SILENCING THE ONE WHO PROTESTS

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

Niemoller's words.

 People often play the 'let's share honey and keep out the protests from those nasty oppressed peoples' card.

Any evidence of  foul play is dismissed.

 People exonerate themselves by suggesting that they can hold different views from the organisations that they support, promote and for which they work.

There need to be places for those who know about living on the edge and beyond the edge, who have suffered the pain of rejection and prejudice and gain solidarity by sharing their trauma and experience.

Often these very places become infiltrated by those who want to use them to justify oppression by the powerful and the continued hounding and silencing of minorities.