Scan barcode
A review by amiablebookworm
Five Rules for Rebellion: Let's Change the World Ourselves by Sophie Walker
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Oof this book spoke to me! I've been a Sophie Walker fan for a while, since hearing about the Women's Equality Party when it was set up and looking more into their beliefs and goals. Sophie managed to sum up everything I'm feeling at the moment about politics and activism, and then completely shatter all of my apathy and Ostrich-like tendencies.
'Despair is seeing the extent of the storm, understanding its ferocity and deciding that your best chance of survival is to hunker down and hope it passes. If you are one of the people in the storm bunker, remember that the people ripping up the tornado are really committed and really busy, and they are not going away. They will relentlessly create a stronger and stronger force for destruction until everything is levelled.'
I am fully down in the storm bunker right now, and have been for quite a few years. This was the book I needed to inspire me to stick my head above the parapet and start trying again. Sophie Walker strikes a great balance between inspiring the reader to feel like they can make a difference and showcasing practical strategies for how that can happen. At no point does this book feel like pie-in-the-sky idealism and nor does it feel like the author is trying to recruit you to her cause, even though her political beliefs are clearly evident. She is trying to convert people to activism and inspire them to action, and she does this extremely well.
There were a couple of moments that didn't sit too comfortably with me, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing in a book like this. For instance, I felt like the narrative was very much addressed at women and people from disadvantaged groups, to the extent that it almost felt like anyone with privilege wasn't being included in the discussion. I'm guessing this was a conscious choice by the author, but I don't think we should play down the importance of encouraging people with power to activism, since there are plenty of good people out there looking for a cause to support or maybe even lead. I don't believe that you need to have personally been negatively affected by something to care deeply about it and want to call for change because, as Sophie talks about in the book, empathy is such a powerful tool. These moments didn't take anything away from the book for me though, as I just saw them as points on which we might disagree without switching me off from the overall message.
If you, like me, feel constant despair at the seemingly hopeless state of the world, I would highly recommend this book to shine a small light somewhere in the darkness and give you back some sense of agency.
'Despair is seeing the extent of the storm, understanding its ferocity and deciding that your best chance of survival is to hunker down and hope it passes. If you are one of the people in the storm bunker, remember that the people ripping up the tornado are really committed and really busy, and they are not going away. They will relentlessly create a stronger and stronger force for destruction until everything is levelled.'
I am fully down in the storm bunker right now, and have been for quite a few years. This was the book I needed to inspire me to stick my head above the parapet and start trying again. Sophie Walker strikes a great balance between inspiring the reader to feel like they can make a difference and showcasing practical strategies for how that can happen. At no point does this book feel like pie-in-the-sky idealism and nor does it feel like the author is trying to recruit you to her cause, even though her political beliefs are clearly evident. She is trying to convert people to activism and inspire them to action, and she does this extremely well.
There were a couple of moments that didn't sit too comfortably with me, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing in a book like this. For instance, I felt like the narrative was very much addressed at women and people from disadvantaged groups, to the extent that it almost felt like anyone with privilege wasn't being included in the discussion. I'm guessing this was a conscious choice by the author, but I don't think we should play down the importance of encouraging people with power to activism, since there are plenty of good people out there looking for a cause to support or maybe even lead. I don't believe that you need to have personally been negatively affected by something to care deeply about it and want to call for change because, as Sophie talks about in the book, empathy is such a powerful tool. These moments didn't take anything away from the book for me though, as I just saw them as points on which we might disagree without switching me off from the overall message.
If you, like me, feel constant despair at the seemingly hopeless state of the world, I would highly recommend this book to shine a small light somewhere in the darkness and give you back some sense of agency.