1 00:00:10,860 --> 00:00:14,980 Living on protest sites and taking part in different movements, 2 00:00:14,980 --> 00:00:16,700 we experienced some of our most 3 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:19,000 empowering and liberating moments, 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:23,000 but we also went through some of our hardest times, 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,760 despairing, exhausted, and unable to go on any longer. 6 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,000 We saw similar issues cropping up in those around us, 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,560 people burning out, 8 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:34,640 having difficulties dealing with internal conflicts, 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,220 or with coping with the trauma of repression. 10 00:00:37,220 --> 00:00:40,700 And despite trying to create better ways of living, 11 00:00:40,700 --> 00:00:41,740 we often seemed to 12 00:00:41,740 --> 00:00:44,120 repeat the same dysfunctional patterns 13 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,360 of mainstream culture. 14 00:00:47,300 --> 00:00:49,940 So we set out on a journey around questions like: 15 00:00:49,940 --> 00:00:52,840 how can we effect deeper, more radical change 16 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,920 and how can our movements grow wider, 17 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:57,720 more diverse, and more resilient. 18 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,940 It turned out to be quite a long journey, 19 00:00:59,940 --> 00:01:03,520 as my health crashed and chronic sickness called for healing 20 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,900 and forced me to change my plans and priorities. 21 00:01:06,900 --> 00:01:08,420 Anyway, here it goes, 22 00:01:08,420 --> 00:01:10,460 this is what people had to say: 23 00:01:10,940 --> 00:01:13,820 We had structures in the trees, 24 00:01:13,820 --> 00:01:17,860 at 60 metres above the ground, some of these structures, 25 00:01:17,860 --> 00:01:19,360 and we did what we could, 26 00:01:20,900 --> 00:01:24,660 but we knew they were coming to evict the place, 27 00:01:24,660 --> 00:01:27,420 and then you do what you can also, 28 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:30,040 which means we were going in every night, 29 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,660 to put another structure in front of the distance of the road 30 00:01:33,660 --> 00:01:35,660 that they’d arrived that day, 31 00:01:35,660 --> 00:01:37,760 and the road ended up being 4 kilometers, 32 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:39,600 so in the end it was every night for 3 weeks 33 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,960 that we were going out and continuing to block this road. 34 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:46,740 And at some point in that time something breaks 35 00:01:46,740 --> 00:01:52,580 because you’re not sleeping and you’re putting all of your energy into this, 36 00:01:52,580 --> 00:01:56,460 and trying every day to invent new ideas of new ways 37 00:01:56,460 --> 00:01:59,700 to stop the progression of these machines and this road, 38 00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:03,880 and also having to deal every day with the intensity of the police 39 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,340 coming to evict the place again and... 40 00:02:07,340 --> 00:02:12,920 yeah, that was quite an intense thing to deal with. 41 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:15,520 At that point something inside me did break 42 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,700 and I had to leave, I could not stay there any more. 43 00:02:25,940 --> 00:02:28,740 I’ve been more involved, not so much in direct action, 44 00:02:28,740 --> 00:02:32,640 more in the longer term engagement with social change, 45 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:35,000 in two big projects. 46 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:41,520 One was the teaching of the English language to women immigrants in Nottingham. 47 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:45,180 And then what I was more intensely engaged in 48 00:02:45,180 --> 00:02:48,740 was working on a project where we worked 49 00:02:48,740 --> 00:02:51,780 with children and youths in the area. 50 00:02:51,780 --> 00:02:54,080 It was great working with kids, 51 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:56,820 very quickly there were ties 52 00:02:56,820 --> 00:02:58,960 built between the kids and us. 53 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,960 At first it was a lot of energy, a lot of vigour, 54 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:03,920 a lot of we know what we want to do, 55 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:09,840 and that’s been going on every day for 9 months quite intensely, 56 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,740 but then slowly the energy starts lacking 57 00:03:14,740 --> 00:03:18,080 and that started showing itself more and more 58 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,440 towards the end of my engagement with the project, 59 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,760 which then resulted in my burnout as well. 60 00:03:33,220 --> 00:03:36,500 We took on a lot of just physical work 61 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:39,460 along with wanting to be in in the fight as well 62 00:03:39,460 --> 00:03:42,440 and doing the work centred around that, 63 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,520 you know it just added up, and- 64 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,300 It got really hard 65 00:03:48,300 --> 00:03:53,280 because we were doing waste, compost... 66 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,320 composting toilets, 67 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,180 and we were doing donation, 68 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:01,880 organising donation distribution, 69 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,560 as well as being active on the frontlines 70 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,980 and living on the frontlines, 71 00:04:07,980 --> 00:04:10,740 and living under police surveillance, 72 00:04:10,740 --> 00:04:12,740 and having teargas thrown at you, 73 00:04:12,740 --> 00:04:15,140 and being shot with rubber bullets, 74 00:04:15,140 --> 00:04:18,280 and being shot with metal canisters and flashgrenades, 75 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:20,280 it’s just a lot. 76 00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:23,200 As well as worrying about your water. 77 00:04:29,940 --> 00:04:33,180 Some of the campaigns that I’ve been involved in 78 00:04:33,180 --> 00:04:36,040 caused a lot of grief and pain, 79 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,080 which has led to a loss of energy, 80 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:42,460 especially the work in the West Bank in Palestine. 81 00:04:42,460 --> 00:04:47,280 And going backwards and forwards between the UK and Israel 82 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:49,620 over 20 or 30 years, 83 00:04:49,620 --> 00:04:51,740 because I’ve got some Jewish relatives 84 00:04:51,740 --> 00:04:53,880 and Jewish friends that live in Israel, 85 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:58,740 I’ve noticed how aggressive Israeli society has become. 86 00:04:58,740 --> 00:05:01,820 So oppressors also suffer, 87 00:05:01,820 --> 00:05:05,460 it also has an impact on their society, 88 00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:10,200 and I’ve seen how factionalised [Israeli society has become] 89 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,640 and how the changes have occurred in the Palestinian villages as well 90 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,600 as they’ve become enclosed and oppressed 91 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,600 and occupied. 92 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,540 Some of the things I witnessed and a lot of the stories I’ve heard 93 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:23,880 made me really upset 94 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,160 and I realised I was beginning 95 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,840 to lose my compassion for Israelis 96 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:30,620 because all I was seeing 97 00:05:30,620 --> 00:05:34,940 was the idea of rather fanatical Jewish settlers 98 00:05:34,940 --> 00:05:37,940 and the unpleasant things they were doing, 99 00:05:37,940 --> 00:05:39,880 very dangerous things, 100 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:43,000 I saw the death of a Palestinian man 101 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,680 who was stoned by young Israeli settlers. 102 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,880 So all of those things made me 103 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,680 really lose hope for a while and get very depressed, 104 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,640 and I found when I was telling people stories 105 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,760 I was crying, 106 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:04,800 and I thought that was the time now to stop that work. 107 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,440 Let me out, let me go, 108 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,120 I can' t stand it anymore, 109 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:10,980 can' t see it any longer, 110 00:06:10,980 --> 00:06:12,980 this terrible narrowness 111 00:06:12,980 --> 00:06:14,980 this pressure I feel 112 00:06:14,980 --> 00:06:16,500 all these obligations. 113 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,560 I was burning out, 114 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:42,300 I felt a number of emotions, 115 00:06:42,300 --> 00:06:46,820 some of which I didn’t quite understand, 116 00:06:46,820 --> 00:06:51,220 like tired, getting gradually more and more fed up. 117 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:55,100 Very sad and despairing and angry 118 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,840 I felt unusually stressed, 119 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:02,760 my inner monologue was unusually crazy. 120 00:07:03,100 --> 00:07:05,460 I started getting sick more often, 121 00:07:05,460 --> 00:07:08,300 I remember having colds that just didn’t stop, 122 00:07:08,300 --> 00:07:10,140 the colds they just didn’t stop. 123 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:14,500 I struggle with headaches quite a lot, so they really got out of hand 124 00:07:15,180 --> 00:07:17,220 Lost the regard for myself as well, 125 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:20,380 so I stopped caring even more about myself and my body, 126 00:07:20,380 --> 00:07:22,360 started eating really shitty food 127 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:24,400 and more coffee, more cigarettes, 128 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:25,820 just to keep myself up. 129 00:07:26,540 --> 00:07:28,100 I was sick, 130 00:07:28,100 --> 00:07:30,580 my body couldn’t handle all the work 131 00:07:30,580 --> 00:07:33,260 and all the thoughts any more 132 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,100 So that I was losing the capacity 133 00:07:36,100 --> 00:07:42,160 to come up with fresh ideas and get fresh energy. 