What is Activism?
What is Activism?
When we ask ourselves about how we would like to make a difference in our community, in hopes for benefiting and releasing stress from individual people and allowing the community to bear them. - This may look like rights allowing everyone to get an education through 18 years of age, for free, paid by citizen taxes.
As citizens we play a vital role in the economy, by making up the majority of workplace/labor, and consumerism. There are several ways where we can manipulate how we take up our space in relation to those things, that effect on the people in change of forming bills and laws in the name of the people. - It's important to remember that our representatives are supposed to be just that, representatives of their areas values, untouched by corporate lobbying. However, we don't see that as often as we would hope.
In addition to those three things, we have the space we take up as valuable humans in many places, you may be commonly thinking of Marches, Sit-ins, and other ways of taking up phsycial space that calls for a change. While all of these things are Activism, not all of them are accessible for a number of reasons we outline in the Social Discrimination section; so it's vital that we find ways to bridge our accessibility by forming communities. This allows us to not only be there for each other, but keep you and your community on the same page about issues you are facing together.
Economical related Activism
Using your position in the economy and the choices you make within its growth to reflect the wants and needs of yourself or/and the community. People with higher incomes can typically fight this head on by choosing longer lasting, or sustainable products at their higher prices. Wherefore the people with lower incomes can find bartering systems.
Workplace/ Labor related Activism
Using your space in daily workplace to reflect the worth that you amount to, and to influence the reason and willingness for workplace improvements. When this is done on a larger scale it is typically in form of not attending work, in order to stop economical growth and reflect the worth of the American working class.
Consumerism related Activism
Using your space in the realm of buying products and services. by choosing to purchase these with intent of social responsibility. Thinking about how and where we spend our money in relation to social justice and improvement, of course this is not accessible for everyone. Boycotting and seeking marginalized communities for business and services.
Community Bartering Systems
When we create community bartering systems, we are eliminating the burden of financial decrease from the masses, and increase the contribution within. You can do this with lots of things, and it's primarily up to you and your community members willingness to share space with one another.
This may look like trading a bike for a printer, or sharing one set of lawn equipment for the same street, therefore sharing the cost. Many people host group dinners, where one person is responsible for one meal -where you can choose to split costs- and it feeds as many as you choose to invite, in hopes of reducing waste and enjoying social time while eating.
(Respectful of allergies, appropriation, and preferences)
Its up to you and your areas needs; also take initiative to find people in the area who have common needs and see what you can manage as a group, that still benefits you individually.
Not Attending Work
Community-Based Activities
A lot of people over the course of time have use their ability to work as a form of activism. It has been known to be very powerful, as we generate several million dollars a day as a whole for corporations, that cost them money when being unable to open.
Of course it is not accessible to people who would lose housing or safety with the loss of work.
It's important that we remember that we can build communities that may be able to bridge these accessibilty gaps.
Longest work strike in American history was a 116 day - Steel Strike in 1959, 1/2 million were involved and eventually increased their wages and change workplace rules.
Where you work matters to your mental and physical health, workers rights should be build up, not broken down.
Boycotting Products/Services
There are several ways to boycott: based by type of product of service, (ex. avoiding plastic, minimum-wage establishments);
based by the brand/ owners of a product or owner of a service chain,
(ex. avoiding brands that test on animals, homophobic owner- service provider);
reverse boycotting, or shopping specifically with a type of brand or service for a reason of benefit:
(ex. shopping Black-owned businesses, choosing to eat at restaurants with a living-wage promise)
There are so many ways to do this, and in some ways we do it all the time when we run out of money. Just remember WHERE & HOW you spend your money is crucial to the economy.
Some people try to cut out the things they need by sharing as mentioned in the Community Bartering System (the left of these three columns) section. Or making plans to reduce waste and choosing sustainable options can also be a form of activism.
Physical Space related Activism
Marches
Marches are a very popular type of activism, whether it is a largely attended march that is held annually or an impromptu march of very few. It is preferable that these are scheduled with the city for safety, but we often see marches and walks as a movement for change, acceptance, or memorial. Marches have a long history, and required lots of variations of preparation.
Sit-Ins
Sit-ins were a very popular form of activism beginning during the civil rights movement, LGBTQIA+ and Racism related activism. It is an act of disobedience that often requires another party to choose whether or not to engage. Many have found this as an effective way to show people in power, the amount of people who are in support of this change.
Walk-Outs
Walk-outs also originated in the civil rights era, (1968) and have become most popular in educational buildings due to the intolerance of school policies, school-shooting related activism, and racism/ homophobia. This is typically representative of the facade that educational establishments have for the public in relation to the reality for students.
Creative Activism:
Art & Music
There are several ways in which the art that we make and interact with, affect and are pieces of activism. All the art we make makes the world around us ponder a little bit more than they would've without that interaction.
History: We saw a new movement of activism music from all groups in the early 1970's, but it roots back to songs and story telling in times of slavery and war. We seeing this in the Slavery of African Americans, and the Blues era following the 'freedom' during Jim Crow. Music and art, has always been a source of energy and strength to continue the fight, as well as a mourning of lost experience, love, and life.
Self Expression
We are all able to use our expression in different ways. For many of us, choosing our clothing, make-up, favorite colors, who we follow on social media, it seems like the fun and easier part of life. We also know that sometimes there are people in our lives that stop us from being able to express ourselves the way we want to. This care for your safety is very important, so when we talk about expression, we keep this in mind.
Who you buy from, and what your expression says about your support, should be welcoming to others in your community. We have the ability to choose what we wear, and how we act, and all of that is very important to everyday activism.
The conversations that we do have, are a large part of our self-expression, but deserve their own category because of how tough it really is.
If you are in the environment where conversations about activism or differences is encouraged, make sure you speak up to the people around you, engage them in a discussion about current events. Its super important that as activists we take the time to hear what others think and how they view different situations. Your best tool is understanding as many points of view or perspectives as possible.
Remember also that not every conversation will go well, but read your peers and see how you can navigate the conversation to take some thinking and pauses. Silence is not bad in a conversation.
We can all learn from the conversations that either don't take place, or dont finish smoothly.
Reminder: Always engage your fellow employees to discuss their wages, to make sure people are being paid a fair wage based in the hope of reversing or slowing social systems that may be silently in place.
Why is Education a form of Activism, in the state of our world today?
Of course in a more idealistic environment education would be encouraged for any and all, in any and all capacities. Accessibility to education and advice is what helps any of us make more solid and feel more confident in our decisions. This doesn't mean you have to follow certain philosophy or theology to have a more aware self; it's the capacity to remind ourselves to keep learning. The moment we allow ourselves to feel in a place of full knowledge, is likely to be when we are faced with the things we still have to learn. It's a vital part of our personal grow over time to learn how to learn and face our curiosity head on. We have the ability, even with little to no resources, to make an impact on the people around us who are displaced by our social systems. Talking to friends and family about the current activities going on to combat social systems and structures from being upheld in negative ways. Even if you are not effected by something, we can always learn from the people around us and the way they are experiencing something.
THIS IS ACTIVISM
CHALK EVENTS
We have taken it upon ourselves to find middle-ground forms of activism, that either surround forms of creativity or rely on community involvement. When we do CHALK EVENTS, we allow the entire community to write, draw, express the ways they feel about the conversation at hand. This allows us to show the beautiful things that come out of togetherness and meeting each other at a place of understanding and compassion.
