Stranger things…politics

People who know me, know that that I am passionate about quite a few things. I used to be very active as a human rights defender, and have been part of several successful campaigns. I became known for tweeting a certain politician every day asking for a statement on Bahrain, a country full of torture, shoot to kill, arbitrary arrest, withholding of medical care, freedom of speech and so many other atrocities.

Myanmar has also been in my sights to campaign against genocide, bigotry, and unfair trials. I helped get a Brit out of In Sein jail, where people often ‘disappear’ and if they do come out alive, they are never the same.

There have been so many campaigns, and then I started to campaign about the climate, before it was a thing. I’ve planted nine trees in the last 5 years and have donated time and money to the planting of forests. I do not use plastic bags and resent any piece of plastic that enters my home or garden. If a plastic bag comes in via someone else, I either give it back or use it until it falls apart.

I am proud that I was once retweeted by Archbishop Tutu. One of my tweets was shone onto the UN building, along with many others.

I actually didn’t intend to write the above. It’s that I was asked to write a political pamphlet for the forthcoming election. At first I was approached for a chat, but that didn’t work out. I pointed out that there were many others who could help. But one of my posts had been read on trying to save our local acute hospital in it’s current status and not move the acute fifteen miles further east from it western most constituents; it makes no sense whatsoever. So I wrote a pamphlet on this one issue. I simply wrote the facts.

I have been campaigning about this for some years now. I get insulted, mocked, teased. But I will stand up and be counted along with my fellow campaigners. I cannot remain silent, because people will die if this idiotic plan goes ahead.