This week’s reading and the movie that I watched were really eye-opening for me in many different ways. I felt that the reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret, really supported the film I watch which is “Girls connected” by Koen Suidgeest. The movie was very powerful and inspiring. In the Movie, Five teenage girls use their individual strengths to tackle gender discrimination and violence in their own communities. Each of them inspires their own people to transform their own lives. 

Josi is from Peru according to her when she was a teenager she has seen so many teenagers getting pregnant. And she wondered how she could help. To prevent or to at least diminish this issue. She invited her community with her friends to a park to give them advice on how they can take care of themselves and how they can make their own decisions too. She advises them how they can use protection to prevent from getting pregnant and everyone can decide it for themselves. She also told them how it’s not just women’s responsibility but also man and told all the women to inform men about it. 

Latifa is from Bangladesh according to her when she was twelve years old they try to get her married to someone. She told them that she rather die than getting married. She thinks that it was wrong when a girl marries as a child and she can never fulfill their dreams. One of the mothers said she doesn’t know why she tried to marry her daughter off because she doesn’t have a father, brother, and no house. Her mother is scared that’s why she wanted her to get married. But Latifa, came and stopped it and said when the right time comes she will get married now it’s too early. If anyone bothers them, they can call her immediately and she will take aggressive action. Some girls are married off before the age of 16th. They are forced into marriage by the poverty of their parents. She knows how miserable it feels when you don’t have anything to eat. About two years ago when she was a student of class six an attempt was made to marry her off because they had a shortage of money and didn’t have enough food to eat. She feels that she’s been very lucky because her mom stood by her because her mother was a child bride. She came to realize that she didn’t want her daughter to go through what she did. She wants her daughter/Latifa to be independent before she gets married. Latifa made a call to her teacher and around 10 PM the administration came to her house and a court was set right up there.  They said that she wants to continue her study and before the 18th if anyone tries to marry her off without her consent would be arrested. So, she come to realize that if she could stop her marriage she could do it for others too. 

Ghazal is from Jordan according to her, she doesn’t know if everyone sees what she’s doing. As being liberal and dangerous.  Everyone accuses her of encouraging other girls to overstep boundaries. They consider the freedom that girls ask for out of the question. She was always first when it comes to doing things ordinary. She loves doing recycling and she was the first girl to play football at her school. A lot of the girls set boundaries for themselves. They do certain things and not other things that are considered for boys. But she believes anyone can do it. It’s just that it’s taboo to overstep the rule they set for themselves. 

Ayesha is from India according to her girls are not allowed to go anywhere. They are confined to their homes. Girls are not allowed to do anything. Girls can become more confident. Move ahead in life and not fear anything. She learns boxing. She has loved Karate since she was a child and she wanted to learn since she was born. She was inspired by her brother. 

Michelle is from Keny according to her a  lot of girls feel like their place is just in the home. Girls shouldn’t study engineering that’s not for girls. Stay at home. Take care of the kids. Cook.  She was able to brave these stereotypes and that is what she strives to pass on. Being a girl from Kenya is like you shouldn’t be really outspoken. Girls shouldn’t talk too much about what they think. For example, lack of role models and a lack of people to look up to which is a really big issue. All the girls have all it takes to get to where they went to get but they just don’t believe in themselves enough. Michelle is a teacher who helps girls from age 12-30 to achieve their dreams. At a point, her family was going through financial issues, and sometimes they would go to sleep hungry but Michelle was the one to stay strong and overcome this. 

My classmate “Hillary” posted a snapshot which was very powerful to me. The post says that “Girls just wanna have fundamental human rights” And I completely agree with it. We need to make this normalized and make sure that girls in our community have all the rights as equivalent to men. Only then we can be very powerful as a community/country. Also, my class made “Keven Kimble” posted a snapshot where it says Dignity respect a justice for all. Yes, we need to make society equal for everyone in this world. Everyone has the ability to achieve things equally and we need to let them do it.

