(Author’s Note: I wrote this in April but hesitated to post it because of the personal nature of this post. I welcome feedback and criticism, but I ask that it focus on the emotions experienced rather than the qualities of my character.)
I have at many times been a selfish activist. By this I mean being selfish primarily in thought, though occasionally in action.
There are many, many worthwhile causes in the world to devote one’s life to. In part, this is a result of the fact that the world we have built around us has produced countless sources of injustice, cruelty and pain. In part, this is a result of the fact that there are so many things in this world worth supporting: people, communities, life. Whatever the reason for acting, there are thousands, millions of people in the world working to make it a better place.
When I began to organize around climate issues about five years ago, I noticed something about myself: I began to subconsciously belittle the work that other people were doing that was unrelated to energy and global warming. Sure, I recognized that their work was good, but I fell into the trap of thinking that their work wasn’t nearly as necessary as mine. In addressing the causes and effects of global warming, I was, from my point of view, tackling the greatest problem facing humanity.
To be specific, a good friend of mine was involved with the Center for Community Service, working to schedule visits to the retirement home a block from campus. She was struggling to find enough people who could take the time out of their day to do something worthy in the community. At the same time, I was struggling to convince my campus administration that global warming was something they should address on an institutional level. Through my training as an organizer, I believed that I was working towards lasting change, whereas the work she was doing would never be complete; she could never declare victory. As such, I felt that visiting the elderly was not as worthy of my time as my organizing.
In the years since then, I often felt a surge of self-righteousness and pride in the belief that I was working on the most worthy cause ever. I passed up anti-war protests, candle-light vigils, critical mass bike rides, “national coming out” days, writing or calling my elected officials for their support in civil and social rights issues. I supported all these efforts, in theory, but their focus wasn’t my issue. The dominant reason that I didn’t get involved was that in my subconscious I cynically thought that these actions wouldn’t be effective in making lasting change.
Does the possibility that an action doesn’t have the gratification of making a systemic impact make it any less worthy? I find my answer is no.
As the movement to address both the root causes and the symptoms of global warming has evolved, it has become apparent that it is no longer simply about decreasing the emissions of greenhouse gases humanity spews in the atmosphere. Our movement is about taking this incredibly daunting challenge and using it as an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we view and interact with the world (including “the environment” and each other, though I would argue that we need to rediscover that they are one in the same). This challenge has shaken us out of our complacency and will allow us to reshape our (local, human and living) communities. We are working towards a vision that eliminates injustice and inequality and replaces them with interdependence and collective support. What I realized is that my friend was building relationships which are exactly the element that is crucial to the success of this movement.
When I “chose my issue” five years ago, I thought I was narrowing down the focus of my activism. I have since realized that I couldn’t have been more wrong. Working on climate issues means that I am working to build a world where we recognize the value in our neighbors, human or not. I am working in concert with anti-war activists, gay-, women’s-, handicapped-, children’s- rights activists. I am working towards the same goals as those who volunteer at retirement homes, homeless and animal shelters and youth after-school programs.
Their work is no less essential than mine. They have their focus and I have mine, but each is as vital as the next. The task is not to choose which cause is most worthy, but to engage people everywhere in whichever cause calls out to them most. We are working towards a vision of a better society and there are more tasks to be done than this movement can do.
I can no longer belittle (if only in my subconscious) the everyday efforts of ordinary people to help their fellow person. To quote Howard Zinn,
“…if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
And while we can and should still work towards this grand vision of the future, it will be brought into being through the everyday acts of kindness, courageousness and compassion in complement with the direct intent and strategies of activism.
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Juliana. I think you are incredibly right. And you are incredibly courageous. I have felt the same things you write about many times. My sister works with teenage kids from broken homes. She is a psychiatrist and was before that a social worker. Many of my friends where I live in San Francisco are working to better the lives of the poor, homeless, and disadvantaged in this city. I have always respected and admired their work, but at the same time have had feelings that somehow I was working in a deeper way to better their lives by organizing people for clean and just energy solutions. It’s not really true though, is it. You cannot create justice, peace, and value in the world without connecting with people on a personal level. I think that working on systemic change can and is very important, which is why I make it my life’s work. However, I also have a yearning often to be tangibly connected to people who are suffering and to taste the pain, hopes, and possibility of people who need it the most. The truth is, I am the one that needs it. We all are. looking inward, reaching out to my neighbors, AND working to change policies and systemic practices is all the stuff of justice, peace, and value. It sometimes is hard to see that.
Thank you for sharing what you have felt. All I can say is that, I respect you greatly for it, and I hope that we all can learn from this kind of reflection.
Juliana,
A lot of us have gone through this process of rejection of “other” causes, righteousness, reflection and finally realization that the answer is solidarity.
I’ve gone through it doing peace work in the past and now global warming/energy work now. When you’re fighting the mass murder of Central Americans or Iraqis or the destruction of life on Earth, it certainly is easy to think things like health care and gay marriage are trivial.
The strength in our movement will only grow if we hold our fellow conscious activists in the light and respect their work - as you have learned to do.
Thanks for writing this post. I hope everyone who is still in that righteous place looking down on other causes will take some time to reflect upon reading about your experience.
Alex
Back in the 1980s, when I was very active with a leading anti-nuclear group, Physicians for Social Responsibility, my primary interest was political - how to get national laws and policies changed. I was scornful of an effort by many women at that time that involved sewing personalized fabric panels into a ribbon to tie around the Pentagon, in protest of the nuclear arms race. An activist colleague of mine helped me see things differently. She described how each of those women designing and sewing a panel had to shop for the supplies, think of a design, perhaps talk with friends and family about it, lay out and cut the fabric–perhaps on her kitchen or living room table, etc., etc. In the process, the woman would have talked with a number of other people about what she was doing, why she cared about the nuclear arms race, and what she valued in this world that was so important to her that she wanted to protect it in any way she knew how. So in her own way, she was influencing others to think themselves about what they cared about and how they would like the world to be. It was a humbling conversation, one that I clearly have remembered to this day.
It’s not that one way is better than another, but it is important, as you said, that each of us do something. We’re good at different things, attracted to different forms of activism or different aspects of how to make this a better world. But we indeed are all in it together.
I dig this line of conversation, and have thought about it some too. Here’s a frame I’ve used that might enrich this thread:
In his autobiography, Myles Horton talks about the dynamic of “organizational periods” versus “movement periods”. He says that groups spend the vast majority of their time in organizational periods, where they build membership, identify needs, work on projects…really the process of strategically situating a group to build and plug into a social movement. Much less time is spent in movement periods, where there are clear and popular social changes taking place. Movement periods are when the big changes come, and they’re very exciting, but they’re a small piece of the timeline.
I think that an important variable to consider in evaluating different activism and organizing is whether it builds people power - whether it establishes those networks and organizations that will bring about and respond to social change. Direct service work often meets this criteria, whereas in my opinion the kind of “organizing” many non-profits do today is counter-productive to this end.
Also, I do think that it is strategic to focus on climate change. Climate is the only issue on the table we only get one shot at, and from my perspective this urgency builds organizations and movements more quickly and effectively than any other issue today.
This is one the most informed and important discussions I’ve seen on this blog in a while.
I agree with everything that’s been said, and I want to add my own extra point. What sets ‘movement periods’ apart is how people view their work. My guess is that most people involved in very local service, or activism around a very narrow issue (if there is such a thing, but I’m talking about how the doer perceives it) don’t often have the chance to link their actions to a narrative of sweeping, deep social change. Volunteering at hospice is something you do because your community needs it. A ‘movement period’ unites all/most forces for change with a common narrative, a story easily told by many different people that links their work to a larger and more exciting goal.
Personally, I think that we can and should push for this ‘movement period’ by telling our story in such a way that honestly thanks and includes the broader community of social change and encourages them to tell their own story in the same way.
I spoke with a group of rising 9th graders last week who have been identified as tough kids and need extra help to make it through high school. These are kids who come from rough homes and have a lot of issues the world’s thrown at them. The organizers of the program were seeking to light a passionate spark in these kids eyes somehow, show them that they are part of a community instead of isolated individuals, who have an important role to play in their own lives. I was speaking to them as a role model, and wore my campus climate challenge shirt. Someone asked about the logo, and I was able to ask them to interpret it for themselves. With a little help, they got it right away - youth rising to the challenge and building the clean energy future the world needs (my wording, but they were close). No, their not all going to become climate activists any time soon, but if approached the right way, our narrative works.
Whew! What a thoughtful post. Thanks so much, Juliana.
To be honest, this was something that initially really turned me off to climate activism. As you did, I noticed a funny change in myself. I remember, when I was first getting into this stuff, thinking “God, if only everyone was a climate activist.” Basically, if only everyone was like me. Hilariously ignorant and kind of awful. I remember being embarrassed that my passion in high school manifested itself somewhat randomly through nursing home visitation (I seem to love old people.)
As I became more involved, I realized how harmful this kind of mindset can be both for myself and for the movement. When you think that you are the most important kind of change-maker, it a) is not that fun to be around and b) inherently makes the movement less warm and inclusive, giving it a kind of arrogance and self-importance.
But I think that this post, as does Kai’s “Breadth of Activism” post, really illustrates what happens as we all seek to find our own niche in the world. Everyone can’t be climate activists, but everyone can do their part in creating a more sustainable, just and connected community and global society.
It is still important to be strategic and focused. However, to create a stronger, more diverse and inclusive movement, it’s essential to recognize and connect with the good work people are doing all over the world. I think we are getting there— let’s keep it up!
Juliana, what you are writing is incredibly important and strikes at the heart of why the world is the way it is, and what needs to happen to create a fundamentally different one. This tendency to relentlessly feel superior, no matter what form this superiority might take, has been a deeply human predicament. It’s the bedrock on which I and most of humanity stand all the time, a level of consciousness that is based on seeing myself outside and apart from the rest of life. It is really exciting that it’s being adressed here. Activism can’t just change what’s ‘out there’ with me remaining the same competitive and arrogant person. Nelson Mandela is so inspiring because he transformed himself as a human being. That’s what gave him the power to do what he could do. It’s harder work, a lot harder. There are organizations that tackles this issue explicitly - http://www.enlightennext.org for example, and Ken Wilber and Barbara Marx Hubbard. Thanks again for your courage to open this up!
I think whenever one is working very hard on something, it’s important to the psyche that it seems important.
I have always loved this quote, “Change is a pot with many handles. You have to pick it up by the one that means the most to you. And sometimes, the handle you need to pick up is changing yourself so that you’re healthy enough to make change.”
I think for a long time, working on feminist issues was an act of survival for me, I had to do that to survive, to make it through past issues, and to change myself, so that I could become a productive person and realize that I had value as a human being despite what I had been taught.
So now, I consider it such a luxury that I get to “choose” the issue that I work on. Working on coal issues, the majority of people I know don’t have the luxury of “choosing an issue.” Their issue comes barreling into their community, poisoning their kids, disabling their spouse, shaking their house, and gives them the option to fight or give in. And of course, on any given day many people do both.
I try to recognize my privilege when I enter such communities. Privilege is a word that comes up a lot when doing solidarity work. Working against oppression as a person who is oppressed is different from working against a form of oppression as a person who sees it and thinks it is wrong.
In some ways of course, Climate Change is going to oppress everybody, but it’s no secret that many communities will be, and have been, impacted worse, and those are often the communities that are most oppressed by current systems. It’s interesting to think about how we fit into those systems of oppression and privilege, and how we can begin to take them apart, and how climate change and no new coal and anti war are a part of that.
And it’s great to have the luxury to take time and think about it, and then pick up the handle that speaks to us the most.
Juliana,
I am glad you wrote this. I am one of the activists on the other side. While I know that global warming is the issue of our generation, I do what I can to help but issues such as public health “call to me” more strongly. Of course now I realize how connected they are, but sometimes it is difficult to get that across to my peers. When you’re mobilizing thousands (millions?) of youth around one issue it’s important to see a single goal as well as how multidimensional it really is. In the end, we’re all fighting the same fight.
I read Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken a few months ago, and although he makes a compelling case for the connections between environmental, social justice and indigenous organizing, I found that I had strong reservations about his claim that the largest social movement in history is focused on those issues. He refers to the incredible number of organizations doing related work and all the people involved in those organizations. While there are millions of people around the world doing work that is related to climate, sustainability, social justice and indigenous issues, they don’t all identify with the movement. Yes, we need people to do this work, but I wouldn’t want to “claim” them as part of the movement if that is not how they feel. Morgan’s point that all this work needs to be connected by a common narrative is an important one and we also need to build connections with people doing related work who do not identify with the movement. We cannot assume that people are a part just because they are doing good work.
As Mattie points out, we need to build relationships and connections with folks doing service work; what better way to engage with these people than to join them in service work? This not only builds personal connections and makes a tangible difference in people’s lives, but it keeps us from becoming philosophically isolated. I think this is part of cultivating a sense of balance which can often be lacking in the life of an organizer.
Hello Juliana, I am not sure how to contact you other than through these comments - I was very struck by this post and wanted to ask if you might be interested in contributing to another blog-site as well. Could you drop me an e-mail and we can discuss it? : ulinagel@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!Thank you!