The Mood In WA Groups Is Changing: Will We Now Learn To Speak Up?

 [This was written the day after the election results were declared. First published in YouthKiAwaaz.]

Over the last 24 hours, the mood in WhatsApp groups has changed. Many people who were earlier silent are now coming out and hailing the vote against hate. I always suspected that the silent majority was not as bigoted as the vocal ones, and that they chose silence because they want to avoid confrontations. But I wish they now realise that their silence actively enabled hate. 

The word “secular” is no longer an insult

It is easy to dwell on how some of us were forced to fight long and lonely battles because of the silence of others, but negativity serves no purpose. Let’s focus on the positives. It is no longer infra dig to be secular!

Once upon a time, being it was sexy to be secular, and even those who were not were forced to pretend they were. That changed in the last decade; being secular became something to be ashamed of and you felt you had to otherise others to be accepted. At least, now, being called secular is no longer perceived as an insult.

The role of independent media

The other big thing I see is the number of people who were silent for the last few years and who are now saying “I hope that at least now journalists do their job”. Yes, mainstream media willingly converted itself into the PR arm of the government, but I do want to ask the people who are now talking about the death of journalism whether they did their bit to support independent journalism. Maybe people were too scared of the repercussions to speak out themselves, what stopped them from donating to news outlets and fact checking agencies? What might have been a couple of coffees for them would have helped them greatly. Knowing how much can be lost when we have a pliant media, will we now support independent journalism?

Discharging the responsibilities of a citizen

The same people who were silent all this while are now talking of how quickly democratic agencies can succumb to dictatorial tendencies. Don’t they realise that each of us is individually and collectively responsible for that? Constance Vigilance is needed for a democracy to survive. We cannot depend on others to do it- we need to hold our elected representatives responsible, we need to ask questions, The day we abdicate our responsibility, we too become culpable.

Our ancestors fought for independence. It is upto us to continue fighting to uphold the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice.