Conversation with an Activist

Donna Markwell has a bald head and can’t stop running her fingers through her non-existent hair. She just completed fundraising for the Leukaemia Foundation’s Shave for a Cure, and only yesterday had to shave it all off. I met Donna, a seasoned human and animal rights defender, at a local fair-trade café. She’s nervous at first, but as soon as I ask her about her activism she transforms into a passionate young woman determined to make a difference.

Donna, you have been an activist for many years. What is the most difficult part of maintaining your motivation?
My motivation always stays the same – but it’s a constant struggle coming up against people that I don’t always see eye to eye with. An easy option would be to compromise my beliefs but I have to remember what I am fighting for and why it’s important.

How do you react and deal with people that try and stop you speaking out?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion – even if I don’t agree with it – so I am open to others telling me what they think. But when it becomes more than just expressing opinions and my rights as an individual are taken away – that crosses the boundaries for me. At the end of the day, I sleep well knowing that I have done the best that I can in standing up for what I believe is fair.

Can you tell me a bit about the campaign you were involved in during your university years?
In my second year of uni I became the president of the nearly extinct USQPlus – a [University of Southern Queensland] group for the local GLBTI [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex] community. I started a campaign to transform this group into a Gay/Straight Alliance, in the hope of bringing the isolated gay community into a more inclusive and safe environment supported by the university.

And how was this venture received by the university and the students?
The university was nothing less than supportive and most of the students were all for the prospect of a judgement free vibe. There were some groups that had a basic moral objection to homosexuality in the first place, so they weren’t likely to agree with much of what we said. But all in all it was pretty positive and we managed to raise awareness about the active discrimination that was happening every day.

I understand that you are also involved in the animal liberation movement. As an activist, how does that compare with human rights activism?
I don’t really consider myself an activist, but if there is an issue that I believe in I will fight for it as hard as I can. I don’t get out of bed in the morning and say to myself “okay, what kind of activist-y things am I going to do today?” But if something really pisses me off, I will be at the front of that picket line screaming as loud as the person next to me. Everyone feels passionately about something, it’s whether they choose to voice it or not that sets them apart from the rest.