A lot entails being able to rise up to the task and break through the scene to become an activist especially politically. Sexes and gender matters here too and it’s been quite difficult for women in particular to rise to the challenge and break that bondage but recent times have seen women coming out stronger which is very positive. To be able to breakthrough this scene and become an activist a lot factors do play and as such they include societal influence like the power of the youth where we should know that being young doesn’t mean not capable and as such because most people governed are youthful, it’s only right that they get to be handed power to. Although it’s difficult to say but change starts from home and parents are responsible to raise their children to grow up with a positive mentality, one should also then be encouraged to utilize online resources to learn a lot, activists all around the world are being projected online on the daily which should be a learning platform for some behaviors and enthusiasm. Real change takes time and one should exercise patience, should he or she be willing to become an activist because things don’t just come all of a sudden, individuals should make it their core mandate to find a mentor, someone whom they look up to and someone who can impact and push them further to become greater and also one should be a risk taker willing to go deep, it’s only important that activists don’t quit easily and even though they get problems packing on them on the daily they strive to make a change, being an activist takes a lot of sacrifice and one should always be willing to take up the challenge.

Being an activist means having strategies, this are plans that you set in motion as targets and should be your focus while you strive to make change, it should be an objective that would be on your mind daily. One should learn to speed things up when he or she gets the chance and as such it’s advisable that you always be on the look out for opportunities which could be utilized easily without stress one way or the other. It should be vital that everyone who wants to be an activist must be capable of accessing all areas before taking a step. You should have a focus point yet you should be able to consider other areas and regions to see a more befitting place to put plans in motion and in so doing one must prioritize diversity and learn to listen. It’s very much necessary that you learn that things and people are different and they vary as such you must always be willing to accept this sides of things and work accordingly, you should know not all things would be exactly as wished or planned and as such you should be able to listen rather than being hasty in all your decisions.

For this week’s breakdown on the film and reading I have gone through very throughly. There was such a variation of perspectives and experiences from first-hand individuals that have endured some kind of oppression. Though everyone’s experience was different, everyone expressed the same anger, frustrations, and fear. All victims of gender discrimination, sexism, and disrespect want peace, change, and equity. The film I chose to watch was “Knock Down the House”, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is such an admired advocate who stands on her ideals of change and presents power in unity.

I feel like the reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret, compliments the film and goes hand ‘n hand with what an activist is. Which I feel like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, is and she is a prime example. Through the reading, Wendy speaks about famous movements that have contribute into today’s changes. Not only by explaining the significance these movements have but as well as breaking down the necessary passion people devote to these gatherings. The passion and desire for change is what motivates others to want the same as well. Change comes from within, meaning one has to start from where it comes from. It’s usually comes from adult figures in our lives like people who lived with you or took care of you. These individuals imprint their thoughts, beliefs, and bad attitude into your life so you’ll grow up with the same motive, mindset, and drive. Sometimes I believe is not intentional but most of the time is intended to spread more negativity, hate, and for change to be stop. The way I see it, one’s home is like an inside understanding of a person’s mentality, emotions, choices, and their wrongs.

A perfect example is our parents, meaning my generation’s of parents. They grew up different from how we grew up. Which causes rooted emotions that most parents have not resorted, which leads to chaos. Parents who grew up in another country had it rougher indeed and the fact that we have It “easier” in their eyes, it justifies their actions of hateful remarks, and lack of understanding. What our parents do not see is that we all have our difficulties no matter where we are, no matter what country we move to next nor neighborhood. We will encounter situations and hardships they have endured. Harassment, lack of respect, being hated on, being overlooked, or shut out. It is apart of life, no parent can protect their kid from those hardships. In some way it is going to happen because it is life and life is all about growing + changing + evolving.

