Review previous
electronic activism campaigns
and home pages
Activist
Motivations
Some
motivations lead to wilt; others are essential for success.
Propelled
by a desire to change the world
All
activists want to change the world or some little corner of it.
Moreover, most activists think they can actually pull it off. This
more than anything else distinguishes activists from bystanders.
The view that nothing will ever change, that citizen action is hopeless,
and that opposition is too powerful discourages people from becoming
active. For this reason most books that try to encourage people
to become active devote a lot of space to stories that show ordinary
people with limited resources can in fact change the world.
Propelled
by anger
Anger, especially 'hot anger', presents many problems as a prime
motivator. First, people are mistrustful of those who are always
angry. Second, no one wants to be around people who are always angry.
Third, anger works against group process, making it hard to have
fun, plan strategically and think creatively. Finally, when hot
anger subsides people tend to retreat back into private life. Still,
many activists would agree that anger provides the energy that motivates
them. In searching out community leaders, the Industrial Areas Foundation
specifically looks for people with "cold anger" - controlled
anger at the injustice they have suffered.
Propelled
by heroism
The press often represents public interest activists as saints and
heroes. This characterization does nothing to promote the involvement
of ordinary citizens because it makes activism seem like the peculiar
pursuit of abnormally dedicated people. The hero drives other people
away, sometimes out of a desire to control everything, sometimes
out of a need to take credit for every success. Whatever the dynamic,
the hero usually winds up doing more work as more people drop out,
eventually quitting from sheer exhaustion.
Propelled
by empathy
Empathy is a good motivator. Research shows that modest helping
contributes to the health of the helper. Paradoxically, looking
out for others seems to be the best way to look out for number one.
People also enjoy working with those they see as compassionate.
People who are empathetic contribute to group process: they listen
and they try to see issues from the other person's point of view.
The main problem with empathy by itself is that it is insufficient
for situations where confrontation offers the only way forward.
Empathetic people can often be bought off with an empty promise,
a worthless appointment, or an invitation to a stakeholders meeting.
Propelled
by self-interest
Self-interest needs to be present in some form because people are
only occasionally altruists. Whether the particular self-interest
of an activist is helpful depends on the details. Grassroots efforts
flourish when people participate because of social or psychological
benefits that come from meeting new people, learning new skills,
developing self-confidence, and wielding power through collective
action. Grassroots efforts also flourish when they focus on the
interests of a large group of people. They wither when they focus
on the narrow self-interest of an individual or a small group of
people. The narrow self-interest of an individual can, however,
blossom into something that benefits others. People may become activists
accidentally by trying unsuccessfully to resolve a problem that
affects themselves or their family. A mother concerned that her
son is learning too little in school, for instance, may end up creating
a pressure group of concerned parents to advocate for changes to
educational practices for a whole city, state, or province.
Propelled
by a way of being
Civil society would be in much better shape if large numbers of
people viewed public involvement as a normal part of everyday life.
Some people do hold this view; often they are people whose parents
or friends are involved in regular volunteer work. But their numbers
are small. Most people have adopted the view promoted by governments,
corporations, and the corporate mass media that regular public involvement
is anything but normal. It's the domain of "special interest
groups," whiners, radicals, and troublemakers. As mentioned
earlier, people usually become involved because they have been asked
by friends or family. In such cases, the motives for becoming involved
may be entirely a matter of interpersonal relationships and have
nothing to do with an activist agenda. However, as a result of taking
part, new recruits may adopt increasingly more activist views. Thus,
motives that encourage activism may follow from involvement as much
as lead to it.
Propelled
by a sense of personal responsibility
Another healthy motivation comes from the attitude that one must
do something, given what is going on. A sense of personal responsibility
is the only motivation that can sustain activism in the bleakest
times, when little is being accomplished. Amongst activists working
for nuclear disarmament, for example, pessimism is often high, but
they continue on nevertheless because they feel a moral obligation
to do so and because they wish to convince others that they too
are morally bound to do so.
In Watchdogs
and Gadflies: Activism from marginal to mainstream, Tim Falconer
quotes Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control in Canada on
her sense of personal responsibility:
The only
thing that makes me different from a lot of other people - aside
from a large ego and thinking I can do things, and it not occurring
to me that I can't - is a sense of personal responsibility. I
grew up with a sense that if you don't stand up for what you believe
in, in a very active way, you're a collaborator. I realize when
I talk to other people that they think exactly what I think; they
read the newspaper and they cry, they're horrified by things that
go on, but somehow there's a disconnect between them and all that
stuff.
For many potential
activists the "disconnect" comes from being overwhelmed
- from sensing that so much needs to be done. Those who become involved
anyway do so knowing that they cannot do everything, but they can
do something meaningful.
Source: The
Troublemaker's Teaparty: A Manual for Effective Citizen Action
by Charles Dobson
TOP
|
