Activism (thing)

Tips for Activism

1. Know your enemy. Take the time to find out exactly whose responsibility it is to make or change the decisions you are protesting. If you suspect someone is passing the buck, ask them to explain how their organization's decision-making process works.

   For example:
   
   Several years ago I talked to someone at the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco, which is focused on men with HIV and AIDS, and was told that trans guys were not welcome. I was on the Trannyfags listserv, many members of which lived in that city, and raised the question of whether it would be appropriate to organize a boycott or some other action to protest their policy.
   
   Someone else on the list happened to know that they were actually working on what their policy around this should be, and thinking about starting trans-specific workshops (which they have since done), so we all dropped the issue. Meanwhile, however, friends of mine who worked at Stop AIDS had heard that I was organizing some sort of big protest against them and were really pissed off at me for some time... all because I took the word of one person there and talked to my own community before asking them for a definitive answer.

   Sometimes, especially in corporations or other large groups, responsibility for everything is spread very thinly, making it difficult for you to point a finger or hold anyone accountable. In this case, it might help to travel up the ladder till you find someone who has enough power to make executive decisions.
   
   The first step is talking to them, explaining your view and what you want, and listening to what they think should be stopping them from giving it to you. Which brings us to the next point:
   
   
2. Know that your enemy might be your friend. Don't assume that even apparently-evil politicians or corporations are your enemies. In many cases, the people with power don't have any damn idea what's going on around them. Sometimes Martha and Kathie honestly don't know about all the sweatshops and embezzlement going on in their names. Often change can be brought about just by opening the right people's eyes, and that doesn't always require crowds of protesters or lengthy boycotts.

   For example:
   
   Various queer and queer youth organizations in Northern California used to organize Youth Lobby Day once a year, inviting queer youth and allies to attend and even present workshops about current political issues and how to talk to their representatives, and then to go in groups to their representatives' offices and present the information of their choice. Several Youth Lobby Days were focused around the "Dignity for All Students Act" (later The California Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000), which prevented discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in schools. The largely straight and often conservative politicians were deluged with crowds of queer youth telling stories of how they had been beaten up, verbally harassed, or even raped in school for being queer.
   
   One after another, the senators and assemblymembers thanked the organizers and the young lobbyists for making this event possible. They told us how much they wanted to hear what their constituents wanted, and how they had to listen every day to powerful, pushy professional lobbyists from big corporations, and how much they wanted to see people like us show up in their offices to tell them what we wanted. In 1999, the bill passed and was signed into law.

   Remember that privilege isolates people. The CEO might never see their sweatshops, or the managers busting up unionizing workers, or might not know enough about labor conditions and unions themselves to see why they shouldn't lean on middle management to bust the unions. This is not an excuse, but a reason. This is where a lot of really creative activism comes in:
   
   
3. Tailor your actions to the issue. Let the punishment fit the crime.

   For example:
   
   Michael Moore does this brilliantly. In his television shows (The Awful Truth, TV Nation) and movies (Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine), he uses direct action and culture jamming to raise awareness and effect change.
   
   An article on Salon.com described one episode of The Awful Truth in which "Moore took up the cause of Chris Donahue, a Florida man with complications from diabetes whose HMO, Humana, denied coverage for the pancreas transplant he needed to stay alive. The footage of Moore and Donahue staging a mock funeral (complete with bagpipes and mourners) in front of Humana headquarters, and running up against the brick wall of corporate indifference in the form of an unyielding public relations flack, deftly brought together guerrilla theater, muckraking journalism and political satire.... (For the record, Humana reversed its decision after Moore's visit and paid for Donahue's transplant.)"