We all rise together

On solidarity with other people, small acts of kindness, self-care, and activism.

I have a saying, “we all rise together”. When authors review each other’s books, or promote each other’s blog posts, projects, books, etc, we all become more visible. I am very grateful to all the people who reviewed my recent books, and I often try to promote others’ work, especially when it is about queer and inclusive Paganism.

And, a plea to readers generally: if you like a book that you have read, please post a review on Amazon, LibraryThing, and Goodreads, or if you are boycotting Amazon, ask your local library or bookshop to stock it.

The same applies to small acts of kindness, whether it’s stopping for a chat with a neighbour or with a homeless person, or whatever you can do – quite often these small acts don’t even cost money. Homeless people are shunned and ignored by an awful lot of people, so stopping for a chat with them is often appreciated. During the lockdown, we have got to know more of our neighbours, chatting over the garden fence while gardening.

And it also applies to activism. Not everyone can afford to quit their day job and become a full-time activist, and some of us are limited to only sharing things on social media (especially during the pandemic) but even if you are showing solidarity and raising awareness, that’s not nothing. I saw a tweet recently accusing people of performative allyship, which may be so, especially if you only post social justice stuff when everyone else is also doing so – but for some people, blogging and sharing on social media and signing petitions is all that is available right now. If you can donate money to current campaigns, or show up to demonstrations, that is awesome, but for a lot of people, money is tight right now, and demonstrating can be dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

Currently, there are six active situations in Canada where Indigenous people are being oppressed by direct settler violence and theft of their land and resources.

I have been thinking about solidarity for a while, but I was prompted to write this post by Nimue Brown’s latest post, Lifting Each Other.

I was particularly disheartened by the news this morning, and went looking for stuff to cheer myself up. Self-care is important, as well as solidarity.