Friday, May 02, 2014

Beautiful Trouble. Activism Flaws and Advice

This passage comes from the recently released May issue of The Sun. A few weeks back I discussed activist culture and protest culture. The article discusses many of those same concerns. It is edited by Andrew Boyd with help from Dave Oswald Mitchell. Naturally, each of these subject headings is described in greater detail should you wish the read the full article.
__________

How to Plan and Execute Successful Protest Actions

1. NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH A DRUM CIRCLE

Self-explanatory.

2. MAKE YOUR ACTIONS BOTH CONCRETE AND COMMUNICATIVE

People often get discouraged because they take part in a communicative action and expect a concrete outcome.

3. BALANCE ART AND MESSAGE

Art invites us to think rather than telling us what to think. This is one of its great strengths

4. PACE YOURSELF

Too often the people doing the most to take care of the world do the least to take care of themselves. and a dedicated activist prudently burns out and disappears from public view. Whether we like it or not if we are exhausted, frustrated, unhappy, or overwhelmed most of the time, we make a life of activism look extremely unattractive. Virtually every activist has struggled with the question to get beyond preaching to the crowd.

5. DON'T DRESS LIKE A PROTESTER

People don't care about protesters: Oh, there goes those silly protesters again. What are they protesting this time? Look, the police are hitting them over the head. Well, they must have done something to deserve it.

6. DEBT REVOLT

Don't use antiquated language that favors workers over bosses. Instead of workers of the world, we now have debtors of the world.

7. DEBT STRIKE

The idea is simple: en masse, we stop paying our bills to the banks until they agree to come to the table.

8. CHOOSE YOUR TARGET WISELY

Not every target is vulnerable in the same way. What works once may not work a second time. We need to figure out where out targets are weakest, and where we are strongest.

9. KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS

Some people who are attracted to protests have issues with authority. Losing their temper in the face of opposition is rarely a successful approach.

No comments: