Activism
From Envirowiki
Activism is the process of attempting to make changes around certain issues. It is very varied and takes many forms, as it covers many issues. Activism is used by both sides of politics, but it is more common to left-wing, progressive, or liberal political movements than right-wing, capitalist movements. This is partly due to the fact that activism is a form of empowerment for those who have little power, or who are oppressed, and right-wing, neo-liberal politics is often in a more powerful position (see: western politics). considering that enviro-wiki is definately a left-of-mainstream site (not to say left-of centre), activism on this page generally refers to left-wing/libertarian action. see also: right-wing activism
Activism also makes up part of a path to a truly democratic future, in that people, the public, are voicing their concerns directly, in the way that they want to, rather than being told what to do and how to do it by semi-democratically elected "representatives", or corporations.
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[edit] Methods of activism
Activism is usually thought of as coming from a grassroots level, to bring about social change using direct action or political lobbying, but the definition is definitely not as clear cut as that, and can also include corporations lobbying governments, using the mass media to sway public opinion in their favour, or simply fighting activists using the same methods (see: anti-activist activism).
some methods for activism include:
- direct action
- political lobbying
[edit] Aims of activism
Activism brings change through a number of different ways. each campaign will have it's own possibilities and obstacles to cross. for example, a nimby campaign to save a patch of local bushland may require local politicians to be persuaded that they will gain votes by saving the area due to public support. Larger campaigns such as the campaign(s) to slow climate change through the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions, may require a much broader array of goals, including persuading the public to use less energy, increasing the percentage of renewable energy generation, and getting politicians to regulate industry.
some ways change can be brought about include:
- Political change - changing regulation through the bureaucracy
- Public awareness raising (and getting people to act on it
- changing industry - through boycotts, regulation and other methods
[edit] Critique of left-wing activism
It can be said that a lot of left activism is too soft, in that it interfaces with bureaucratic right-wing, centralised, authoritarian governments (and thus acknowledges their right to exist). Ideally, the majority of left activism rejects these ideals (see: anarchism, socialism, ecology), but often in reality it is impossible to simply leave the system which is the accepted norm to create a new, better system. the majority of activists will recognise that they are working within such a system, and work on both fronts: both improving their own, personal response to the issue at hand, as well as trying to force the incumbent system to change to suit a more open society.
[edit] See Also
- Environmental Activism
- Indigenous Activism
- Feminist Activism
- Queer Activism
- Workers' Rights activism