134 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,280 Became really cynical towards everything, 135 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,840 became really questioning, too doubtful about stuff 136 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:55,720 It’s a feeling that you don’t want to experience, anyone wants to experience, 137 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,000 it’s like just being useless, 138 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,460 knowing that you have to do that and that, 139 00:08:01,460 --> 00:08:04,060 and maybe having the time to do it 140 00:08:04,060 --> 00:08:09,020 but just didn’t have the energy to just get up and do the things, 141 00:08:09,020 --> 00:08:12,080 even simple things. 142 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:17,380 I felt empty, I felt drained, I felt disappointed, I felt stupid 143 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,300 Insomnia, started sleeping less and less, 144 00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:23,260 you know feeling depressed, 145 00:08:23,260 --> 00:08:25,940 and like, aww I have to get up, I have to get up! 146 00:08:25,940 --> 00:08:28,940 It's crazy, this burden is crushing me 147 00:08:28,940 --> 00:08:31,880 not a single thing in this world makes me happy 148 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:33,880 am I depressed? 149 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,660 or am I just doing miserable like most of the people? 150 00:08:37,660 --> 00:08:39,660 I have a knot in my breast 151 00:08:39,660 --> 00:08:42,960 I want to breathe breathe, but don't get any air. 152 00:08:43,500 --> 00:08:47,700 And then I got a panic attack once, 153 00:08:47,700 --> 00:08:50,600 and that started happening with the anxiety then, 154 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,460 that panic attack was the start 155 00:08:53,460 --> 00:08:57,640 of a period where I got to know more about anxiety. 156 00:08:57,820 --> 00:09:02,000 Confused about what’s my purpose, 157 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,820 whats my role in everything, 158 00:09:05,820 --> 00:09:10,380 just didn’t know anymore who I am. 159 00:09:10,780 --> 00:09:11,820 Pessimistic, 160 00:09:11,820 --> 00:09:16,760 and I started feeling angry with everyone and everything, 161 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:18,760 with the project, with the kids, 162 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,400 with myself, mostly with myself, 163 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,080 for not being able to do it any more 164 00:09:24,540 --> 00:09:26,200 So irritable, 165 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:32,060 I really wasn’t able to have an interaction with anyone properly 166 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:34,080 You can just go and go and go and go, 167 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,100 and be on that one path of going going going going, 168 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:40,360 and then at some point you break and become destructive, 169 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,240 and you break down a whole group that’s working with you, 170 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,040 even if those guys are healed. 171 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,580 Probably due to my manner 172 00:09:48,580 --> 00:09:51,500 alienated a few people in doing so, 173 00:09:51,500 --> 00:09:57,100 which is a shame, hopefully they’ll be forgiving. 174 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:00,000 I look back on it now, 175 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,500 and I was really toxic, 176 00:10:01,500 --> 00:10:03,260 plus we were dealing with 177 00:10:03,260 --> 00:10:05,660 our depression and all of our anxiety 178 00:10:05,660 --> 00:10:06,860 in a horrible way: 179 00:10:06,860 --> 00:10:09,020 we were drinking, really hard, 180 00:10:09,020 --> 00:10:10,940 and that’s not a way to cope, 181 00:10:10,940 --> 00:10:13,340 especially for us as indigenous people. 182 00:10:20,020 --> 00:10:24,260 What I mean by burnout is... 183 00:10:24,260 --> 00:10:27,400 I don’t want to name it a disorder or something 184 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,740 because I don’t like the medical terms 185 00:10:30,740 --> 00:10:33,220 for things that happen with us, 186 00:10:33,220 --> 00:10:37,020 because I think it’s a completely normal thing to happen, 187 00:10:37,020 --> 00:10:40,160 if you are storing a lot of difficult emotions 188 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,260 and a lot of difficult experiences, 189 00:10:43,260 --> 00:10:47,980 it’s completely normal that you are being affected by it. 190 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,520 There’s a tendency for people to think 191 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,680 that if they’re not suffering from chronic fatigue 192 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:55,840 or deep emotional trauma, 193 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,840 then they’re not really burnt out, 194 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:02,420 but there’s a whole range of experiences 195 00:11:02,420 --> 00:11:04,880 that I would define as burnout, 196 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:09,300 and indeed every individual’s experience is unique, 197 00:11:09,300 --> 00:11:12,200 there’s a whole series of factors and experiences 198 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,720 that come together to create burnout. 199 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:16,400 ...let me go, 200 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:17,800 I can' t stand it anymore, 201 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:19,300 can' t see it any longer, 202 00:11:19,300 --> 00:11:21,300 this terrible narrowness 203 00:11:21,300 --> 00:11:23,400 this pressure I feel 204 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:25,400 all these obligations. 205 00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:42,740 Its a gradual process, 206 00:11:46,300 --> 00:11:50,660 it's very hard to get out without professional help, 207 00:11:50,660 --> 00:11:52,660 then you're finished, 208 00:11:52,660 --> 00:11:55,260 you don't have energy left for anything. 209 00:11:57,100 --> 00:12:00,380 We wanted to look for ways to support ourselves through burnout, 210 00:12:00,380 --> 00:12:01,940 or help us prevent it, 211 00:12:02,300 --> 00:12:04,200 ways that we can apply ourselves. 212 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,020 So we went to Drimlabarra herb farm in Scotland, 213 00:12:07,020 --> 00:12:09,120 where we met Maureen who’s a herbalist. 214 00:12:09,820 --> 00:12:16,240 Most associated conditions with somebody experiencing burnout 215 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,820 are often inflammatory based conditions. 216 00:12:18,820 --> 00:12:21,260 Herbs that really help with that 217 00:12:21,260 --> 00:12:24,140 are anti-inflammatory herbs in general. 218 00:12:24,140 --> 00:12:27,540 One of the main ones is liquorice root, 219 00:12:27,540 --> 00:12:32,240 and this root is incredibly sweet as you probably already know 220 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,080 and the sweet taste helps cool and moisten 221 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:39,820 a dried up and hot fiery constitutional type or condition. 222 00:12:39,820 --> 00:12:42,700 It’s also an adrenal gland restorative 223 00:12:42,700 --> 00:12:45,740 and it’s a root, so it’s also important about grounding you, 224 00:12:45,740 --> 00:12:48,100 because when you get burnt out, 225 00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:51,080 although you feel heavy in your body 226 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,320 and need to sleep a lot and rest a lot and recuperate, 227 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,680 there’s also maybe a spaced out experience 228 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:00,140 of not knowing where you’re going any more, 229 00:13:00,140 --> 00:13:04,100 you’re kind of rudderless, you’ve lost your drive, lost your direction. 230 00:13:04,100 --> 00:13:07,540 So root medicine really helps you get grounded again. 231 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,440 OK we’re going to go and meet the most basic herb 232 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:12,920 that everyone’s heard of, 233 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,320 and if there’s one herb you can drink every day 234 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,280 to try and keep stress away then this is it, 235 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,400 and it’s as simple as that, let’s go and meet it. 236 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:28,320 So here you go, this is chamomile, 237 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:32,020 and you can’t get much more common or garden than that. 238 00:13:32,020 --> 00:13:34,680 This is a major anti-inflammatory, so again, 239 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:38,140 for any kind of acidic buildup in the system. 240 00:13:38,140 --> 00:13:42,880 It helps with relaxing the mind for sleep, 241 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,460 it’s useful for any anxiety. 242 00:13:46,100 --> 00:13:49,120 Next to it here we’ve got nettle, 243 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,040 you can’t get much more common than that as well. 244 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,200 There’s no excuse for not drinking nettle tea basically 245 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,000 because it’s everywhere. 246 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,140 And this is really high in minerals. 247 00:14:00,140 --> 00:14:02,140 It’s a kidney restorative, 248 00:14:02,140 --> 00:14:04,060 so if there’s a lot of fear 249 00:14:04,060 --> 00:14:07,100 the emotion of fear is stored in the kidneys, 250 00:14:07,100 --> 00:14:09,980 so it really helps with nourishing that aspect 251 00:14:09,980 --> 00:14:13,380 of putting yourself in a dangerous situation 252 00:14:13,380 --> 00:14:15,900 and the fear that can go with that. 253 00:14:15,900 --> 00:14:20,060 So here are two really basic everyday herbs 254 00:14:20,060 --> 00:14:23,840 that you can integrate either as food or as tea 255 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:25,120 on a regular basis 256 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,200 to just try and keep everything at an even keel, 257 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,960 and particularly if you know you’re going into a stressful situation, 258 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,140 you really need to make sure that these friends 259 00:14:35,140 --> 00:14:37,340 are with you on that journey. 