Protest activism

Recently an activist stated his position by saying, "Well, in my view, political activists make demands not because they think it's plausible to meet in the near future or in current situation, but mainly because they are making a statement."

That might be just what is going wrong in our times. In some of its forms, activism has become "opiate of the people." Everybody makes a statement and soon there is enough noise to drown any invitation for arriving at consensus.

Protest activism has its merits and has worked well in many cases in the past but issues have become so entangled now that people who agree on one point might be in disagreement on everything else. How far can they go if each one of them insists on making all the statements which their heart dictates?

Activist, historian and political leader (and lawyer) from Pakistan Aitzaz Ahsan said when Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was presented in a US court, "this is a test case for US legal system." While that may or may not be, but the case is almost certainly a test for human rights: can we find ways of being effective rather than just being noisy?