When we hear the word “statue”, our mind conjures up a confident figure of a likely-important human of epochs past. This figure stands resolutely on top of a firm and heavy pedestal. But my absolute favorite statue has no such VIP posing entrenched on top of an immovable platform. In fact, nothing stands on this rather unusual pedestal. Either the hero or heroine has long vanished, or was never there in the first place; an alarming sight either way. But, if you get closer to this piece of art, you’ll find hundreds of small stone figurines under the massive monolithic platform. You’ll notice that each of these figures is standing tall and strong, with both of their feet firmly on the ground and their hands outstretched far above their heads to meet the weight of the pedestal. And that’s when you realize that these small figures are propping up and carrying the entire pedestal together, walking towards a hopeful new future; a more just society. This is by far my favorite statue.
I admittedly get angry when I see injustice. Maybe it’s because of the values and principles instilled by my parents. Maybe it’s the injustice I witnessed while growing up in both the Global South and Global North. Reading Uvin’s, Aiding Violence: The Development Enterprise in Rwanda and de Waal’s, Famine Crimes: Politics & The Disaster Relief Industry in Africa, made my blood boil, while Scott’s, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed and Ackerman’s, A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict, gave me hope in “The Power of Local”, hope in those smaller figurines shouldering the weight of history and holding the promise of a better future. (As an aside, these books also made me realize that our reading lists in grad school were anything but gender balanced).
So, what kind of injustice makes me mad these days? Well, here’s the thing, 99% of discussions on social good applications of emerging technologies focus on which technologies to use and how. Barely 1% focus on who actually gets to use them. Why? Because the latter leads to harder questions about power, equity and social justice.
This blog is part of CDA’s From Where I Stand series, designed to listen to people most affected by aid as they explore and amplify their leadership experiences, stories, and lessons for the aid sector.
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