260 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,900 It’s also important that you make sure you get the right nutrition. 261 00:14:41,900 --> 00:14:44,440 You really need to make sure that your system 262 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:47,280 is kept in an as alkaline state as possible, 263 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,140 and the easiest way to do that is to make sure 264 00:14:50,140 --> 00:14:53,200 that your diet is based on fresh vegetables, 265 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,820 fresh fruits, fresh produce, 266 00:14:55,820 --> 00:14:59,700 particularly vitalistic living food like sprouts. 267 00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:03,240 Another really important factor to have on a regular basis 268 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,700 is to make sure you’re getting lots of minerals, 269 00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:08,820 either through herb teas or through seaweeds 270 00:15:08,820 --> 00:15:10,820 or through your food. 271 00:15:13,580 --> 00:15:17,280 In Spain we found a different approach to our questions, 272 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:19,360 an approach that’s particularly focussed 273 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:21,360 on the context of social movements. 274 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:24,320 This is Ecodharma, 275 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,060 a community in the Catalan Pyrenees. 276 00:15:27,380 --> 00:15:30,980 Part of the ethic of Ecodharma is the inseparability 277 00:15:30,980 --> 00:15:33,960 of social change from personal change. 278 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,560 It’s not possible to change the world 279 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:38,400 without being conscious of 280 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,580 also having to change yourself. 281 00:15:41,060 --> 00:15:44,600 They run different courses around this theme. 282 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,100 One of them is Sustaining Resistance. 283 00:15:47,460 --> 00:15:52,800 We began to offer the Sustaining Resistance work 284 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,300 to help to increase the capacity 285 00:15:56,300 --> 00:16:02,800 of activist networks to gain longevity. 286 00:16:03,780 --> 00:16:06,880 What we’re seeing over the decades 287 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:08,820 is that the activist movement, 288 00:16:08,820 --> 00:16:10,760 the social and environmental movement, 289 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,920 are losing so many people through burnout. 290 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,460 What happens is people come in young and fresh 291 00:16:16,460 --> 00:16:19,140 and so enthusiastic and passionate 292 00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:22,840 about being part of this change 293 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,600 and yet they just get incredibly burnt out. 294 00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:29,120 So one of the main incentives was 295 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:34,640 to support people to stay in activism long term, 296 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:38,940 because I think movement building is something that takes a long time. 297 00:16:38,940 --> 00:16:43,080 Important social movements might seem occasionally 298 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:46,020 to spring up out of nowhere, 299 00:16:46,020 --> 00:16:49,040 because social processes are so complex, 300 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,760 but generally it’s on the back of often generations and generations of work 301 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:58,080 So we need that continuity in our social movements 302 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,320 if we’re going to effect the kind of radical changes we want. 303 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,680 So one part is helping individuals 304 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,640 being sustainable, being more effective. 305 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:11,240 A second part is because the actual cultures 306 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,360 of some grassroots activism 307 00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:18,800 seem to work against themselves. 308 00:17:19,220 --> 00:17:21,300 If we’re not getting to know who we are 309 00:17:21,300 --> 00:17:24,760 and getting to understand what makes us behave in the way we do 310 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,760 then we just end up playing out the same behaviour 311 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:29,560 that’s part of the problem. 312 00:17:29,940 --> 00:17:33,220 That’s the work that Sustaining Resistance is doing, 313 00:17:33,220 --> 00:17:37,400 is going well if we’re holding these tendencies inside us 314 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:44,020 if we’ve got this psychological and social conditioning, 315 00:17:44,020 --> 00:17:48,200 how do we do the quite profound inner work 316 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:53,040 and the work of mindfulness and raising awareness 317 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,040 that helps us both individually 318 00:17:55,040 --> 00:18:00,220 and collectively begin to change that. 319 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:05,100 This is not about Ecodharma being the experts 320 00:18:05,100 --> 00:18:10,540 and having this superior new vision, 321 00:18:10,540 --> 00:18:14,740 you know I’m still very much there with it, 322 00:18:14,740 --> 00:18:20,020 and the reason I feel able to name it 323 00:18:20,020 --> 00:18:24,040 is because it’s something I’m still working on. 324 00:18:27,140 --> 00:18:30,660 What I found useful about the course in Ecodharma 325 00:18:30,660 --> 00:18:34,760 was the focus on the emotions. 326 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,440 And it’s kind of tricky, 327 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,640 because on the one hand I had a lot of resistance 328 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,500 against doing hippie stuff, 329 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:50,080 and of course speaking about emotions and expressing your emotions is hippie stuff, 330 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,900 so on the one hand I had this hippiephobia in myself, 331 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:58,820 and on the other hand I just felt a real need 332 00:18:58,820 --> 00:19:04,120 to express the pain I had in myself, 333 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:08,000 a pain for what’s going on in the world, 334 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,800 and how shit I feel about it, 335 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:13,020 and how much I want to change it, 336 00:19:13,020 --> 00:19:17,100 and a pain for not being able to do it 337 00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:23,920 and feeling helpless and tool-less and stuff like that, 338 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,900 so this was a really strong thing for me 339 00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:31,320 that it’s actually OK to speak about our emotions 340 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:32,800 and express it 341 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,980 and it’s also something that unites us 342 00:19:35,980 --> 00:19:38,900 because we all have this pain inside, 343 00:19:38,900 --> 00:19:43,900 and if we are able to deal with it in a good way 344 00:19:43,900 --> 00:19:47,960 then we are able to do much more. 345 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,740 We offer a few tools for inner work. 346 00:19:53,740 --> 00:19:59,380 One of the obvious areas are practices of meditation. 347 00:19:59,380 --> 00:20:02,820 We also work with tools that help people 348 00:20:02,820 --> 00:20:11,340 to honour stronger, more difficult kinds of emotion. 349 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,340 Strong emotion arises, painful emotion arises, 350 00:20:14,340 --> 00:20:17,880 and we don’t have the tools to deal with that so we just push it away. 351 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,540 And I think that contributes a lot to burnout. 352 00:20:20,860 --> 00:20:23,140 And when we push those feelings away, 353 00:20:23,140 --> 00:20:25,880 we also disempower ourselves. 354 00:20:26,420 --> 00:20:28,560 If I’m constantly in a defense mode 355 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:32,000 of pushing things out and in opposition to things, 356 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,140 then it depletes me of my energy 357 00:20:34,140 --> 00:20:36,620 and I’m not resilient in that state. 358 00:20:36,620 --> 00:20:38,580 And my experience is 359 00:20:38,580 --> 00:20:42,720 as I get more able to be in relationship with things 360 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,260 without shutting down and having to get into conflict with them, 361 00:20:47,260 --> 00:20:48,760 I have more energy. 362 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,200 That’s what meditation has done for me, 363 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,500 it’s kind of created a container 364 00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:56,020 within which I can experience more and more 365 00:20:56,020 --> 00:20:58,700 of what’s arising, joy, suffering, whatever it is, 366 00:20:58,700 --> 00:21:02,620 without getting overwhelmed or shutting down 367 00:21:02,620 --> 00:21:05,060 or running away, or… going nuts! 368 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,680 And I’m so happy that I now realise, 369 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:10,660 and that’s exactly what I want to say, 370 00:21:10,660 --> 00:21:12,660 that it’s completely normal 371 00:21:12,660 --> 00:21:16,280 to be upset about what’s happening to the world, 372 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,320 and that it’s actually healthy to feel that. 373 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,680 A third area that we work on a lot is realising 374 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,240 that self awareness and inner work has to happen 375 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,940 in the context of our relationship to other people. 376 00:21:33,940 --> 00:21:39,100 When we’re working on ourselves, working on our own tendencies, 377 00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:41,520 we’re almost bound to have blind spots, 378 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,140 and we really need to work with other people 379 00:21:44,140 --> 00:21:45,720 to cut through those things. 380 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:50,420 So we look at how can we best give each other 381 00:21:50,420 --> 00:21:52,080 useful feedback, 382 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,520 useful critical but supportive feedback 383 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,760 to help us bring awareness to our own tendencies 384 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,080 and to transform those tendencies. 385 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:06,360 We look at what kind of quality of communication in our groups 386 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,640 is going to be helpful for people to really grow 387 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,240 and develop as individuals. 388 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,260 We did quite a few of our interviews at Ecodharma, 389 00:22:15,260 --> 00:22:19,320 which has continued to grow since our visit with a new programme, the Ulex Project. 390 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,280 But also elsewhere, skillshares, gatherings and courses 391 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:23,780 continue to sprout up 392 00:22:23,780 --> 00:22:27,840 and people are doing all kinds of things to make their groups more resilient. 393 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:31,900 But why is it that so many of us are burning out in the first place? 394 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:40,860 Personal factors that can contribute to burnout are: 395 00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:44,580 if we don' t deal with our fears, 396 00:22:44,580 --> 00:22:48,560 they rule us from the unconscious 397 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,000 and that takes a lot of our energy, 398 00:22:55,260 --> 00:22:58,120 People who tend to perfectionism 399 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:00,320 are also at risk of burnout 400 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,920 also if you tend to negativity, 401 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,780 it strengthens the likelihood of burnout, 402 00:23:07,780 --> 00:23:10,060 its all factors that add up, 403 00:23:10,060 --> 00:23:12,060 there's not only one reason 404 00:23:12,060 --> 00:23:16,220 but rather a complex mix of reasons. 405 00:23:16,220 --> 00:23:20,500 It’s important that we recognise these tendencies 406 00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:23,320 and find a way to deal with them. 407 00:23:29,940 --> 00:23:33,180 And like I say, just the lack of any other activity, 408 00:23:33,180 --> 00:23:38,640 I wasn’t drawing or making music, 409 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:44,480 even my connection with nature, 410 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,180 I was living outside 411 00:23:47,180 --> 00:23:51,880 but I wasn’t exploring or getting out 412 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:57,180 and experiencing and feeling that connection with nice places, 413 00:23:57,180 --> 00:24:02,940 I was just connecting with the land as this thing that was just being destroyed. 414 00:24:03,820 --> 00:24:06,260 Not being able to say no to things, 415 00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:09,660 so I just took and took and took responsibilities on. 416 00:24:10,380 --> 00:24:13,280 Taking too much on 417 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,120 because there’s so much to be done, 418 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:18,780 and when there’s so much to be done 419 00:24:18,780 --> 00:24:21,800 it’s quite hard to say no, isn't it? 420 00:24:24,940 --> 00:24:27,680 More personal factors, 421 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,060 people who have an obsession with control. 422 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:42,280 I wasn’t prioritising looking after myself, 423 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,580 I was putting myself second or third or fourth 424 00:24:46,580 --> 00:24:49,580 behind organising a gathering, 425 00:24:49,580 --> 00:24:52,600 getting people to the site, 426 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,320 doing an action, stopping this thing, 427 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,480 they were all right there, 428 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:04,080 and looking after me was not a priority. 429 00:25:04,460 --> 00:25:07,500 Another attitude that can be linked to that 430 00:25:07,500 --> 00:25:10,960 is how can I think of my own personal needs 431 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,100 when I’m working with people who are so oppressed, 432 00:25:14,100 --> 00:25:19,960 downtrodden, experiencing so many difficulties themselves 433 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:25,860 and I’m privileged, white, Western, northern European, 434 00:25:25,860 --> 00:25:30,520 and therefore my needs are irrelevant. 435 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:35,800 I’ve heard that attitude expressed quite strongly 436 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,160 over the years of working. 437 00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:47,260 When I walk through the forest 438 00:25:47,260 --> 00:25:49,440 and then through the open cast mine 439 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:51,620 and see all the destruction 440 00:25:51,620 --> 00:25:56,200 and consider the effect it has for climate change, 441 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,600 I always think we would actually 442 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,140 have to do everything right now! 443 00:26:45,100 --> 00:26:47,980 really, we would have to 444 00:26:47,980 --> 00:26:51,840 blow up a lot of things right now. 445 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,280 It's a natural impulse 446 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,800 considering all the shit we are faced with, 447 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,440 wherever people fight 448 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,440 that maybe leads to the fact that 449 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,220 in some activist circles there is a norm, 450 00:27:09,220 --> 00:27:13,380 like the person who gives their all is cool 451 00:27:13,380 --> 00:27:17,400 but that isn't necessarily so sustainable 452 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,780 or its probably difficult for most people 453 00:27:20,780 --> 00:27:23,920 to mobilize so much energy, 454 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,940 to throw themselves so much into their fights, 455 00:27:27,940 --> 00:27:32,240 and at the same time to consider their own limits. 456 00:27:36,780 --> 00:27:39,620 I think there’s a lot of things within activist culture 457 00:27:39,620 --> 00:27:43,080 that encourage people to burn out, 458 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:48,840 I think that there’s a lot of heroising of people that do a lot, 459 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:53,120 of people that take really big risks in the actions they take, 460 00:27:53,120 --> 00:28:00,820 that are involved in all of the different movements all of the time, 461 00:28:00,820 --> 00:28:06,060 and are always there at every action, every demo. 462 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:13,560 I think there’s probably quite a lot of macho culture contributes to that, 463 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:19,540 like yeah we’re going to fight, we’re hardcore, we’re on the frontline, 464 00:28:19,540 --> 00:28:23,680 we’re doing all this great stuff 465 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,540 and you can’t admit that either 466 00:28:26,540 --> 00:28:30,940 you’re not actually being that effective 467 00:28:30,940 --> 00:28:35,160 or that you can’t cope with that. 468 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:39,200 What contributed to my burnout 469 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,420 was a certain machismo, 470 00:28:41,420 --> 00:28:45,260 like if you’re seen on all the demos, 471 00:28:45,260 --> 00:28:49,100 if you’re squatting a lot people will think more of you. 472 00:28:49,340 --> 00:28:54,340 We really feel that our personal worth 473 00:28:54,340 --> 00:28:57,540 is measured by how much we do 474 00:28:57,540 --> 00:28:59,820 rather than who we are. 475 00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:05,520 in our society there is a tendency to value having a lot of things 476 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:10,140 everyone wants a nice car and house... 477 00:29:10,140 --> 00:29:16,180 we as alternatives, activists, whatever, we say no no no that's not good, 478 00:29:16,180 --> 00:29:19,720 so what do we do? We value doing, action, 479 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:21,580 not exactly work, 480 00:29:21,580 --> 00:29:24,460 because as good alternatives we are against work 481 00:29:24,460 --> 00:29:27,160 but we place a lot of value on direct action. 482 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,860 So instead of valuing being we value doing, 483 00:29:30,860 --> 00:29:34,420 we don't value having things, so it's an improvement, 484 00:29:34,420 --> 00:29:39,560 but if in the end one day we're unable to do anything, 485 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:44,240 are we still worth something as alternatives, activists? 486 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,640 Decisive group factors that contribute to burnout: 487 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,880 firstly that conflicts are carried out too harshly 488 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,560 or that the conflict culture is not effective. 489 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,340 The infighting that happens within the movements, 490 00:30:14,340 --> 00:30:17,680 that people’s egos get in the way of the objective. 491 00:30:17,980 --> 00:30:19,820 Many problems in our groups 492 00:30:19,820 --> 00:30:22,800 have their roots in bad communication 493 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,300 where people start arguing with each other 494 00:30:26,300 --> 00:30:29,800 and conflicts remain unresolved, 495 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,160 because we don’t create spaces to resolve conflicts, 496 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,360 to talk about them and reflect, 497 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,380 because that’s not action! Right? 498 00:30:38,380 --> 00:30:40,700 And actually there are many tools 499 00:30:40,700 --> 00:30:44,900 for dealing with conflicts, understanding how conflict develops 500 00:30:44,900 --> 00:30:49,060 and how we can resolve it within our groups. 