On The Sobering Silence of FFF about The Turkish Earthquake

FFF’s mission is to be fighting for justice and equality, and standing in solidarity with the downtrodden and the oppressed.

But how can we now ever truly claim to be fighting for justice, if we ostensibly turn a blind eye and our backs on the desperate and heart-wrenching shrills and whimpers of agony, tribulation, bane, anguish, pain, trauma, suffering and macabre death of the Turkish and Syrian people, whom, virtually overnight, had their livelihoods devastated, homes destroyed and families killed? Who in their right mind can truly call this “justice”?

We should also deeply consider the implications and consequences of our haphazard, de-centralised (which indubitably has its merits) and slipshod management style, that’s devoid of any type of oversight. If things are being done in our name (the name of FFF) and if something has even the slightest potential to tarnish our reputation or be misleading about who we truly are (our identity), then FFF must intervene and protect its own reputation. People outside of FFF will see any action, or inaction done in our name and pin the blame on FFF, not on the team (or teams) representing FFF. Therefore, such seemingly innocuous blunders may have unintended, unforeseen and severe consequences or reverberations that, if left unattended or unaddressed, may fester and plunge FFF into the abyss of labefaction.

Unintended consequences or ramifications may include, but are not limited to: 

-People (outside of FFF) being less inclined to listen to us

-People (outside of FFF)’s faith or belief in us waning or dwindling over time, blunder after blunder, if mistakes are severe and antithetical to our values or principles, some rabid people may feel betrayed, and falsely and fallaciously (but understandably) think of us as hypocrites. 

-People (outside of FFF)’s enthusiasm or interest in FFF ebbing away, this may lead to retarding or balking our ability to grow in members or participation in activities such as the global climate strike or even regular reporting to the map.

-People inside of FFF may feel like FFF is not what they thought it was, and get stultified, thereby ratcheting up their chances of sundering ways with FFF. (members lost likely not being the only consequence)

The recent gaffes of the FFF twitter team, although inadvertent, innocent and unwitting, nay aye, constitute a startling and dismaying betrayal of the people of Turkey, Syria and New Zealand. As of the time of this writing, no mention or acknowledgement of the spate of plights and calamities that battered New Zealand (and eventuated BILLIONS of dollars in damage) has been made. 

The twitter team’s failure to put out any tweet in solidarity with, or even mere recognition of the harrowing and dreadful plight of, the people of Syria and Turkey until the tenth day after the earthquake is a betrayal of, and tantamount to an aberration from, our values, principles and what we stand for: Equality.. solidarity.. justice ! 

Making a mockery and a farcical and contorted travesty of our values, principles and everything that we stand for is, and should be, repugnant to all members of FFF, since that is antithetical to our core identity.

Furthermore, their lackadaisical and dilatory response to Turkey and Syria’s plight; and even more conspicuously and starkly, their gobsmacking negligence to even recognise the floods, earthquakes and the calamitously woeful cyclone “Gabrielle” is a brazen, even if unintentional (which I’m fairly confident is the case) act of discrimination against the people of Turkey, Syria and New Zealand. The reason being that when Ukraine (or even palestine) were going through their own plights and storms ( respectively due to Russian and Israeli incursions, raids and forays into their territory and onto their people), FFF twitter division scrambled to spew out tweets in acknowledgement of and solidarity with those countries and their people. (For instance, FFF tweeted about Ukraine no later than Feb 27., three days after the war, and Greta and her squad were holding Ukrainian strikes one day after the invasion. The people of Turkey didn’t get this treatment until a third of a month, i.e. 10 days, after their plight, and the people of New Zealand still haven’t even gotten a glimpse of it. So much for equity !!!) This represents both a chink in our armor, thereby leaving us vulnerable to being assailed and skewered by our adversaries/haters, as well as a blot on our escutcheon. And is therefore compounding to the betrayal of FFF and its values and core precepts or statutes. Consequently, one can clearly see how their actions (or, ironically enough, lack thereof) have blotted FFF’s copybook. 

We, as FFF, deserve better than this; we are worthy of better than this; Because we ARE BETTER than this! 

Lamentably, we cannot undo any that, FFF’s escutcheon has been blotted. No one can undo that now. Be it as it may be, may we like it or not, the one truth that aye holds true is: The past is the past, and the future is the future. We cannot alter the past. And only time will tell what destiny has in store for us. What lies in between is a gift. That’s why its called the present. We bear that gift. Let us use it wisely.

As Maya Angelou sagely reminds us “History cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again."

The ugly truth and the crux of the matter are: We are in the clutch and are entangled in an old, unwieldy and life-eviscerating rut. Let’s amend and remedy the situation before it festers any further. Let’s not overestimate the adhesive that’s holding FFF together. Because if there’s anything that history teaches us, it is that if we do not maintain our guard, if we rest on our laurels, or if we draw a veil over incipient, latent or inchoate fundamental issues, our very fabric could unravel in a heartbeat. 

But we must act swiftly.. before it’s too late.

When asked “What is the biggest mistake we make in life?” The buddha replied “The problem is, you think you have time”

…

Here’s a suggested proposal that could provide for some inspiration for an apologetic message by FFF:

“Dear warriors (any other replacement is acceptable) of the environmental movement, 

We are well aware that perfection is a sisyphean task, and therefore we know that we will never be perfect. But that’s ok. Because it doesn’t matter if we’re perfect or not, what matters is how we deal with our imperfections. We all err, goof, blunder and make mistakes. What matters is how we choose to fix them. We know that an error does not become a mistake until it is refused to be corrected. Therefore, we are hereby setting a positive example to young people, and adults alike, to own up to and rectify our recent error. We have noticed that our twitter team had bungled and botched up the response done in our name to the woeful calamities that struck Turkey, Syria and New Zealand. We wholeheartedly apologise to the people of those countries for the inexcusably dilatory and laggard response from our twitter team.  We have taken the steps deemed requisite to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. So that next time there is a catastrophe anywhere in the world, we will promptly and with little to no delay or dawdling, respond in an apt and satisfactorily palatable manner and show solidarity with the people afflicted by those future disasters. We once again reaffirm our commitment to climate, ecological and social justice and our righteous fight for our species and planet. We tender our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the people of Turkey, Syria and New Zealand. 

One planet, one people. 

See you on the streets.”