Activism is the action of using campaigning to bring political or social change. Throughout history, we can see how so many activist folks and movements have impacted and shaped our society today. Without these brave individuals, many of us would be living in the same torment and sufferings as many of our ancestors. This week’s reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret, uses great examples and historical timelines to portray this set of events to the reader. 

In this week’s reading, Syfret goes into detail about the activist women movements that have happened throughout history that have impacted our society today. In the reading, they explain the timeline of women activist movements. The first movement happened in the late 19th century and it was a movement demanding the right to vote for women and our latest movements have been the Black Lives Matter movements and movements for women reclaiming their bodies, and since then, women have continued movements fighting, demanding and requiring rights, including basic human rights. Throughout history, we see how far we’ve come along with gaining rights as women in society but still doesn’t make it morally correct that we have to physically, mentally, and emotionally fight for our basic human rights, like having a say in our own reproductive system. At the end of the day, all these issues that have been brought up and fought for go back to white male supremacy and how they fear losing the power they once had. This is why, today, we as women still have to fight for equal pay, equal treatment in the workplace and so many more basic human rights that shouldn’t even be a topic of debate, let alone sometimes a political and controversial topic. 

This week, there were so many great snapshots posted by my fellow classmates that caught my eye in relation to activism. The one that stuck out to me the most was a post made by Hillary. In this post, we see a woman in a kind of protest where they have a banner up and are protesting and fighting for women to have fundamental human rights. It stuck out to me because, whether you are the most feminist person out there or not, women or not, POC or not, there is no reason why as women we have to literally fight to gain the most basic, fundamental right we deserve as humans. There is no way why we need to fight for equal pay in the same exact job position as a male. There is no reason for us to fight for rights over our own organs over laws, rules, and regulations that were made by individuals who never and will never have the organ they are trying so hard to take control of. So far in history, we have been able to see some changes in certain aspects of this. Until we receive all the fundamental rights we deserve as human beings on earth, we shall not stop these movements.