501 00:30:49,060 --> 00:30:51,940 There are many participative methods 502 00:30:51,940 --> 00:30:59,000 based on values like empathy and compassion. 503 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,640 For example, meditation is very important for me. 504 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,480 Meditation is a tool that allows you 505 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,300 to understand how your mind works. 506 00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:12,000 It creates a window of consciousness 507 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,780 between your thoughts and your actions. 508 00:31:20,140 --> 00:31:23,240 It's important that we communicate well with each other 509 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,020 communication is another factor 510 00:31:26,020 --> 00:31:28,180 in group processes 511 00:31:28,180 --> 00:31:30,880 that contributes to burnout. 512 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,880 but its not only the amount of communication, 513 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,940 but also the way we communicate; 514 00:31:37,940 --> 00:31:40,900 if we talk past each other, 515 00:31:40,900 --> 00:31:42,900 its extremely frustrating. 516 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,420 I found it very difficult 517 00:31:46,420 --> 00:31:50,060 to say to my friends or my colleagues in my groups 518 00:31:50,060 --> 00:31:52,920 what I felt was going wrong 519 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,260 and if someone said something at some point 520 00:31:55,260 --> 00:31:57,420 that didn’t make me feel good 521 00:31:57,420 --> 00:32:02,120 I didn’t know how to speak about that 522 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,640 and I just kept things inside me 523 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:09,540 and emotions and fears and angers, 524 00:32:09,540 --> 00:32:11,740 and because of that I started 525 00:32:11,740 --> 00:32:14,080 not to meet with people any more. 526 00:32:14,580 --> 00:32:19,220 And that tires people out in group processes 527 00:32:19,220 --> 00:32:22,860 that' s why constructive approaches 528 00:32:22,860 --> 00:32:25,860 concerning group communication, 529 00:32:25,860 --> 00:32:31,280 for example using nonviolent communication, 530 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,220 or having more clearly structured groups 531 00:32:34,220 --> 00:32:36,660 through things like facilitation, 532 00:32:36,660 --> 00:32:40,900 are very helpful to establish a more constructive 533 00:32:40,900 --> 00:32:44,120 communication culture within the group, 534 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,700 and that strengthens our resilience, 535 00:32:46,700 --> 00:32:48,720 our collective power to resist. 536 00:32:53,620 --> 00:32:56,020 Exposure to violence 537 00:32:56,020 --> 00:32:58,460 and experience of violence, 538 00:32:58,460 --> 00:33:03,400 either towards yourself 539 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:10,160 or towards people that you care about or that are around in your life 540 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,280 is undoubtedly a major aspect of burnout. 541 00:33:13,420 --> 00:33:19,800 You know Native Americans, we suffer from some of the highest forms of Post Traumatic Stress "Disorder" 542 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,560 I think they did a study and twelve year olds suffered from PTSD 543 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,940 as much as veterans that served two tours in Iraq did! 544 00:33:27,940 --> 00:33:31,520 And it’s just that reservation lifestyle. 545 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,840 We grow up in some of the poorest, toughest communities, 546 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,260 and at that we have to live on those frontlines, 547 00:33:38,260 --> 00:33:40,740 at that we’re fighting for our way of life, 548 00:33:40,740 --> 00:33:44,260 and we’re fighting for our resources, what little resources we have. 549 00:33:44,580 --> 00:33:47,740 Yeah we’re still oppressed by the powers that be 550 00:33:47,740 --> 00:33:49,820 even though some are still in denial, 551 00:33:49,820 --> 00:33:52,580 Even when a man with a badge and a pink assed face 552 00:33:52,580 --> 00:33:54,040 goes and kills a child 553 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:55,660 And the whole city is crying, 554 00:33:55,660 --> 00:33:57,800 start the whole damn city on fire! 555 00:33:58,100 --> 00:34:00,740 On top of the day to day trauma, 556 00:34:00,740 --> 00:34:05,260 we’re also living the trauma 557 00:34:05,260 --> 00:34:07,880 of losing a pipeline fight. 558 00:34:08,180 --> 00:34:09,780 Shit’s fucked up over here? 559 00:34:09,780 --> 00:34:11,980 Well shit is fucked up over there 560 00:34:11,980 --> 00:34:14,520 I think I’m starting to notice a common theme 561 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,360 wherever I go shit is fucked up everywhere 562 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,240 Free Puerto Rico, Free Palestine 563 00:34:19,240 --> 00:34:21,460 Brown Black Liberation is on my mind 564 00:34:21,460 --> 00:34:23,640 Peace and love sometimes so hard to find 565 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:24,820 and I don’t know why… 566 00:34:25,060 --> 00:34:27,540 And we’re just trying to hold shit together, 567 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:31,520 and that’s where the ceremonies come in, that’s where our prayer comes in 568 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:34,480 because that’s what keeps us strong throughout this. 569 00:34:34,580 --> 00:34:37,060 I know that I love you, even if I might not know you, 570 00:34:37,060 --> 00:34:39,180 I love you, even if I might not hold you, 571 00:34:39,180 --> 00:34:42,520 I love you, even if we might not make the connection in person 572 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,000 and might not show you. 573 00:34:52,980 --> 00:34:57,660 When I think about our activist culture, 574 00:34:57,660 --> 00:35:00,760 I see a lot of people exposing themselves 575 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:06,420 to difficult situations, to traumatic experiences, to violence, 576 00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:09,000 and not really dealing with it, 577 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,180 not even wanting to admit that 578 00:35:12,180 --> 00:35:15,040 these situations effect them 579 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,180 and that these experiences are traumatic. 580 00:35:18,180 --> 00:35:22,060 I’ve seen a lot of people just burning out because of that, 581 00:35:22,060 --> 00:35:26,220 because they wouldn’t work with their traumas. 582 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:32,820 I find it very important that we create structures 583 00:35:32,820 --> 00:35:36,520 for people on actions or protest camps 584 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,240 and other such places on the frontlines 585 00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:43,400 who are burned out or traumatised, 586 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,700 that we create structures within other left-wing projects 587 00:35:47,700 --> 00:35:51,000 where those people can recover. 588 00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:56,020 I think it’s really meaningful and revolutionary 589 00:35:56,020 --> 00:36:01,020 when we take time to deal with trauma and emotional first aid, 590 00:36:01,020 --> 00:36:04,240 as well as with the traumata that we have inside 591 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:07,620 due to societal oppression and power structures, 592 00:36:07,620 --> 00:36:11,200 because when we encourage a healing process, 593 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,920 when we make that possible, 594 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:19,500 I am convinced we will develop a great strength to act together. 595 00:36:25,220 --> 00:36:27,640 There being differences 596 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,760 in the amount people can contribute to the group, 597 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:36,020 and people getting burnt out because they’re doing too much 598 00:36:36,020 --> 00:36:39,960 and not feeling like the responsibilities of the group are shared 599 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:41,520 and that the work is shared. 600 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:47,240 We are tired, and we don’t take much holiday, 601 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:52,160 because on an occupation, it's often the same people, 602 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,900 and in the organisation, it’s often the same people 603 00:36:56,300 --> 00:36:59,800 And that can also be self-inflicted, 604 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,680 in that feeling that you’re the only person that can do something 605 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:06,900 can often mean that other people aren’t being given 606 00:37:06,900 --> 00:37:09,260 the space to step up and take on roles. 607 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,500 If someone who can do something well 608 00:37:11,500 --> 00:37:14,280 works together with someone who wants to learn, 609 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,120 then when one person wants to stop, someone else can take over 610 00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:30,820 Lack of consciousness about exploitation and oppressive structures, 611 00:37:30,820 --> 00:37:32,820 who has how much privilege? 612 00:37:32,820 --> 00:37:34,480 Also in activist circles 613 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:36,580 we have been formed by this world 614 00:37:36,580 --> 00:37:39,340 and its exploitation and oppression mechanisms, 615 00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:40,780 and they work through us 616 00:37:40,780 --> 00:37:43,340 even though we reflect about them to some extent, 617 00:37:43,340 --> 00:37:45,460 which is an important thing for us to do 618 00:37:45,460 --> 00:37:46,980 and if we do it less, 619 00:37:46,980 --> 00:37:49,820 then power and hierarchy structures arise 620 00:37:49,820 --> 00:37:54,820 and some people who are born in a more privileged role 621 00:37:54,820 --> 00:37:57,120 assert themselves more easily 622 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,620 than others who were born with less privilege 623 00:38:00,620 --> 00:38:04,820 and its tiring for people who work in these groups 624 00:38:04,820 --> 00:38:08,400 if they don't feel solidarity in their own group, 625 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:11,160 if the oppressive structures from 626 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:15,820 society continue in those groups, 627 00:38:15,820 --> 00:38:18,100 if for example a person is being 628 00:38:18,100 --> 00:38:20,420 discriminated against in society 629 00:38:20,420 --> 00:38:23,760 and because of that has less possibility of contributing, 630 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:27,880 and if the same thing happens in the political group it's really fucked up. 631 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:31,740 I hear sexism doesn’t exist in the scene, 632 00:38:31,740 --> 00:38:34,520 I think we overestimate ourselves a bit, 633 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,560 Because we are all conditioned by society, 634 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,560 we’ve internalized forms of oppression 635 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,900 autonomous spaces are often just a mirror of them, 636 00:38:43,900 --> 00:38:47,160 a mirror that nodody breaks. 