Editorial: A bit of activism usually a good thing

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

A salute to Whanganui's youngest councillor, Josh Chandulal-Mackay, for organising the rally in Majestic Square yesterday in support of immigrants and refugees and in opposition to the travel ban imposed by the United States ruling elite.

He can be forgiven the occasional naivete of youth, and it is always heartening to see idealism bump up against the apparatus of government.

The rally is unlikely to change the mind of US President Donald Trump - or even come to his attention, for that matter - but that is hardly the point.

It was a good antidote to any complacency induced by the late summer weather, and a bit of activism is usually a good thing, with Whanganui seeming to have a healthy number of activists.

Of course, those at yesterday's gathering were tapping into a worldwide protest, and worldwide protests can eventually reach a tipping point where they are great enough - even if apparently comprised of the powerless - to effect change. Think of apartheid, or the Berlin Wall.

And now grass roots movements have that weapon of mass demonstration, social media, in their arsenal.

A small protest in one corner of the world is instantly linked into the digital ripples of others elsewhere and a tidal wave of change can swell up very quickly.

Social media played a key role in the anti-capitalist Occupy movement of a few years ago, and the uprisings of the Arab Spring. It is a potent weapon and one that is very hard for the establishment to neutralise.

Mr Trump, himself, used Twitter very effectively to galvanise support behind his election campaign and now behind his rather iniquitous policies. But it can equally be used against him.