The Revolution

Want to change the world? Here’s a place
to start.

The Revolution draws together thoughts on 12 big, global issues in social justice today: clean water, gang violence, women’s rights, fair trade, war and peace, torture, the environment, human trafficking, poverty, hunger, HIV and AIDS and capital punishment. Of course, trying to cover so many big issues in a small book is a recipe for brevity and so each of the treatments are little more than an introduction.

However, the contributors are people working in response to their respective areas of expertise and this adds a personal perspective and credibility—these are people doing something about these problems. Also included with each instalment are pointers for “taking action, in four easy (and sometimes not-so-easy) steps”— donate, educate, activate and pray. These are the prompts to further engagement beyond the few brief pages afforded by this collection.

The other impact of The Revolution is the cumulative effect of these 12 pieces, additional information and resources, plus the foreword by Jim Wallis (of Sojourners magazine and author of God’s Politics ) and afterword by Ron Sider (author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger ) that bookend—literally—this volume. Sider sums it up well: “A longer historical perspective underlines the fact that there is nothing inevitable and unchangeable about widespread injustice.” While the issues discussed are big challenges, the contributing authors to The Revolution emphasise and demonstrate the call of God and Bible imperative to be God’s agents of change in a suff ering world: “The Lord is appalled by the suff ering of injustice and is astonished when we fail to intervene.” Another strong impression from The Revolution is the possibilities and need for advocacy. “We [should not] underestimate the power of advocacy to change the world,” urges one contributor.

Outstanding is the story of the fi rst lobbying eff orts of activist Mary Helene Mele, who while out jogging noticed a meeting with an elected representative at her neighbourhood post offi ce. Having been reading about hunger issues, she thought she would just stop by—in her sweaty running gear—to see what he had to say.

She was surprised to fi nd she was the only person there and even then almost decided just to keep jogging. But she spoke to him and began a series of conversations that contributed to an increase of funding for a particular project. “I forget the numbers now,” she says, “but at the time I fi gured out that if I fed the homeless every night . . . for the rest of my life, I might not have given as much as I did [in] that 10 minutes in the post offi ce.” The Revolution is both sobering and inspiring, certainly worth the couple of hours easy reading and worth some more diffi cult but life-changing action in response.

The Revolution: A Field Manual for Changing Your World
Edited by Heather Zydeck
Relevant Books
235 pages