With that being said, I am a very outspoken person and when a close minded adult or family member contribute to the misunderstandings and false accusations of oppression in whatever age group or ethnicities, I correct them. Though they feel disrespected because someone younger than them has corrected them. It needs to be done to spread awareness that change is okay, change is needed to evolve as a community and individuals. Wendy claims the home is where it begins and where change should occur. Many people like me will agree to that because it is our parents who teach us the way of life the way they lived it and what seems to not be understood is the fact that everything doesn’t stay the same, no matter how much you don’t change. The world will still change around you and you are not going to like being left behind because it is lonely. Being close minded is lonely, depressing, and miserable if I’m being honest.

Alexandria as many other women running for congress is so inspiring to see and listen too. These individuals come together through their shared experiences and emotions, which creates this space of comfort and safety to feel free in your own gender. I love to see how the challenges can be overwhelming for all, but they continue to thrive for themselves and other women. Especially when one can relate to their hardships and stories. Alexandra was a bartender from the bronx!!! The bronx where people are painted as dirty, not worth investing your time with and shamed on for growing up in different environment. Look at her now, thriving and it’s a beautiful example of if you want to, you can! Never let no one, no women or man tell you that you can’t because of who you are, where you come from or what you do for a living. Change happens for the greater good, for personal growth and elevation.

Seeing these women and people apart of the movement actually connect and work within the community is real, refreshing, and inspiring not only to me but other people who have been put down for “non realistic ideas of change”. Change happens with us, when we take the stand, when we realized we are in control and not those in power. Those in power manipulate others by feeding them orders and false truths to keep change from progressing. If change progresses, those in power lose their creditably, their position, their hold on the human race.

The film is not only inspiring but exposes the systems failures so many love to defend and cover up. The unfair and judgement these women endure for advocating their rights. I admire Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, I want to see more people like Alexandria, and I want to see more women wanting change as she does. In my opinion, Wendy descriptions of what is an activist/how to think like one and the necessaries, is AOC. Alexandria is the example, her drive, passion, and care is a beautiful example to the reading of how to think like an activist.

There is so much to unpack from this week’s required readings. In “How to think like an activist”, Wendy Syfret describes how powerful activism is and how it can have far–reaching effects on our community and the way we think. We see how the internet, social media, and technology, in general, have provided a huge platform for various movements and the people that have supported them. A singular voice or opinion is suddenly catapulted out to the world and people unite with a shared purpose of demanding change. She goes on to say how many of the prominent movements of today’s world are descendants of causes that were already previously taken up. But with the power of youth and technology, these movements have evolved in such a way that people are uniting all over the world. I recall just how inflamed social media became when the BLM movement was created following the Zimmerman trial and how it’s now something we chant to decry racial injustice against people of color.

I’d never considered the time and energy it would take to not only organize but to maintain a movement like BLM. That said, this is all the more reason why people like Gracie Lee Boggs and her contributions are so important. In “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs“, she said, “I saw myself as a part of and apart from the Black community.” The amount of time and energy she poured into the black activist community of Detroit before social media took off, is simply amazing. It was clear that the director wasn’t expecting Boggs to identify so strongly with the black community but her dedication was so great that even the FBI mislabeled her race. That said, while not exactly the same, this reminded me of the snapshot, my classmate, Hannah Nichols shared in which she posted a quote from Kathleen Hanna that reads “I would much rather be the ‘obnoxious feminist girl’ than be complicit in my own dehumanization.” Boggs essentially stated that her personal identity is interwoven with the cultural identity of the black people in Detroit (I’m sure this is worldwide). She didn’t see herself as a Chinese American woman much to the ire of the director.

After watching the film and finishing the readings, I started to question my own position and contributions to the movements in which I support. While social media, with its ability to spread information, is certainly a necessary tool that aids the ongoing effort, is simply sharing a status enough? After seeing how deeply entrenched Grace Lee Boggs had been with the movement in Detroit, should I be ashamed as a person of color? Syfret state’s that the world cannot be changed by one person but that we can certainly all contribute to the way it’s shaped. By at least first making the commitment myself to be involved and spreading the word to those in my community, I can certainly help to inspire change. I look forward to having a continued conversation with my family after our weekly readings. You have to start somewhere.

This week I watched the video “Girl Connected” on YouTube. The film was about five teenage girls from around the world with a dream, hope for a better future. Josi, Latifa, Ghazal, Ayesha and Michelle worked around their communities/ villages to help girls younger or their age to have hope as well for the future.

Josi from Peru wants to prevent teenage pregnancies. She has gathered teenagers around the villages and asked for them to meet at a park or commune place. She talks to teenagers how they can prevent from pregnancies occurring at an early age and also preventing STDs. Sex is not something that their parents talk to them because they are old schooled. They’re only worrying about teaching their daughters how to cook, clean and raise kids but it should not be like that. Teenagers both female and males should be informed. Josi talks to these teenagers and informs them and I think that is great, getting informed is not happening in the household or at school it should happen somewhere.

Latifa from Bangladesh is going from village to village to talk to young ladies and parents to prevent them from getting married at an early age. She was once going to get married at an early age but she opposed to it and her parents stood by her. She is now reciting people to help her spread the word. Not all young ladies have to get married at the ages of 12 or 9 years old. They are young and have a whole life ahead of them. Families are in poverty and don’t have anything to eat and the parent think that rearranging a marriage for them they will be in better hands. Latifa shared that the man she was going to get married to is now married and has kids but he unfortunately is not doing well. If that would of been her she wouldn’t have been able to continue her studies and would of been in the same place as she was, not having anything to eat but now with a husband and kids to look after. Marrying their young daughters is not the answer to their problems.

Ghazal from Jordan walks around taking peoples pictures and asking about their experiences. She says she is always the odd one in her group but she doesn’t mind it, she does what she wants to do and wants for others to do the same. She had made a curtain of recyclable bottle caps, she says creativity cannot be taught but letting people know that they can speak and do what their minds want is okay. Ghazal wants to know these peoples experiences so she can learn from them and dream big for her future. Speak your mind and do what you want, creativity comes in many forms.

Ayesha from India has epilepsy but she does karate. On Sunday’s she teaches girls from all ages karate, to be able to defend themselves if someone where to attach them. She said she heard someone get raped and that didn’t scare her, she wanted to become strong and be able to defend herself. The epilepsy doesn’t effect her when she’s doing karate, she feels free and it’s as if she didn’t have an illness. She wants to win the gold metal and bring it home. She dreams to become a karate coach and teach girls how to defend themselves so they don’t have to be sacred.

Michelle from Kenya wants to become an engineer. She says not many women are engineers and aren’t sure of themselves, they don’t believe the can study and become someone. Men have the upper hand and it should not be like that. She has a program where she lets women speak their minds and show them to have a high self esteem and confidence in themselves. She is studying at a university and she believes that just because a women wants to become successful as well it doesn’t mean that their taking away from men. It can be shared and not looked down upon. Women have rights as well to become something not have to stay at home and cook, clean and watch over the kids. That is not the only job of a women.

This week, on Netflix I watched the film Knock Down the House. The documentary mainly focused on Alexandria Cortez in 2018 running for congress in NYC and other women around the country also being a part of this movement of women running for congress. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much and didn’t think I would learn a lot or be very interested on the subject of the movie. I remember well the election where Alexandria won and how exciting it was for NYC and thought that I knew a lot about this subject just from living through those times.

However, I was very surprised. What struck me is the lengths these women had to go through in order to even be on the ballot for the election. The establishment and big business are all buddy buddy with each other and make it so that anyone who truly is a working class, normal citizen has an extremely hard time running for any kind of office. The lack of support and the actually sabotage that goes into trying to make sure only white men are in the office is something I have known to be factual but watching a film where these women really sacrificed so much of their lives to try and run for congress and see how many walls were put up against them really made my blood boil.

Hearing about how much they thought about how they dressed and presented themselves so that people would like them just made me angry because that is something men don’t even consider.

Whether or not people agree with the politics of the women in the show, it’s a good subject to be talked about – the fact that people in power need to be shown that people can run for office and win without the backing from big companies and other politicians who want more people in their corner. The U.S.A has a long history of putting money over anything else and it shoes up in all of our systems. The hundreds of thousands of people that die every year because they don’t have health insurance is a good example. It’s been time that people start to align their politics with their morals rather than their pockets.

Entering this week with the topic of activism will be very interesting. The topic we were discussing before was Gender/Sex/Sexuality & Feminism where we read a lot of interesting and inspiring readings. Most of the readings were from individuals who experienced oppression whether it be gender discrimination, oppression of females, sexism, race discrimination, etc. These people who expressed their oppression are angry/frustrated and want change. This week with the reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret and watching the film “Knock down the house” both provided powerful messages and it really talks about the change that needs to happen. 

The reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret is pretty much a “how-to” book on becoming an activist. I actually really liked this reading, it was to the point and simple to understand. The reading begins by describing famous events in history that produced change. These changes are movements that we can look back to, and create movements of our own in the future. The reading continues by talking about the recent movements we know, such as Black lives matter, Take back the night, and March for our lives. Each movement is very well known and we can learn from these movements moving forward. This is where the reading begins its “how-to” where do we even start? Well according to Wendy Syfret change starts at home. She explains that bringing up topics we are passionate about and bringing awareness into our own homes is important. I happen to agree, I’ve done this myself. Older generations are not as open-minded as this generation is, so when I hear older generations talk about topics in a close-minded way I speak up and bring awareness. And I am glad that because I have spoken up the older generations’ language in my household has changed. The reading speaks a lot about the accessibility we have today. For example, mass media is a huge platform. It is true, we use hashtags, tagging, Facebook pages, Instagram stories, and most recently tic tok. Every time I open my Instagram I see many people being proactive on Instagram stories posting what they are passionate about. For example, abortion rights, feminism, cases of innocent African Americans getting killed, native American women going missing, ICE, etc. I really liked that every two or three pages there is a page of tips on how to take “action” or an “explainer.” In a movement, there are multiple individuals coming together to create change. Everyone has a role within the movement. It was interesting Syfret giving tips to individuals who want to pursue a role in “action” and others who are “explainers” of their movement. 

I watched the film “Knock down the house” and it was very educational to see these individuals running for congress. These women all have their own stories and identities but are all striving for the same movement. These powerful women are challenging the system that is not providing for the people of their district. I really loved the civil rights veteran speaking to the group of candidates at the beginning of the film, he was pushing them to keep working to challenge the system and people in power. Coming from a person who has a bunch of experience and is still working on change, his advice was blunt but true. You can see in his facial expression that it will be a challenge. People in power will try to stop us from achieving our movements. What I saw from the film is these women are everyday working people, Amy Vilela is fighting after losing her daughter, Paula Jean is a coal miner’s daughter, AOC was a bartender from the Bronx, and Cori Bush is a working nurse. Hearing these women’s stories is so moving and when they explain why they are in this movement it’s empowering. Seeing the process is very educational. We see a whole team on their computers, walking through communities, knocking on doors, making signs, passing flyers, speaking to the people, public debates. As I said before there are many job responsibilities in a movement and we see this in the film. Throughout the film, we also saw the challenges these women faced, judgment from higher-ups, money shortage, the people sticking to the people they already know (Joe Crowley). By the end of the film, we saw out of the four women-only Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez won in the primary election. It was devastating to see, the teams crying, hugging each other; however, I am so glad they put in the film one of the team members in the campaign speaking to everyone about not giving up. She said, “The primary ended, but the injustice did not.” I was applauding at her words, she is absolutely right, movements need to keep going even if they hit a bump in the road. Seeing AOC finding out she won made me happy, I LOVE Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez and everything she fights for. I think she is a great representation of the change our government/system needs. I think so many hate her because she challenges the OLD way of thinking. In my classmates’ snapshot, Sadira Mohammad shows a picture of the one and only AOC at the met gala. She is wearing a white dress with the words “Tax the rich” in red. I think it was bold and to the point of the message. She constantly speaks for the working class and the struggle we are facing. It made me think of Joy Villa who was known to wearing dresses with messages across her dress. AOC made a come-back with her dress, fighting fire with fire. We see the team cheering and happy crying along with AOC when she wins. I think this film shows us we won’t always get a win, but we have to keep fighting. We will get special moments of wins, just like this young bartender from the Bronx helping us change our system.

