Questions for Activists

    A few weeks ago I was asked to provide some questions for activists from around the world who would be meeting to discuss their various struggles. Three areas of dialogue came to mind.

From http://spinsucks.com

1.          When we analyze social dynamics, we normally look to the major actors. However, besides the obvious, visible ones, there are those who are hidden. They are often more significant. If we are discussing a gold mine, we might look to the board of directors, or its president. If we are talking about government policy, we consider the influence of the ministers. However, we need also to ask who wields the hidden power that moves the underlying dynamic?  Who pulls the strings? This pushes our analysis an important step further. It makes us look not only at the hidden players but also at the broad underlying interests at play in the field. If we don’t ask this question, we are only half-way to understanding what is happening.

2.          Beyond analysis and the consequent demands we might envisage in a campaign for change, we also need to consider how people can be mobilized to demand that change. A good analysis is not enough, nor is a well thought-out demand. If the struggle is to have concrete and long-term results vast sectors of the population need to take it on. Beyond the small core of activists, this normally means appealing to various sectors of the population: unions, students, teachers, parents, artists, journalists, the media in general, religious groups, professionals…. It will probably mean mobilizing various cultural and immigrant communities. If we don’t do this work, the struggle will remain in a small niche without much impact. At any given moment, the analysis of a capacity for mobilization will have to take into account a multitude of conjunctural elements. The underlying culture of resistance needs also to be considered. 

3.         Probably the most important question activists need to ask themselves is “Who am I?”  This is not an immediately obvious priority but it is fundamental. Many activists become discouraged when their efforts do not bring about immediate or even medium-terms results. The temptation can be to withdraw or to infuse their activism with uncontrolled anger that bypasses a solid connection with social realities.

   The dominant society tells us that we are isolated individuals working in competition with each other for comparative advantage. If we don’t face the question of who we are, our social movements degenerate into a multitude of angry factions fighting blindly for their ends and against each other. However, when we truly understand who we are, we discover that we are not isolated individuals nor is competition the fundamental dynamic.

   We are part of a living web of billions of humanity who long for another world that is possible. We share that dream with the many billions of creatures who inhabit the earth, water and air. In their own way and according to the place they occupy and the gifts they have been given,  each contributes to creating that flourishing of life and diversity that the Earth dreams of.  We are in fact not discrete, isolated individuals. We are not alone. We do not carry the whole burden of the world. There is no doubt at all that life will have the final word. Whenever we get discouraged about the lack of “progress” in our social struggles, we need to return to that fundamental vision of who we are: part of a vast web of life of Earth. What we are asked to do is not to bring about the big-bang change that will transform everything in a moment, but rather, like the hummingbird faced with a forest fire,  we go to the lake and carry a drop of water to the forest. In other words, do what we can and entrust the rest to our Earth family.