In her weekly article, Gülseren Onanç, the Founding Chair of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association, argues that activism provides us with hope and happiness.
I want to start this week’s commentary by reflecting on a moment I cherished. While swimming, I encountered a group of women having fun and laughing at every opportunity. The French-speaking group swam towards me in the sea and we greeted each other. They were from Switzerland and told me that they came to Turkey for a blue cruise trip. They fell in love with Mersincik Bay at the southern end of Gökova Bay, which was embracing us with its turquoise colour. “I am from here,” I said proudly. These heavenly places are my homeland.
I could not say, “many are not happy in this paradise”. As I wrote about a possible happiness formula in my article, we are not happy as we have lost our trust in the state and its institutions. We are divided among ourselves. We stopped imagining a future with our differences. We did not achieve justice, equality and solidarity.
According to the Global Emotions Report by the Gallup research company, Turkey ranks among the top three in the world in terms of anger, stress and sadness. Turkey is the angriest country in Europe. We are the third least comforting, most stressed country after Lebanon and Afghanistan. There is also the burden of being a woman. We have more reasons to be worried and unhappy.
The Taliban continues to destroy the lives of women and girls
It has been a year since the Taliban regime dragged the country into darkness in Afghanistan, especially for women and girls. In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s crackdown on human rights has ruined the lives of women and girls, Amnesty International said in its report. According to the report, female protesters were detained, forcibly disappeared and subjected to torture. Women and girls were detained en masse and arrested on charges of ‘moral corruption’. Early and forced marriages have increased drastically. The Taliban regime, to which we reacted strongly a year ago, is now recognized.
Ukrainian women raped by Russian soldiers experience the deep traumas of the war that will last for years
It’s hard to believe, but the Ukraine-Russia war has entered its sixth month. Peace is still not on the horizon. The deep traumas experienced by Ukrainian women who were raped by Russian soldiers tell us how rape has been used as a weapon.
Climate change is increasing gender-based violence
The climate crisis, which is accelerating in the world, makes itself felt more on women. A study examining violence in the wake of floods, droughts, hurricanes and heatwaves over the past two decades found that extreme weather events often trigger gender-based violence, particularly physical, sexual and domestic abuse.
United Nations: Hold yourself, your companies and your governments accountable
It is difficult to expect solutions to all these global problems from the administration of polarized countries. The UN High-Level Political Forum held last July, met with many global stakeholders to evaluate the goals for a sustainable world. Prime Ministers, ambassadors, scientists, academics, executives of large companies, activists and various non-governmental organizations were among the participants who came to this series of meetings at the UN’s New York headquarters. We were there as SES Equality and Solidarity Association. As we learned from the article written by Ayşe Yorgancıoğlu, a member of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association, after the meeting she attended, the UN set targets to achieve the 2030 goals. UN countries should cooperate, the role of civil society in monitoring developments and providing accountability should be increased, and different voices should be allowed. The focus should be on leaving no one behind and prioritizing marginalized groups, she says. The UN also assigns duties to us individuals: the concluding statement recommends that we look for ways to hold our governments, our companies, and ourselves accountable.
The UN calls us to activism to hold accountable the politicians of the member states and the executives of global companies, who are the source of the problems.
One of the good examples of an activist for me is Jane Fonda. In 2019, I went to Washington to participate in the demonstrations that she tried to attract the attention of the White House by civil disobedience in the climate actions she started in Washington. Jane Fonda, 81 at the time, had two inspirations: Canadian academic climate activist Naomi Klein (who she sees her as her guru) and Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. Jane Fonda’s interview for Elle Magazine Canada tells us about the journey of a privileged woman.
“What this time in human history requires is collective action. And women are the most open to the idea of collective action. For evolutionary reasons, we are less susceptible to individualism. And in a way, that is our saving grace and strength. “There has never been anything good without a mass movement, and now we need a mass movement to focus on the climate.”
Activists are strong, hopeful and happy
I found the recipe for finding happiness in my homeland: Being an activist.
The report “The Well-Being and Empowerment of Activists in Turkey” also confirms it. According to the report, although political participation in Turkey is low, the perception of being satisfied, changing things and being strong is high for activists.
The report reveals that activists are still hopeful that something can be done and that people in the community are not giving up. Activists believe that they can create change by being together, having fun together, learning, empowering, and feeling that they are not alone. Activists look to the future with more hope and have positive feelings about working for the benefit of society.
Activism is the only way to be happy and hopeful!