In three years, our world has gone from a state of relative calm and stability to 65 inter-and intra-state wars wrecking societies and nature across of our fragile earth. An invasion of Ukraine, civil war, starvation and ethnic cleansing in Sudan, a genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and the West Bank, and the list goes on and on.
In this new world, autocratic powers are on the ascent and democratic governments’ international footprints are in retreat. Aid budgets are shrinking and the peacekeeping system is absent. The United Nations, with all its flaws, has never been weaker, and its weakening is a deliberate consequences of those who stand to benefit from having no check on their ambitions to grow power unabated. (For more on this shift in the global order, we recommend this episode of The Rachman Review.)
In this context, should art and artists speak out against war, genocide and for peace? We believe that when the international system is failing us, this isn’t an option: it’s a must.
This isn't virtue signalling: it's about doing what we can with the voices we have, however limited the effect.
Should everyone speak about everything, all of the time? We think: probably not. Find your cause, use your voice (and your wallet, if you can). And perhaps if we all push a tiny bit in the directions we want on the various issues we all care about, then maybe, just maybe, we have a chance at making the world a more just and peaceful place. 🕊️ 🤍
This outcome must be well worth the small costs we can all bear to bring about the change we want to see in the world.
This weekend, we're donating 10% of profits to Women for Women: a charity supporting women facing violence and poverty in conflict.
Love,
Paradisefold x
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