And yeah I'm involved locally, but so what? Do you think I only care about myself? Does that help the Palestinians, or the innocent people in those concentration camps? Does it help the people being tortured?
Over a long enough timeline? Yes.
The more we can build a movement for progressive change, the more that change will filter up from the small things to the big things. The more we improve the lives of the people around us, the more energy those people will have to improve the lives of people far away. The more we can work to educate the people around us and help them break down regressive thought patterns and throw off centrist and right wing propaganda, the more receptive they'll be to talking about progressive global politics as well as progressive local politics.
Yes, this sucks. We want to solve the big scary problems right now. We want everything to change right now. But that's not going to happen.
You eat an elephant one bite at a time. You can despair at the things you can't change, or you can focus on the things you can change. Those are, unfortunately, the only real choices.
And I do understand the despair your feeling. Please trust me on that. I say all of this from a place of sympathy. It's really difficult right now, and finding hope is a battle every day.