Last winter I started to get fed up with activism. I wrote about it in a blog post - Rant: On Building Community and Community Will Reject You. I have been an activist since I was 12 years old attending city commission meetings and gathering signatures with my Mother to fight against the yuppification of our suburban city - Royal Oak, Michigan. Years later the suburban city of Royal Oak is completely yuppified. My neighbors and I organized and fought tooth and nail against the yuppies and developers from taking away antique stores, a comic store, a hardware store, a vacuum cleaner store, a corner drug store, eclectic vintage clothing stores and coffee shops. The stingy and smokey apartment buildings that I delivered newspapers to near downtown are now all yuppified up! My hometown still has perks and when I visit I feel at home. During the morning and day hours I see the locals frequenting coffee shops, restaurants, the health food store and the public library. I am thankful that I was raised in an eclectic and unique town but now it is overrun by corporate businesses more so than local businesses. At night time in my home town there are a lot of wealthy people who aren't from Royal Oak frequenting the bars and restaraunts. I never thought those people were cool and I still don't think your cool. We used to make snow angels in the snow on the city sidewalks before the yuppies and the people with cash came looking for a place to party. My suburban downtown which molded my activism was the foundation for my activism in the future.
I helped to get recycling started in my high school, a lawyers office on my street and a coffee shop I worked at in my teens. I have volunteered in many nonprofit and social service organizations that offer assistance and services to women, the poor, undeserved and underrepresented. I have also volunteered in environmental and animal rights organizations. I volunteered in the 2008 Presidential election in GOTV (get out the vote) and fighting against the abortion ban in South Dakota. Read more here - South Dakota Report Thus Far... Most recently my activism has been centered in my own community and state fighting against sulfide mining on sacred lands. I also sign petitions on websites such as Change.org and read news stories on various alternative media websites such as Common Dreams.
I feel like my activism has changed over the past few years. I have learned not to be taken advantage of and abused as a volunteer. I have found that activists are people. Although the may be committed to ideals such as peace, tolerance and compassion we may not get along. I may of had this idea in my mind that I could build community or create a movement because of my upbringing with activism and practical idealism. I recently found out my Great Grandfather was a UAW union organizer. I am the product of a union, working, blue collar Native family. Of course, I am going to feel it is my duty to organize and bring positive change into this world. After my struggles and conundrums with activism in the past few years I have to ask myself if it is my duty to organize or have I been walking on the wrong path?
So with all of this being sad I would like to ask you some questions about activism.
QUESTIONS
1) Building community is a great idea but does it pan out for everyone? What are you thoughts?
2) Is activism something you do in your youth? Does it change and mold into something else as you get older?
3) What is your definition of practical idealism?
4) Can activism be turned into a profession?
5) Any other thoughts or ideas on the topic of activism and youth?
1 voices speak:
What good questions you ask! This takes a lot of thinking, but here goes:
1) I think that building community only works for those who are (a) committed and (b) realize the limits of community. It’s a lot like marriage and family in both of those ways. Without commitment, individuals can walk away whenever they’re disappointed—and sooner or later, spouses, relatives, neighbors and members of a larger community—will disappoint us. Recognizing limits is realizing and accepting that none of us is perfect (therefore no institution or community can be perfect) and that new conflicts may arise, regardless of how many have been resolved. Caring and respect and plain stubborn refusal to walk away, plus refusal to quit the conversation—these, I would say are essential, and if they are there, community, always imperfect, from time to time frustrating and painful, can be built.
2) Some people are activists in their youth and abandon activism later in life, while others come to it only later. I’m sure it must change for most people over a lifetime, but all of this would depend on the individual and her history.
3) I am so bad at definitions! And I should have one for “practical idealism,” because it’s what I feel is my own philosophical position, though I’ve actually called it “romantic [i.e., idealistic] pragmatism.” To me it means having definite principles while maintaining enough flexibility to stay in conversation and work toward practical goals with people who may state their own principles differently. Is that vague? Sorry!
4) There are professional activists, aren’t there? When you think about it, many passions in life have become people’s ways of making their living. I think of teaching, of art, of writing, of my own modest life as a bookseller. I don’t think being paid to do something you care about and put your heart and soul into negates the value of the contribution. And by the way, thanks especially for this question. When I first read it, it seemed the least interesting, but now I see that it’s been very meaningful to me to think this through.
5) Other thoughts—hmmm. I’m thinking that it can be very important for young people to work with elders who can temper their impulses without squashing their enthusiasm and idealism. Being able to communicate in this way with young people is a mysterious and wonderful gift. We need to treasure those who have it, because young people are our future.
Thanks so much for this post and these important questions that pushed me to stretch my mind this evening!
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