Activism - An Idea Project, by Ed Whitfield
Who are activists? People that are active in the destiny of their own lives? What is activism? Recognising the pain in the world and deciding to do something about it. Why be an activist? Is this not the fight for our lives? Where are you supposed to be active? In the cities? On the streets? In your own home? In your own head. When is the right time to be active? On international days of action? Every day of your life?
How do you be an activist? Don't you feel repressed? Or even constrained slightly that you must earn a living? Well would it not make sense to get to the root of these feelings, find the cause and deal with it / them? This is the fight for your life, all of ours lives. The life of the whole planet.
The factors at play in the destruction of our world are undeniable. They are all interconnected, from global warming to poverty, deforestation to the displacement of farmers from their land. The factors are global capitalism, inducing misery, stress, hunger, death. The players are those involved high up on the economic scale, the private owners of land and wealth, day after day owning more, using their capital to posses our land. This is the fight for our lives, and these are the reasons we must be active, we must be activists.
Yet I have found a remarkable amount of cynicism amongst the disaffected, the disenfranchised, amongst the very people who ought to feel the harsh, needless realities of global capitalism and remain in a position of advantage, of power to also realise their responsibilities to their sisters and brothers around the world, to their children and grandchildren of the future. This is the fight for our lives. This is the fight for our world and our future.
They don't seem to believe that there is potential for revolution or for change of worth. Yet much of the rest of the world is fighting for their lives and it is their 'bandwagon' that we must jump upon. People here in the 'first world' (Ha Ha Ha!) seem to question the reasons behind fighting. They don't believe that there are alternatives and that what we have isn't worth changing. But this is sheer ignorance. If not for yourself then at least help others around the world who are desperately struggling for their way of life. Or even on your own door step: travelers, immigrants, the homeless. To ignore the fact that these people need your help is pure self denial as everything is interdependent. From the causes to the outcomes, they affect everyone.
The potential is there. In the jungles and on the streets, in the farms and between the rubble of the ruined cities of war. People everywhere are fighting for their lives, the degree of which seems to depend on the amount of influence the USA has over the country at hand. On the outskirts of the empire lies great conflict, yet within lie fat couch potatoes, apathetic in their own shit that surrounds them. The people on the outskirts have seen this and that is why they are resisting (except for Iran so it seems). But it is definitely there, the kinetic potential, just waiting for the spark to ignite and then for the whole thing to snowball. Although, it may snowball someday, that is not to take away from the daily struggles I had mentioned earlier, merely that it will take something to ignite the whole thing, to unite all the causes at once. But for now the focus ought to be on those solitary struggles and also the small gestures of solidarity with those you know or are in contact with.
But what is it exactly that one ought to do? You feel frustrated at the system and you have been to the rallies and have boycotted coke, yet 'they' seem to still own everything. Nothing has changed. Let's first look briefly at boycotts. To avoid every consumer product in the west is impossible and therefore a futile attempt while still living within the system. The only solution is to go off and live in the hills in solitude, growing your own food. It would be quite difficult to remain in contact with much of the world if this was the case, and all you are really achieving is a small, selfish conclave that wouldn't be very much use in the world of anti-globalisation. In my opinion this is mere escapism, not activism. And then to not go to this extreme is just a waste of effort. Of course, if it is a fully conscious effort, as if it was a matter of lifestyle that one avoided such products, well then, it's just a matter of lifestyle, but not a matter of direct action, so to speak. Yet, on another level it can be of use, that of a mass boycott. Organising mass boycotts to make a point, to hit companies where it hurts, this can be effective if done properly, in creating awareness etc.
Protests, my experience with collective action has been rather boring and seemingly quite pointless, as droves of individuals collect outside government buildings and listen to ridiculously boring speeches by equally boring people. This, however, does not seem to be the case outside of Ireland. Seattle, Prague, Genoa, the revolution seems to be alive with diverse groups with no hierarchies but possessing a phenomenal form of organisation know as disorganisation. Affinity groups communicate along lateral lines through email etc. and all collect apparently spontaneously at the given locations on the given dates. With no central leaders it is incredibly difficult to stop this form of protest, for police to target key organisers etc., but to keep this form of protest alive it must remain fresh and diverse, with new concepts and strategies forming every time. The secret is carnival, the joy of politics, to turn the world upside down, to invert the order. In a world where the rich receive more and give less, where the majority of the land is owned by a minority it seems to me the world is already upside down and the carnival of the people could only result in turning it back the right way up.
But as it stands attempts at such protest in Ireland are just as boring as the politics it strives to fight against. So, in the current context of global action against global capitalism and for humanity, what I believe it will take is for the individual to form these affinity groups and create underground networks of communication in order to produce new and exciting ways to protest and party, to come up with new ideas that make revolution irresistible. You see, the mistake I made in going to these boring protests was I expected the fun and excitement to be provided. This is obviously not the case as fun is what you bring with you! If you believe in making a stance against something you can't just expect to turn up and everything to be sorted out for you. You have to create your own voice, you must go to these days of action with your own agenda and a plan to carve out your own voice and make the day exciting for everyone else too.
The group can be made up of friends, or from placing ads stating a common goal and for anyone interested to get in touch, or from labour unions, whatever the make up it is essential that those involved have similar ideas on what they wish to achieve and how they wish to go about achieving it.
Once these groups converge in mass they shall as one, represent a varied array of requests and demands, remain autonomous and maintain a democratic movement of movements with no central leader and no large hierarchies. If what we all wish to attain is a world made up of autonomous communities then I figure this is the way to go about doing it. Get your affinity group together and go out and act directly. Activism is important for everyone, as it just seems the more we sit on our arses, the more 'they' think they can get away with.
-- Ed Whitfield, March 2004
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