637 00:38:48,340 --> 00:38:51,060 I have the feeling incredibly often, 638 00:38:51,060 --> 00:38:56,220 and I think other people who are black or POC often have this feeling too 639 00:38:56,220 --> 00:38:59,700 that we’re somehow not welcome here, 640 00:38:59,700 --> 00:39:05,880 or us and our perspectives are often not recognized. 641 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,320 Many people of colour have the opinion 642 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:14,440 that the structures in environmental movements 643 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,600 are not created in consideration of them 644 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,640 and don’t fulfill their needs. 645 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,460 One experiences resistance here extremely often, 646 00:39:24,460 --> 00:39:27,380 it’s like other people speak in the meeting about 647 00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:30,000 some subject or topic and everyone is quiet, 648 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,800 but when I speak up about racism, then I hear 649 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:36,580 how people in the background start grumbling, 650 00:39:36,580 --> 00:39:44,660 I notice how people are like “do we really have to speak about this AGAIN” and whatever. 651 00:39:44,660 --> 00:39:47,680 I think the left scene is no exception 652 00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:52,940 in regard to all forms and mechanisms of oppression, 653 00:39:52,940 --> 00:40:00,660 and we still have a lot of work to do together to change that. 654 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:07,540 The position I am in: 655 00:40:07,540 --> 00:40:09,680 a man, white, 656 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:14,520 from quite a comfortable upbringing, 657 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:18,940 went to school, received lots of education, 658 00:40:18,940 --> 00:40:22,460 all that brings me into a privileged position, 659 00:40:22,460 --> 00:40:24,980 where I notice that I myself 660 00:40:24,980 --> 00:40:29,920 have integrated so many processes of oppression, 661 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:33,660 and indeed it's stuff that I reproduced a lot 662 00:40:33,660 --> 00:40:36,180 in the first years of my activism, 663 00:40:36,180 --> 00:40:39,380 and so hurt a lot of people, 664 00:40:39,380 --> 00:40:42,300 whether that’s my family, my friends, 665 00:40:42,300 --> 00:40:45,480 the people with whom I started squatting. 666 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,460 To have this hindsight 667 00:40:48,460 --> 00:40:54,000 and to notice how easy it can be to harm someone. 668 00:40:54,400 --> 00:41:01,540 Then I realise: I don’t want to be me! 669 00:41:01,540 --> 00:41:04,720 I would like to move on, 670 00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:08,500 become more… mature, maybe? 671 00:41:09,460 --> 00:41:14,740 Being aware, and having some knowledge about that, 672 00:41:14,740 --> 00:41:17,080 it’s probably the first step. 673 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,200 Staying on the level of being aware, 674 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,780 that’s for sure not enough for me. 675 00:41:22,780 --> 00:41:27,160 The second step is challenging your privileges 676 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:31,260 and solidarity with people, with oppressed people, 677 00:41:31,260 --> 00:41:35,480 with people who don’t have the same privileges. 678 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,180 Changing the world leads inevitably to changing ourselves 679 00:41:39,180 --> 00:41:40,520 When do we smash the schema? 680 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,380 The one that promotes the law of the strongest, demands us to stamp on the weak 681 00:41:44,380 --> 00:41:45,760 When do we smash the schema? 682 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:49,160 Prestige and Power structures that exists within ourselves. 683 00:41:49,380 --> 00:41:52,300 Power’s problematic in our groups 684 00:41:52,300 --> 00:41:55,400 because in any group there’s power, 685 00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:58,420 there’s people who are more charismatic, 686 00:41:58,420 --> 00:42:01,120 there are people who have more dominant tendencies, 687 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,300 there are people who have more experience, 688 00:42:03,300 --> 00:42:06,820 there’s people who have more confidence 689 00:42:06,820 --> 00:42:09,260 and people who have less of all of those things, 690 00:42:09,260 --> 00:42:11,860 and there’s many different factors 691 00:42:11,860 --> 00:42:14,340 that contribute to whether people feel 692 00:42:14,340 --> 00:42:18,000 like they are on the mainstream of a group or on the margin of a group, 693 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,360 and what people feel their position is 694 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:22,860 within a group. 695 00:42:22,860 --> 00:42:26,280 And I think to bring those issues out into the open 696 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:28,380 within our groups 697 00:42:28,380 --> 00:42:31,200 really helps us to try and equalise things, 698 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,640 to try and equalise power, 699 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,120 to try and share power, to try and make sure 700 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,660 we are having power with other people 701 00:42:38,660 --> 00:42:40,860 rather than power over other people. 702 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:30,420 We didn’t have formal leaders or co-ordinators 703 00:43:30,420 --> 00:43:32,420 or I don’t know what word to use for that, 704 00:43:32,420 --> 00:43:37,040 but there was still some sense of informal hierarchy. 705 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:41,560 And for 8 years that seemed to work, 706 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:45,960 but at some point things just exploded 707 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,260 and it got to a point 708 00:43:48,260 --> 00:43:50,680 where we didn’t have arguments 709 00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,580 but we just made personal attacks 710 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:58,160 If we aren’t able to reflect on how these ways of thinking, 711 00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:03,060 these hierarchy and power structures exist in our groups, 712 00:44:03,060 --> 00:44:04,900 then we can’t change them. 713 00:44:04,900 --> 00:44:08,480 For that we need space where we can think about those things, 714 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,940 and talk about them in a different way, talk about the process. 715 00:44:11,940 --> 00:44:15,060 So it’s important to open these spaces, 716 00:44:15,060 --> 00:44:19,640 to talk without judging and feeling judged, 717 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:23,660 with more empathy and a willingness to learn 718 00:44:23,660 --> 00:44:26,940 about our own processes, 719 00:44:26,940 --> 00:44:32,020 if we want to create the world we want to see. 720 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:49,700 And all the time we were just reacting to the things that were happening around us. 721 00:44:49,700 --> 00:44:53,280 We didn’t have a plan or, 722 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,880 well I don’t like this word, but “strategy”. 723 00:44:56,880 --> 00:45:01,620 And doing that I found myself in a situation 724 00:45:01,620 --> 00:45:04,860 where I couldn’t see any results. 725 00:45:05,300 --> 00:45:07,980 Social change is very complex. 726 00:45:07,980 --> 00:45:11,880 It’s not possible to use a linear, reductionist way of thinking 727 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:13,880 to understand social change, 728 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:17,980 otherwise we get frustrated and burned out, 729 00:45:17,980 --> 00:45:21,860 because a lot of the things we do don’t have the results we want. 730 00:45:21,860 --> 00:45:26,900 This way of thinking prevents us from understanding what we have actually achieved. 731 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:39,700 Another problem in groups is that we can be very task focussed, 732 00:45:39,700 --> 00:45:43,480 that we’re always thinking about the issue that we’re trying to deal with, 733 00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:47,180 that we’re always trying to think about the action that we’re planning 734 00:45:47,180 --> 00:45:49,980 rather than the relationships in the group 735 00:45:49,980 --> 00:45:55,740 and what makes us work together well or the process by which we can collaborate best. 736 00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:00,640 One of the things I find crucial in order to continue, 737 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:02,780 is to celebrate the things we’ve done, 738 00:46:02,780 --> 00:46:05,080 and in my experience I’ve done it too often, 739 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:09,220 that when i was finished with something that was really great, 740 00:46:09,220 --> 00:46:13,280 then we thought about what we could have done better, 741 00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:16,240 and we still have to do this and that 742 00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:20,820 and not at all focussing on what we've achieved and what's beautiful 743 00:46:20,820 --> 00:46:23,140 and to celebrate that together. 744 00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:04,040 another important thing is to spend more time in nature 745 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:07,820 and with beautiful things 746 00:47:07,820 --> 00:47:09,560 just like a dog! 747 00:47:11,900 --> 00:47:13,280 What do you want Loki? 748 00:47:14,020 --> 00:47:16,660 Make sure that you enjoy your own life 749 00:47:16,660 --> 00:47:21,900 because otherwise your campaigning can be coming from a dead point, 750 00:47:21,900 --> 00:47:25,640 from a place of despair and dread 751 00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:29,260 rather than through joy and compassion, 752 00:47:29,260 --> 00:47:34,900 so there is an importance in doing inner work 753 00:47:34,900 --> 00:47:36,900 as well as outer work. 754 00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:39,940 Not being hard on myself, 755 00:47:39,940 --> 00:47:44,200 judgemental, the perfectionist kind of stuff 756 00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:46,180 its good as it is 757 00:47:46,180 --> 00:47:49,260 and that its ok to be kind towards myself. 758 00:47:56,500 --> 00:47:59,360 Because when you go down, you can’t help anyone, 759 00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:02,720 you have to focus on yourself, serve yourself 760 00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:04,620 rest, 761 00:48:04,620 --> 00:48:08,760 accept that your body needs that love and compassion, 762 00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:12,000 and eventually you’ll be able to come back 763 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:16,680 and apply that to external situations as well. 764 00:48:16,940 --> 00:48:18,680 So for us, a lot of us, 765 00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,560 we were going back to our ceremonies, 766 00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:24,100 we were going back to learning our language 767 00:48:24,100 --> 00:48:25,940 and hearing our songs 768 00:48:25,940 --> 00:48:28,300 and healing in those spaces 769 00:48:28,300 --> 00:48:32,560 of asking our original medicine people for help 770 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,240 and that really helped a lot. 771 00:48:40,780 --> 00:48:43,560 We’re lucky that our ancestors fought 772 00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:45,880 for us to have our ways 773 00:48:45,880 --> 00:48:48,120 -our people now fought too 774 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:54,600 -and our people now are fighting to hold on to our ways. 775 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:56,740 For the people here who don’t 776 00:48:56,740 --> 00:49:00,060 have that sort of connection, 777 00:49:00,060 --> 00:49:03,180 to wake up in the morning and give thanks 778 00:49:03,180 --> 00:49:08,460 doesn’t take an entire protocol 779 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:10,360 -it doesn’t take much to give thanks 780 00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:14,040 it doesn’t take much to recognise that everything is sacred. 781 00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:17,380 To realise that we all have to live in balance with everything, 782 00:49:17,380 --> 00:49:18,920 it doesn’t take that much. 783 00:49:19,340 --> 00:49:24,020 I really advise to all the little warriors 784 00:49:24,020 --> 00:49:26,800 to live as much as possible in Nature, 785 00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,380 to go there all alone 786 00:49:29,380 --> 00:49:32,920 and to live long moments of silence in Nature 787 00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:35,240 that's our best fuel, 788 00:49:35,240 --> 00:49:38,040 along with friendship of course. 789 00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,560 Today the roses sang to me, 790 00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:47,200 on a gray day. 791 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:49,880 Their colours screamed: 792 00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:53,500 look, there is more than just fear and pain, 793 00:49:53,500 --> 00:49:56,540 they caught my eye 794 00:49:56,540 --> 00:50:00,100 under cold and gray clouds. 795 00:50:00,100 --> 00:50:02,860 I would like to be one of them 796 00:50:02,860 --> 00:50:06,380 and not live without seeing. 797 00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:10,040 And i think as an activist, 798 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:13,720 normally you're really busy with all the wrong things that happen, 799 00:50:13,720 --> 00:50:18,100 and if I'm only busy with all the wrong things that happen in the world, 800 00:50:18,100 --> 00:50:20,900 I get really sad and depressed, 801 00:50:20,900 --> 00:50:24,500 so sometimes I try to focus myself and try to also see 802 00:50:24,500 --> 00:50:29,020 people or initiatives who are working on solutions 803 00:50:29,020 --> 00:50:32,860 and I really try sometimes to balance between these stories 804 00:50:32,860 --> 00:50:35,120 because otherwise I cannot continue. 805 00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:38,000 It's about remembering 806 00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:40,580 that there is still amazing things 807 00:50:40,580 --> 00:50:42,700 that still survive in the world, 808 00:50:42,700 --> 00:50:46,180 even if this one place that you've concentrated so much energy 809 00:50:46,180 --> 00:50:47,560 no longer exists, 810 00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:50,800 theres still so many other things that are amazing 811 00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:53,040 to be able to go and appreciate 812 00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:55,380 and to go and be a part of. 813 00:50:57,240 --> 00:51:00,220 I’ve seen places where the trees have been felled, 814 00:51:00,220 --> 00:51:04,100 and after 2 years everything is green again and renews itself. 815 00:51:04,240 --> 00:51:06,920 I also notice the little flowers 816 00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:09,520 that grow through the pavement. 817 00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:12,120 They are so fragile and thin, 818 00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:18,220 but they can survive even the concrete. 819 00:51:18,220 --> 00:51:21,600 I want to be like those flowers. 820 00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:28,780 To try and find space for being in my body, 821 00:51:28,780 --> 00:51:30,740 so i've been taking up sport. 822 00:51:31,060 --> 00:51:32,900 a yoga sequence 823 00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:37,220 With yoga that’s another thing that’s really helpful 824 00:51:37,220 --> 00:51:39,960 because so much trauma is carried in the body 825 00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:42,900 so by opening the body in different ways 826 00:51:42,900 --> 00:51:44,580 there’s a lot of releasing. 827 00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:55,640 We burn out a lot because we're just in our heads, 828 00:51:55,640 --> 00:52:01,980 we're kind of negating our bodies 829 00:52:01,980 --> 00:52:06,120 and forgetting about the things that enrich us in our lives. 830 00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:08,660 I mean for me, I love music, 831 00:52:08,660 --> 00:52:11,960 I put all my anger and my frustrations out on music. 832 00:52:19,500 --> 00:52:20,820 For us it’s healing 833 00:52:20,820 --> 00:52:22,920 to be able to write our words down 834 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,000 and use hip hop as a vehicle for social change. 835 00:52:31,940 --> 00:52:35,580 Some concrete strategies are to have 836 00:52:35,580 --> 00:52:41,260 a regular rhythm concerning eating and sleeping. 837 00:52:41,940 --> 00:52:44,740 For me I needed some stability, 838 00:52:44,740 --> 00:52:47,940 I realised that I’d been living 839 00:52:47,940 --> 00:52:51,860 in quite precarious circumstances 840 00:52:51,860 --> 00:52:55,180 where your home is under threat, 841 00:52:55,180 --> 00:53:00,520 and where your community is quite transient, 842 00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:06,580 and so I was like I want a home for a while 843 00:53:06,580 --> 00:53:09,620 and to be in one place 844 00:53:09,620 --> 00:53:14,680 and to grow vegetables and see that through a season, 845 00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:16,900 Especially eating healthy, 846 00:53:16,900 --> 00:53:19,080 I went back to eating a plant-based diet, 847 00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:22,800 I stopped drinking alcohol, that was huge for me. 848 00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:27,540 Doing a lot of meditation and yoga and music, 849 00:53:27,540 --> 00:53:31,700 and just taking a lot of time on my own to be alone and reflect. 850 00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:34,540 Sometimes you have to find freedom all alone 851 00:53:34,540 --> 00:53:36,220 that's just how I grow, solitude, 852 00:53:36,220 --> 00:53:38,220 but I feel like I'm with everyone 853 00:53:38,220 --> 00:53:40,220 I am everything... 854 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:44,780 So for me it's a dance, it's a balance, 855 00:53:44,780 --> 00:53:47,360 it's through the inner work 856 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:49,600 that we've been really exploring here, 857 00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:51,800 i find that really helpful 858 00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:54,300 to learn about my own wellbeing 859 00:53:54,300 --> 00:53:57,660 and learn about when its good to say no, 860 00:53:57,660 --> 00:53:59,980 when its time to just take a break, 861 00:53:59,980 --> 00:54:02,280 get some sleep, rest, 862 00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:04,240 look inside, feel into 863 00:54:04,240 --> 00:54:07,200 what is the right direction for me to take, 864 00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:09,040 the right work to be doing, 865 00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:12,600 cos i find if i dont take that time 866 00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,540 to check in with myself 867 00:54:14,540 --> 00:54:17,280 then i will just be out there doing it all, rraahhh, 868 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,280 until KABOOM 869 00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,540 If we take the time to listen and understand, 870 00:54:25,540 --> 00:54:27,280 we can be more effective. 871 00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:30,100 I don’t want to just hit the air any more, 872 00:54:30,100 --> 00:54:33,700 and just get tired and lose energy. 873 00:54:33,700 --> 00:54:36,300 Only if I am conscious of who I am, 874 00:54:36,300 --> 00:54:38,360 what talents I have, 875 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:41,920 what experiences have allowed me to live, 876 00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:45,840 and take the time to find the decisive point 877 00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:47,980 where I can hit the “one inch punch”, 878 00:54:47,980 --> 00:54:50,620 I think that’s a term from karate or kung fu, 879 00:54:50,620 --> 00:54:55,400 one strike that defeats the enemy. 880 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:58,500 And the first enemy that we have to defeat 881 00:54:58,500 --> 00:55:01,840 is the neoliberalism in our heads, 882 00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,080 in my own head, with all its values. 