Behind the Closed Door

Why its time for public involvement in ‘Aid Reform’

The last couple of years have been indelibly marked by uncompromising civic calls for social, political and environmental justice. In 2019 millions took to the streets in 185 countries worldwide to participate in what would be the largest climate protests ever. In 2020 the murder of George Floyd by the US state police re-sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, becoming the biggest in US history and giving rise to protests and reckonings globally, leaving no sector untouched. Sales of anti-racism literature skyrocketed, and ‘decolonisation’ escaped the cage of academia to make its way into public lexicon permanently. The elephant in the room of enduring coloniality and structural racism finally acknowledged.

This year, the actions of Israel in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, followed by 11 days of bombing the Gaza strip triggered worldwide solidarity with the plight of Palestinians. London hosted the largest pro-Palestine march in British history and language notably shifted from ‘conflict’ to ‘occupation’ making it possible to openly discuss the apartheid nature of the Israeli state, dispelling the myth of being anti-Semitic for doing so.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that very many people give a shit. People give a shit about what is going on at home, they give a shit…