ACTIVIST CLEARINGHOUSE
There are many, many
activists around the world, who are involved in difficult and oftentimes risky
initiatives. We all have information that we can share, so others can benefit
from our experiences. This includes not only examples of ideas that worked,
of descriptions of how someone finally cracked the nut and accomplished positive
change, but also of mistakes that were made, the consequences that resulted,
and what can be learned from it.
This part of Activism 101 is intended as a clearinghouse for the ideas of
the activist community. We request that you send us your stories, and photos
and even videos if you have them. We also encourage debate. If you see something
in the clearinghouse with which you disagree, please let us know (including
your reasons why).
What we are looking for is something along the lines of the letters to the
editor section of the Earth First! Journal, in which numerous and vigorous
debates have been conducted over the years. As submissions arrive we will
develop categories or threads, e.g., on activist security issues, dealing
with the media, etc.
Also, please understand that we are requesting ideas about anything,
on tabling, or tripods, or underground security procedures that activists
use when organizing in extremely repressive societies: anything that has proved
important, or crucial, in an effort in which you have been involved.
(At the 2005 Earth First! North Cascades Spring Rendezvous, which we unfortunately
could not attend, discussions and workshops included: freedom?; consensus
decision making; security culture versus paranoia culture; racism and sexism
within the movement; the future of environmentalism; and letting go of your
activist ego. We would be pleased to host conversations on subjects such as
these.)
Ideally, we would like to form a collective for A101 and then gather and make
available resources on all forms of activism and activist tactics. At the
launch and at the end of the homepage article we put out a call for interested
individuals, but to date have received no inquiries. The problem with collectives
is that they are typically local entities. The founder of Dictator Watch and
its other contributors either move around a lot (we're modern nomads) or are
widely dispersed. It's difficult to organize a collective in these circumstances.
Still, we would like to repeat our call for interested individuals who would
be willing to help develop Activism101.org.
To open the clearinghouse we have three comments, on less discussed issues
that relate to activism:
- The ethics of activist behavior towards other activists.
- How efforts to reform institutions are doomed to failure, and how much effort
and money is wasted because people do not understand this (or choose not to).
- The physical nature of brainwashing.
For the first, ethics are already discussed in the Activism 101 guide, but
in this instance we are not referring to the ethics of particular activist
tactics, of the approaches that we can justifiably use to achieve our various
objectives. Rather, this pertains to how we treat each other; it is a simple
set of principles to follow in your relationships with other activists.
Ethics towards
other activists
The inevitable failure
of institutional reform
An introduction to brainwashing
Subsequent additions
False
Positives. This article considers an essential element of legal philosophy,
including the way in which the law is applied to activists, which is also
a subject of numerous sections in the activism guide (notably the chapter
Activism and the Law).
Convincing
the United States Government. This describes our efforts to lobby the
U.S. to actively support the fight for democracy in Burma, on the ground inside
the country. The article provides an in-depth analysis of the use of lobbying
as an activist tactic.
Guide
to Underground Work. From the African National Congress, a guide for activists
operating in extremely repressive environments. (This
post does not mean that we support all of the actions of the ANC, many of
which were terrorist. We do not. In any case, the ANC guide does not describe,
or recommend, specific actions. It is a presentation of surveillance and communication
procedures.)