883 00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:12,840 Maybe do less work, but more effective, 884 00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:17,920 spend more time reflecting and evaluating our work and our actions 885 00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:22,440 but not only about our actions but also about us and our emotions 886 00:55:22,540 --> 00:55:27,020 It's really important to have check ins with yourself, 887 00:55:27,020 --> 00:55:29,680 something very easy to forget 888 00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:33,140 when you're in the middle of doing everything else 889 00:55:33,140 --> 00:55:35,340 and just basic stuff, 890 00:55:35,340 --> 00:55:37,480 remembering to eat and sleep 891 00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:39,520 and to have showers sometimes. 892 00:55:44,940 --> 00:55:48,040 When there’s so much to be done I can very easily wake up 893 00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:50,780 and go straight into my computer’s open 894 00:55:50,780 --> 00:55:52,360 and start working, 895 00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:55,040 or not switching off at the end of the day, 896 00:55:55,040 --> 00:55:57,200 taking my computer to bed and working. 897 00:55:57,200 --> 00:56:00,280 I think maybe setting up some clear boundaries. 898 00:56:04,020 --> 00:56:05,360 Delegate more, 899 00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:09,280 get rid of all the power, I could say, 900 00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:14,020 I accumulated during the years, 901 00:56:14,020 --> 00:56:17,920 which doesn't feel good now at all, 902 00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:20,680 so just let others help you, 903 00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:24,100 trust the others around you 904 00:56:24,100 --> 00:56:26,540 that they can also do the things 905 00:56:26,540 --> 00:56:28,700 you want to see happening. 906 00:56:30,340 --> 00:56:32,080 Allowing other people to support me 907 00:56:35,940 --> 00:56:40,120 For some reason as soon as activists become parents 908 00:56:40,120 --> 00:56:43,300 they kind of withdraw from activism, 909 00:56:43,300 --> 00:56:45,000 which is actually a pity. 910 00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,200 I think it’s good to see 911 00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:49,360 that activism is not only about 912 00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:53,620 being on the barricades and fighting, 913 00:56:53,620 --> 00:56:56,680 but there are many different roles 914 00:56:56,680 --> 00:56:58,580 within activism 915 00:56:58,580 --> 00:57:03,540 and some of them are very physical and others are not. 916 00:57:03,540 --> 00:57:05,920 But I think that it’s important 917 00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:08,700 that different roles 918 00:57:08,700 --> 00:57:11,940 are supportive towards each other. 919 00:57:14,020 --> 00:57:15,960 What’s also important to me 920 00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:19,600 is that we think about how we care for people 921 00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:22,680 within our activist structures 922 00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,640 and how we support each other 923 00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:28,780 and create structures to do that 924 00:57:28,780 --> 00:57:32,040 with things like shared economies, 925 00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:36,220 so that it’s no longer just an individual burden 926 00:57:36,220 --> 00:57:39,460 how to stay healthy or take care of ourselves, 927 00:57:39,460 --> 00:57:42,560 but that we carry this burden together, 928 00:57:42,560 --> 00:57:44,700 so that it becomes less heavy. 929 00:57:45,580 --> 00:57:50,260 On the long term, I think if we really 930 00:57:50,260 --> 00:57:53,600 want a social change to happen 931 00:57:53,600 --> 00:57:56,200 we need to think of different elements 932 00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:58,320 we need to provide for ourselves 933 00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:01,500 to be able to build an alternative society, 934 00:58:01,500 --> 00:58:05,220 one of those is in general health care 935 00:58:05,220 --> 00:58:10,420 but also care for others and for ourselves. 936 00:58:16,520 --> 00:58:20,280 To me its clear that environmental destruction 937 00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:25,440 is happening in a very fast rhythm 938 00:58:25,440 --> 00:58:28,980 and because of that we want to have these results, 939 00:58:28,980 --> 00:58:32,980 like OK, I want next year to stop this goldmine, 940 00:58:32,980 --> 00:58:37,140 or I want in five years to stop something 941 00:58:37,140 --> 00:58:39,720 and I think thats not helpful, 942 00:58:39,720 --> 00:58:44,480 to have this linear, this industrial way of thinking, 943 00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:47,320 that we need a result now 944 00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:52,560 for me it becomes more clear that it's more important to think on longer term 945 00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:56,720 and to build stronger communities 946 00:58:56,720 --> 00:58:59,840 and stronger groups and stronger movements. 947 00:59:01,200 --> 00:59:03,660 We have to work on our groups, 948 00:59:03,660 --> 00:59:05,960 reflect, change our way of thinking, 949 00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:07,680 and work on ourselves, 950 00:59:07,680 --> 00:59:11,440 to deconstruct the model of thinking with which we have grown up. 951 00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:15,380 If we don't learn to be more empathic and compassionate, 952 00:59:15,380 --> 00:59:21,020 to develop a more systemic and longer term way of thinking 953 00:59:21,020 --> 00:59:26,000 it will be difficult to have a sustainable activism, 954 00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:28,420 an activism as a way of life. 955 00:59:29,780 --> 00:59:32,820 I would really like for people to be active 956 00:59:32,820 --> 00:59:35,660 because its their life and they love it 957 00:59:35,660 --> 00:59:38,300 and they get pleasure from it. 958 00:59:38,300 --> 00:59:41,500 Because if we do it hoping to reach the whole world, 959 00:59:41,500 --> 00:59:44,380 that everyone comes to a demo or an occupation, 960 00:59:44,380 --> 00:59:47,000 we've already lost from the beginning 961 00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:48,820 and so we get disappointed, 962 00:59:48,820 --> 00:59:51,620 we drink alcohol, take drugs. 963 00:59:51,900 --> 00:59:54,720 We see our friends burn out too, 964 00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:57,560 and they get toxic, and I can see it now, 965 00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:01,320 I can see the build up, I can see when it happens, 966 01:00:01,320 --> 01:00:03,940 and it’s really sad when it happens 967 01:00:03,940 --> 01:00:07,900 because it effects a whole effective group, 968 01:00:07,900 --> 01:00:10,060 and these people are very knowledgeable, 969 01:00:10,060 --> 01:00:11,800 and very useful, 970 01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:15,060 and tactical, and it’s just hard. 971 01:00:15,360 --> 01:00:17,980 I think it’s also incredibly important 972 01:00:17,980 --> 01:00:21,860 that people stay longer in political movements 973 01:00:21,860 --> 01:00:24,660 because with every person who burns out 974 01:00:24,660 --> 01:00:28,200 and leaves the movement because they can’t go on 975 01:00:28,200 --> 01:00:33,540 an incredible amount of experience and knowledge gets lost. 976 01:00:33,540 --> 01:00:36,000 I know that I can’t do this my whole life 977 01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:39,540 when it’s basically all the time like “I sacrifice myself” 978 01:00:39,540 --> 01:00:43,980 and the more you sacrifice yourself the more heroic you are, 979 01:00:43,980 --> 01:00:47,820 but rather it’s also about enjoying what you do. 980 01:00:48,020 --> 01:00:52,640 The more creativity we can find in our own work as activists, 981 01:00:52,640 --> 01:00:55,860 the more attractive thats going to be to other people, 982 01:00:55,860 --> 01:01:00,720 the more we're going to be able to build wider, more inclusive movements. 983 01:01:02,060 --> 01:01:04,140 I want the movement to be more diverse, 984 01:01:04,140 --> 01:01:08,140 and I want to learn about diversity and oppression within our groups, 985 01:01:08,140 --> 01:01:10,820 and to think about ways of dealing with that 986 01:01:10,820 --> 01:01:13,860 in a way that supports people and that is kind. 987 01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:19,800 One of the things that helped me the most was to see examples, 988 01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:25,480 to see people who manage more or less 989 01:01:25,480 --> 01:01:31,480 to put in place practices that are non-exclusive and non-oppressive 990 01:01:31,480 --> 01:01:42,060 while still being tolerant towards others who still commit mistakes. 991 01:01:43,060 --> 01:01:46,580 I think it’s important that we don’t just start thinking 992 01:01:46,580 --> 01:01:53,000 “oh, the organisers are bad, they should do this or that”, 993 01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:56,380 but rather to take a good look at oneself, 994 01:01:56,380 --> 01:02:00,620 educate oneself critically about racism. 995 01:02:00,620 --> 01:02:04,140 Just to be a bit more conscious 996 01:02:04,140 --> 01:02:09,520 and to be sure to support people 997 01:02:09,520 --> 01:02:11,880 with their needs. 998 01:02:17,920 --> 01:02:22,300 I dont desire to be an activist again in that way 999 01:02:22,300 --> 01:02:28,460 and to be so defined by activist identity and culture. 1000 01:02:28,940 --> 01:02:33,900 Kind of build our self confidence for our intrinsic worth 1001 01:02:33,900 --> 01:02:37,960 rather than for our identity within the group. 1002 01:02:38,380 --> 01:02:43,240 I think I’m trying to find other ways to do that stuff 1003 01:02:43,240 --> 01:02:47,840 and to be rooted in people and place 1004 01:02:47,840 --> 01:02:53,880 and more connected with the rest of the world and society, 1005 01:02:58,600 --> 01:03:00,580 There are not so many people 1006 01:03:00,580 --> 01:03:04,400 who are really dedicated to bring a change, 1007 01:03:04,400 --> 01:03:09,940 so I think we need to take really good care of these people, and take care of each other. 1008 01:03:11,980 --> 01:03:14,080 We'll make it, we'll make it, 1009 01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:15,860 and we are not alone 1010 01:03:15,860 --> 01:03:19,820 we'll help this messed up world back onto its legs. 1011 01:03:19,820 --> 01:03:23,820 We need a whole lot of strength and force 1012 01:03:23,820 --> 01:03:27,140 but I want to see the power tremble 1013 01:03:27,140 --> 01:03:30,000 and that you laugh again. 1014 01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:34,280 And if times are difficult 1015 01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:36,840 and you don't know what to do, 1016 01:03:36,840 --> 01:03:42,520 well then just take a break and rely on your people!