SJWs Need To Start Doing More Than Just Trying To Get Attention
Beyond protesting, starting petitions, and other things just to get media attention, SJWs should consider going to the actual ground to try and solve the root cause of it all.
Just last Sunday (3 Apr), a group of Singaporeans gathered at Hong Lim Park to protest for the abolition of the death penalty. This comes after the execution of drug trafficker Abdul Kahar, and the dismissal of an appeal by Malaysian drug trafficker Nagaenthran Dharmalingam who is currently still on death row. The event was organized by the Transformative Justice Collective, and speakers at the event includes veteran social justice warriors Kirsten Han, Jolovan Wham, and Kokila Annamalai.
This is not the first time they are speaking out against the death penalty, but for all that they talk about, they have never really done more than scratch the surface of the issue.
For all the times they blame the government for not solving the root cause of the problem, i.e. the difficult lives of the individuals that led them to commit such offenses, they have done nothing to help those individuals themselves. In my experience as a volunteer with drug rehabilitation centers, I have never once met these individuals (i.e. Jolovan Wham, Kokila Annamalai, Kirsten Han).
There is nothing wrong with their statements, and I’m not saying whether I am for or against the death penalty. Yet it is obvious that they pick this part of the issue because it is the most glorified. It helps boost their sense of ego for being able to rescue people from the death row, and it is definitely more eye-catching than saying that they volunteered at a drug rehabilitation center.
I can’t help but feel like this is just a part of their mission to fulfil their sense of self worth. Grab the most news-worthy issue at present, start a protest/candlelight vigil so that media would report about it, forget about the issue once a new issue comes up.
When news about the condition in the Foreign Workers’ Dormitory blew up, they were one of the first to make an even bigger ruckus about it via videos, Facebook posts etc. in an attempt to rile up more workers to join their course. They event sent T-shirts to the migrant workers for them to demand a higher pay. Yet they have never spoken to the other stakeholders (e.g. the agents/the employers etc.) to try and solve the issue or at least to find out more about how it all adds up. Neither did they try to directly help with the workers’ living conditions; there are many ways to go about doing this, such as by going down to clean the workers’ dorms themselves, or even by delivering better food to them (my own friend was one of those who went down to the foreign worker dormitory near his restaurant every night to deliver any leftovers, and no he doesn’t want to be named).
“Behind each of these 62 names is a person who is more than the mistakes they’ve made.” — Kirsten Han
Behind the 62 names they have spoken about at the Speakers’ Corner are hundreds others about to make their way onto the death row. Why are they not trying to help these people instead? Why are they not saving people from getting onto the death row?
