Acts of Activism

If this world is badly broken, Acts of Activism provides some powerfully subtle ways in which everyday humans might hope to mend it. This book transports you to small spectacles of dumbfounding damage then sifts their routine horrors to release whisperings that heal. It wisely just nods toward fiscal forces which obscenely shrug-off self-interest, triggering tipping points that dislodge despair so truth can speak disarmingly to power. The global statistics are familiar: the wealthiest 793 people are worth slightly more than the annual income of the 3.25 billion (48% of total) who live below the poverty line, the population-bomb is expanding at 1.1% (77 million) a year, military expenditures constitute 2% of rising gross world product. This is the skewed topography that Soyini Madison patiently, provocatively and oh so productively traverses with notebook, Dictaphone, camcorder and endlessly sharp compassion. Conserving small stories voiced by the wretched of the Earth and their champions, she fashions a delicately robust congregation of anthropology, oral history, ethics, theatre, politics and performance that sings out terrifically for justice. Unassumingly rigorous, accessibly written, profoundly practical, these Acts of Activism are seductively set to inspire a radical intelligence of feeling that could well bring about change, perhaps to what matters most: that murmuring in our hearts. -Baz Kershaw, Bristol, 2009.