Thread by @ekingc

What this woman did is truly great. But notice that this story—of one individual woman—is making international waves, while stories of collective action to stop raids and deportations (and violent state/ far right attacks on them) have largely been buried

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1022033872329093121

The commentary on this story seems to be a lot of “one person can make a difference!” & while that’s true to an extent, our greatest power is collective. The neoliberal order would like us to believe that individuals are the ideal political unit, but we are most powerful together

This isn’t about what Elin did, which was humane and the right thing to do. It’s about the spectacle of individualism that the press is creating surrounding it. I promise Elin didn’t do this truly alone. There’s little chance she’s not a part of a greater activist community.

“She and other asylum activists.” See? This was not a lone woman’s protest. Elin was the one who took (probably) the highest risk and most visible role, but she did not do this alone. This was a collective action.

We should always challenge the notion that anyone does anything completely alone. It is never the case. Articles about Elin note that a group organized this action, so why sell it as a story about “one woman” making a difference when that’s clearly a lie?

@eveewing spoke very well to this point in a recent interview I did with her