In reading “How To Think Like an Activist” by Wendy Syfret, who provides us with different steps and strategies to take action and stand up in trying to change political or social issues. Throughout history activism has involved both violent and nonviolent movements, where some used to battle in war and others would turn to peaceful protest. These action were taken in order to promote and fight for positive change for groups of people who were affected by inequality, discrimination, or living under poor conditions in their community. People pushed toward positive change to influence and inspire the upcoming generation to have a better life. Activism consists of many different issues as Syfret states “People from all over the world are confronting issues such as climate change, racial injustice, xenophia, and violence against women, people of colour and non-binary individual” (Syfret 11). This means that the individuals in these communities are unsatisfied with the way they’ve been treated and are probably deprived of their rights and freedom. 

We now live in a generation where technology plays an important role in our lives and  helps us perform many different tasks efficiently and easily. In efforts to create change I feel like technology is one of the ways to communicate with others and have more of a chance to get their message across with people from all over the world that may also share the same frustration and injustice. Syfret stated “Not only has technology transformed our causes, but it has also reshaped the role and individual impact of activists. With a phone in hand, anyone has the ability to educate, inform, expose and serve as a reporter, documentary maker or social organiser. Today you don’t need an arm to act, just a wi-fi connection” (Syfret 23). It’s important to take advantage of the opportunities we have to grasp public attention, especially through social media platforms by inspiring and supporting others at the same time to create a successful movement with strong leadership. 

In the film Girls Connected by Koen Suidgeest there are 5 teenage girls from third world countries that go against their traditional and cultural practices and systems by engaging in activism as a way to prevent poor decisions from being made and challenge issues that continue to set a bad example to the younger generation. The girls presented throughout the film were using their voices to take action against gender discrimination and violence publicly which is another way to promote activism. There was Josi from Peru who wanted to help raise awareness about teen pregnancy which was a common problem in the community. For this to be done Josi formed an organization were the group informed others the importance about sex education. Ghazal from Jordan wanted to help other girls from doing things out of the ordinary; they are not only bound to the feminine role. Latifa from Bangladesh wanted to help prevent arranged marriages where young girls would get married due to the poverty of their parents and lose the opportunity to continue their education and childhood. Michelle from Kenya mentors girls and empowers them to be leaders and have the confidence to be successful and inspire those around them and serve as role models to the younger girls.  Ayesha from India has a passion for karate and uses her skills to train other girls as a form of self defense to protect the girls within the community from sexual assaults and violence. 

All these young girls incorporated their own strategies and techniques by trying to change their current lifestyle to a better one and advocating for young human rights and freedoms so that more knowledge gets passed on and equal opportunities are made. It sucks that before these girls, most of the older women in their communities didn’t have the chance to resist change because they were to strictly follow cultural customs and values that prevented their community from thriving economically, socially and politically.

In connection with Samantha’s snapshot the image that was shared depicted how people are defending women’s reproductive rights by coming together using protest posters at a popular spot in the city which was Washington Square Park. This is one form of activism that can help an issue like this secure women’s freedoms over the control of their own bodies, health, and privacy. I think it’s important for us women to target an issue like this because nobody but ourselves should decide whether or not we want to reproduce, we just need access to the right healthcare and sex education to prevent further complications. Third world countries are also at risk of political issues interfering with women’s rights and equality.