Recently, I was visiting family and friends in Northern California, a state experiencing its worst drought in over 500 years. Without doubt, many of the residents I spoke with understand the gravity of the situation. They know the local, state and federal governments are inept and unable to properly navigate the crisis. They understand that corporations are stealing their water. But they don’t know what to do.While people may see activists on the nightly news, disrupting corporate meetings or marching in the streets, many folks are not engaged with the subculture of activism, nor do they understand how those scenes from the nightly news fit into their daily struggles for survival. Unfortunately, in many ways, activism has become a subculture. In other words, civic or political engagement is not a central feature of modern society. The majority of people grow up completely detached from the world of politics and activism.
No one is knocking on their doors, organizing their workplaces or their schools. My friends and family go to work, or school, raise their kids, try to stay informed, vote in general elections and hope for the best. Yet, they know that’s not enough. As a result, they’re frightened, confused, depressed and most of all, cynical.During my trip, an activist friend of mine drove down to Northern California from Olympia, Washington. Graham is a full-time political organizer and graduate student. He’s also a combat veteran (Army Ranger – Afghanistan). He, unlike most people, is overly optimistic and perpetually engaged. Lately, he’s been organizing against Shell and its plan to drill for oil in the Arctic. Consequently, he was one of the “kayaktivists” who recently helped block an oil rig from undocking.
We rapped for hours about what’s happening around the world: climate change, Greece, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, anti-racist movements in the U.S., tactics, strategy and so on. During our less private conversations, my friends and family would chime in, as Graham is great at engaging everyone in the room in whatever discussion is taking place at the time. In short, he asks a lot of questions, which, I’ve come to find is an indispensable trait of great organizers.
I challenged his optimism; he challenged my cynicism; my family and friends challenged us both; and we challenged them. In the end, it’s clear that people, on some level, are still hoping to live the so-called American Dream: house, job, a couple of cars, vacations, retirement, and so forth. Yet, at the same time, they understand that that particular trajectory is virtually unobtainable in today’s geopolitical-economic-ecological-cultural landscape, and inherently unsustainable.To be fair, for some people, yes, it’s business as usual. But how long can that last? For example, without question, there’s a vast disconnect between what climate scientists are telling us on the one hand and, on the other hand, how people are reacting to changes in the climate. According to the science, the planet is running out of time. Ecologically speaking, things are constantly getting worse as the years progress.
In this context, my friends with kids are more inclined to be involved than my friends without kids. For instance, last November, I took my friend Dave (who lives in Redding, California with his wife and two children) to an environmental conference in San Francisco where I was scheduled to give a talk about militarism and climate change. For two full days, he sat through presentations about human trafficking, indigenous rights, environmental issues, political organizing, feminism and much more.
During the first day, he wept after hearing testimony from Canadian activists about their fight against fracking and oil companies. Later in the evening, while walking back to our hotel from the conference space, we talked about his life as a father, how important his kids are and what we can do today in order to build a better tomorrow. He said, “Vince, I’m horrified for my kids. I’m afraid that they’re going to grow up in a living hell.”I responded, “Well, here’s what I know: without people educating themselves and engaging in political activism, things are guaranteed to get worse.” In other words, as my friend Kim reminds me: I can’t lie to people and tell them that everything will be fine as long as they get politically involved, but I can tell them that things are sure to get worse if they don’t get involved.
That much is clear. And that’s a starting point for most folks. Really, people just want to know why and eventually how they should get involved. Sophisticated and nuanced conversations about vision, strategy and tactics should always be present, but average people are a long way off from contemplating such dynamics.
Over the years, I’ve routinely taken my non-activist friends and family to political events. However, if they’re just up for a conversation, then I eventually tell them what I said above: either get involved and increase the chances of decent survival, as Chomsky puts it, or stay home and guarantee that things will devolve into chaos. Fortunately, I have the ability to engage in such conversations. Without doubt, that wasn’t the case ten years ago. In 2005, most people I knew were finishing college and seeking employment. By 2008, they were forced to deal with the economic realities of global capitalism. Before the financial crisis, it was hard to convince people just how bad things were. Today, it’s hard to convince people that the world isn’t going to end tomorrow.In some ways, this is a good development, as activists and organizers don’t have to spend their time trying to convince people why things are bad. People know things are bad. Now, they need a convincing plan of action in order to combat cynicism and apathy.
Vincent Emanuele is a writer, activist and radio journalist who lives and works in the Rust Belt. He’s a member of UAW Local 1981 and can be reached at [email protected].
2 Comments
Insightful article. Engage people who are not politically involved, ask questions, and point out that if they we to not get involved, things will surely get worse. In my conversations, the question of what we want comes up very, very early!
Then there the lifestyle activists, who rant about revolution, paint fists onto walls and go to demonstrations, but do not think it is important to have a vision. They always discuss how to start a revolution, but not what they want from a revolution. They get short with unpolitical folks who challenge them on the revolution idea. And they get short with political folks who ask ask for a vision. Those people are harder to work with.
“They understand that the corporations are stealing their water.”. Seriously? This is their “understanding”? Do they also “understand” that the U.S. is actually run from a secret underground Skull and Bones facility deep beneath George Bush’s ranch? Uh huh. Good luck with this bunch.