The Activism You Do

It doesn’t happen often, but on the offshoot that someone has referred to me as an activist, I’ve resented the term. It’s usually something that people call me when I talk about going to a protest or wearing a mask. Things I consider to be the bare minimum. So by designating that behavior to “an activist”, it implies that doing the bare minimum is not normal. It doesn’t just show you where the bar is, it lowers it. You should not be considered an activist when you actively care.

Laltely, however, I have found myself inspired by small acts of care that are seemingly individual, but in actuality are not.

Revolutionary acts are many times small and unrecognized but none the less essential. To counter the hierarchy of power our society is founded on, we must build webs of care and co-creating. While violence has its role in the hand of front-line soldiers, systems don’t only change through confrontation; they are also softened, reshaped, and starved through daily resistance. Taking the time and energy to build trust, to nurture community, these are all slow forms of revolution.

Coming from the Hustle Cult brainwashing, you might say that isn’t enough. I would argue it’s particularly important precisely because of how prevalent burnout currently is in our culture. But even during a pandemic, people are always striving to help. Sometimes, civilians just trying to do their job in a fascist empire are faced with decisions that they should never have to make in their line of work. Currently, in the United States, I can think of the teachers who protect undocumented children from ICE, or doctors who write false diagnoses for abortion access. Many of these people would not deem themselves as activists, they would simply say they were “doing the right thing”. Everyone has a role: Not everyone can march, but many can cook, listen, hold, organize, translate, sustain, entertain, and a full many other things. We need the visible and the invisible forms of disrupting an oppressive status quo.

Whether we want to actively participate or not — we do. It is thus imperative to be consistent in our acts of radical humanity. Activism also looks like grocery runs, showing up again tomorrow, or learning to deal with conflict. Actions that essentially come from love, empathy, courage, and commitment rather than fear or shame. Actions that come from also treating ourselves with compassion and commitment. It is having the imagination to hope and the heart to commit. I’m reminded of the phrase that Puerto Rican revolutionary Pedro Albizu Campos said, “when tyranny is law, revolution is order”. So in that way, In our desire and every day actions to repair the natural order of life, I do believe we are many to have a little bit of an activist in us, afterall.

Coming from the Hustle Cult brainwashing, you might say that isn’t enough. I would argue it’s particularly important precisely because of how prevalent burnout currently is in our culture. But even during a pandemic, people are always striving to help. Sometimes, civilians just trying to do their job in a fascist empire are faced with decisions that they should never have to make in their line of work. Currently, in the United States, I can think of the teachers who protect undocumented children from ICE, or doctors who write false diagnoses for abortion access. Many of these people would not deem themselves as activists, they would simply say they were “doing the right thing”. Everyone has a role: Not everyone can march, but many can cook, listen, hold, organize, translate, sustain, entertain, and a full many other things. We need the visible and the invisible forms of disrupting an oppressive status quo.

Whether we want to actively participate or not — we do. It is thus imperative to be consistent in our acts of radical humanity. Activism also looks like grocery runs, showing up again tomorrow, or learning to deal with conflict. Actions that essentially come from love, empathy, courage, and commitment rather than fear or shame. Actions that come from also treating ourselves with compassion and commitment. It is having the imagination to hope and the heart to commit. I’m reminded of the phrase that Puerto Rican revolutionary Pedro Albizu Campos said, “when tyranny is law, revolution is order”. So in that way, In our desire and every day actions to repair the natural order of life, I do believe we are many to have a little bit of an activist in us, afterall.