Why you should make yourself heard

This is subtitled "Strike - part 2".

Some people have drawn my attention to poems that are used with students in class, and yet still the teachers dither over whether striking is the best course of action.

First They Came For The Jews

‘First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me –
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.’

Pastor Niemoller, 1938

The second has a similar sentiment:

Not My Business

They picked Akanni up one morning
Beat him soft like clay
And stuffed him down the belly
Of a waiting jeep.

What business of mine is it
So long as they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

They came one night
Booted the whole house awake
And dragged Danladi out,
Then off to a lengthy absence.

What business of mine is it
So long as they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

Chinwe went to work one day
Only to find her job was gone:
No query, no warning, no probe –
Just one neat sack for a stainless record.

What business of mine is it
So long as they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?

And then one evening
As I sat down to eat my yam
A knock at the door froze my hungry hand.
The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn
Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.

Niyi Osundare

The point is clear: if you don't stick up for yourselves and others now, who will do so in the future?