square, I wandered around while the speeches were going on and there, at the edge of the demo opposite St Martin-in-the-Fields stood two people with placards and a little stall saying 'WAGED HOUSEWORK'. That's an important campaign, too (irrespective of gender, recognising that care work and maintaining the household is essential), but it just seemed incongruous in that setting, a reminder that while the big issues like wars dominate the headlines, there are lots of tenacious campaigns constantly going on that together probably say a lot about the underlying conditions that lead to the big issues.

Finally, people engaged in a struggle can be wrong or only partially right, of course. I don't really know the issues, but the recent occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in the USA may fall into either of these categories. I've certainly met people who I believe were wrong in their ideas, but I've met far more who I thought were right--not that I'm saying I have the ability to judge or that there is always such a standard by which struggles can be judged. For that reason, discussion here should be mindful of often difficult issues involved and not descend into Internet warfare.

What struggles are not, however, are conspiracy theories--concerns that are patently not evidenced and that, in some cases, just can't be taken seriously. There are undoubtedly borderline cases even in that, so let's treat them as such, but I'm sure regular subscribers know what I mean. Struggles are also not certain concerns that I know are of great importance to the forum otherwise, e.g. whether supremacy belongs to pie or crumble. Let's leave those in the appropriate joke threads, although let's not have the discussion without humour.

The above is all up for discussion, by the way, and not meant to be overly prescriptive! So, do post about the struggles that move you.