WE ARE ALL ACTIVISTS NOW In a year of change, we talk to Aiglonian campaigners about their work, and why being part of a global network is key to making real change. Words Victoria James Photography Nastassia Kantorowicz Torres (Exeter, 1999) he people have spoken. Online petitions; Twitter campaigns; taking to the streets for and against a myriad causes. In 2020, shock and anger quickly turn to a desire to do something – anything – to help set the world to rights. But how do we begin to make a difference? And how do we join our voices with others to achieve real change? Service is at the heart of Aiglon life, so it is not surprising that so many of our community have made a deep commitment to the cause – from climate change and wildlife justice to refugee welfare and nuclear disarmament. Their experiences hold lessons about how we, too, can take action in a world in which we’re now all activists. First, is the simple realisation that, yes, we can play a part. “We so often feel disempowered – convinced we can’t do anything to change the situation even if we want to,” says Tanya Ogilvie-White (Exeter, 1987), whose day job as a senior fellow at Australian National University sees her working
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on nuclear arms control, while producing heartbreaking ‘artivist’ paintings in her down-time to raise awareness of the bushfires and the global climate crisis they have come to represent. “Getting people to believe in their own power, individually and collectively, is the ultimate key to successful activism. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, where you are from or what your background is, if you are well informed and have a strong sense of purpose, you can be influential – and you can effect change.” Indeed, the most immediate and impactful changes are to our own lifestyles, which is where Francesca Jobson (Exeter, 2019) decided to start. “I set out to lower my carbon footprint and contribute as little as I can to the consumption our capitalist system encourages us to relish,” she says. “That includes things such as buying local and seasonal plant-based produce, using public transport and my bike rather than cars or planes, and only buying what I need – and then ideally only second-hand.”