Thursday, April 16, 2015

Activism -- What it is and how to do it

Here are the things I learnt about activism, from Monica Pearl, this week:


1. Being an activist means WE get to decide what is fair, not government or businesses, or even 'the majority'. If you know of an unfair situation and are passionate about it, give activism a go.



2. Be clear that activism is not polite. You don't ask, you COMPLAIN, you DEMAND, you push until something CHANGES.

At the same time, understand that sometimes you will need to take action KNOWING that you will lose. It's not always about winning, it's most often about raising awareness and attracting support for your campaign through PUBLICITY. Make noise, generate a clamour!



3. There are a few ways to organise yourselves. DON"T rely on consensus. Having a core team is necessary, but also have sub cores for dealing with particular areas of your activism. Sanction smaller groups to take do certain things. For example, you might create a team for deciding how to harass businesses, who do that research and make those decisions, and then can call everyone in on their campaign when needed. For example 'phone blocking' a business -- calling in incessantly, thereby preventing them from doing business. Trusting the other core sub teams is essential - if they ask you to do something, do it.

I am really on-board with the 'don't rely on consensus' thing. I've done a lot of work in groups and democracy is a great theory, but it seriously hinders 'getting things done'. One of the other women present said that when she had been an activist everything was done on consensus and it did work for them, though. I guess a lot depends on the group and on the cause.



4. The steps in taking action are:

  • Plan - HOW can you publicise your cause and get changes made?
  • Action - WHAT are you going to do (this time)? What pressure can youi bring to bear, and on whom? Often the aim is to disrupt 'business as usual'.
  • Voices - WHO can be pulled in to participate in the action and how do you arrange things so everyone knows what to do, WHEN and WHERE?



5. Make REALISTIC demands. Go for small but achievable goals. FORCE the issue.



6. Be strategic and have allies. Work with other groups who have similar aims, objectives or interests. They can come support your protests and you can help swell the numbers at theirs. cross-pollination of groups is good.

I think this is a really important 'pointer'. I never would have come up with this. It makes huge sense now.



7. One example that came up in discussion - How would you address that a company has on 23% women and their 'five year goal' is to raise that to 30%?

Obviously you're going to go for EMBARASSING the company and should demand that the company realise their plans for change aren't ambitious enough. You're going to demand that they make more significant change over a shorter time period.

One approach you could take is phone blocking the company (see below) until they improve their policy in accordance with your demands. It's important to TELL them what you are going to do and why -- no good 'taking hostages' if you don't state your demands. Make sure the story 'breaks' too.

It occurs to me that you might need to provide help or advice to them on HOW to meet your demands, too, in an example like this one, where they are at least trying. 

The other, really important, issue with this example was that the 'whistle blower' be protected, as she was an employee who could lose her living if she was implicated by the action. The speaker made it clear that she should not be getting involved herself, but rather call on her activist allies to act.



8. Sometimes you will WILLINGLY get arrested in order to raise the profile on an issue. Have back-up and support systems in these circumstances. It's essential you know WHO has been arrested. Also have a sympathetic solicitor's number on hand, ideally someone with some knowledge of anti-defamation laws as well as a strong background in protest cases.

Being in the 'getting arrested' group isn't for everyone, but it does generate a lot of publicity; that's the aim. If you are not able or comfortable with getting arrested, you don't have to be involved in such actions.

Not every action has to be loud or violent. For example, ActUp held a 'kiss in' to protest for equality for gay people.



9. Communicate. Exploit social media to the full, both for raising the profile of your cause and for helping you organise events and actions.

A more 'old school' way to 'pass the word', and I think perhaps more approiriate if an illegal protest is afoot, is to use a 'phone tree'; you ring five people, they each ring five more, and so on, a bit like chain letters or chain emails.



10. There are barriers to be crossed even within our communities. These are attitudes such as:


  • 'Things are so much better now'. Yes they are, but it doesn't mean that they can't still be improved. 'Better' acknowledges there were problems, but ignore that it's not completely 'right' yet, nor even FAIR!
  • 'Let's not rock the boat'. This speaks of accepting unfair treatment, mostly because we are afraid of having our previous gains taken off us. It forgets that what we have gained is our right, not a privilege. 


If you don't protest, it WILL be taken as truth that 'They're fine with us'. This subsumes your agreement.



11. Remember, when you meet a person with a barrier, attack the barrier, not the person.



12. Don't be 'wet' about things. Some groups make the mistake of branding the problem with slogans, but fail to solve it.



So what causes do I care enough about to become an activist? 

  • Fighting 'Binary Thinking'.
  • Body Choices - especially stopping the medical mutilation of intersex children
  • Bullying in  all it's forms, but espoecially bullying in the workplace
  • De-stigmatising Mental Illnesses and stopping unfair dismissals and the like
  • Promoting education about Bisexual, Intersex and Trans* matters


If you share one of these interests and are looking for support leave me a comment and a way of contacting you. I can be messaged on facebook too, where I am present as Katisha Morish (surname accidentally mis-spelled on FB).



If you want 'further reading', look for 'Women, Aids and Activism' in second hand bookstores or second-hand on Amazon (it's out of print atm ).