It has been nearly two months in the UK and it seems that strikes are getting less recently or maybe there is still a lot but I just don’t really know. I just had a quick check on this and I found out there is a website that lists all the strikes happening. This is the link towards the website.
UK Strike Action Calendar (strikecalendar.co.uk)
Honestly, as an exchange student, clearly strikes are unbeneficial to me. I cannot do anything but wait for the class to start. However, I understand and I respect those who strike. Unfortunately, this is probably the only way to fight for a better situation. People could have just stopped striking if they can get what they want simply by writing a petition letter to the government or the CEOs. I mean who would prefer the hard way and disrupt people’s life in order to raise awareness (Except for those extreme climate activists)? But in reality, this will never happen and people keep suffering.
Regarding this, my homeland, Hong Kong had learnt a hard lesson. When the Hong Kong government planned to establish the extradition law back in February 2019, many people raised their concerns and made petitions against the establishment of the law. The government neglected the voices of the people, and so nearly 2 million people came out and protested on 9 June. Just imagine how stunning was that. Unfortunately, the government was not happy with it so they just started to arrest a lot of people. This brought a lot of tension between the people and the government. People started to damage the buildings and shops of the government and those who support them. I am not going to explain more here because this is not something I want to talk about here. What I would like to say is that, in reality, there is no way but to start disrupting the social structure when those with power refuse the will of people. They are afraid because they are scared of losing their power so they will be more harsh as the tension goes up.
As a foreigner, I am concerned about the future of the UK. I see more and more chaos happening around us. This is a sign of the dawn of civilization and once again, we are repeating the history. I also see people are getting more and more selfish, on both sides. They lack empathy and are emotionally driven, where they only see the speck of sawdust on the opponent side and pay no attention to the plank in their own eye. My thoughts on strikes would be, the citizens of the UK should be the only people to be responsible for their country. No matter good or bad, they will need to face the consequences. During these times, is there a way towards peace? I would doubt that for now, but what I could do for myself is stay alert, be rational and think critically.