Change is Oxygen
Words by Marley Markham
At the end of 2019, the world eagerly embraced the dawn of a new decade, filled with hope and the promise of a fresh start. Yet, the five years that have followed have been nothing short of extraordinary. We’ve witnessed a global pandemic, an ongoing fight for racial justice, and political turmoil that often feels reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984. As members of a single human race, it is our duty to stand against oppression, inequality, and any threats to the freedoms we hold dear - both for ourselves and for those around the world.
Change is oxygen. The way the world is, this is a point worth reminding ourselves of.
From town squares to the doorsteps of dictators, from universities campuses to screens and smartphones, those winds of change have forever blown, tearing down walls and raising flags on their way.
But now, whose voices will carry those winds in the years to come? In a world marked by a resurgent far-right; where the global cycle of capitalist exploitation continues to pillage the Global South; where radical misogyny and xenophobia are inflamed by impunity; where chants of ‘Stop the Boats’ drown demands of ‘Tax the Rich’, this is a question worth asking.
Where will they come from? The mainstream media has proven unable to challenge the status quo. Failing to condemn President Trump’s call to empty Gaza as ethnic cleansing, referring to racist pogroms as ‘pro-British demonstrations,’ giving disproportionate airtime to Nigel Farage during the UK General Election, so-called media neutrality has done more to enable the rise in xenophobic politics than stop it.
In any case, Western media has failed to or shed light on issues beyond its doorstep. Little is known of the violence in Haiti or South Sudan, the political repression of Eritrea or Myanmar, the thousands searching for refuge in the Darién Gap or the Bay of Bengal, the gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Change is not limited to our lives – it is a global struggle.
With Elon Musk playing an apparently crucial role in the Trump regime, it is clear that social media has become infected with divisive populism. What was once a tool of mobilisation has now been fragmented by deregulation and toxicity. Echo chambers and bots have constructed parallel realities, shown by the polarisation around news like the assassination of United Health CEO, or the popularity of figures like Andrew Tate and Jordan B. Peterson amongst ‘incel’ men.
Change does not come from above but from within. It comes from the eyes of those who choose to see and is delivered by the hands of those who choose to care. Which side do you stand on?
Those winds of change have always blown and soon will blow over the next page. We have the pen. Now write the next chapter.
By Marley Markham for Croix Magazine
March 2025
