How to be an activist: you can do anything (with others)
And rest in community is radical
Hello, beautiful people.
You may remember me from such newsletters as Furloughed (I was furloughed part-time in the pandemic) and Cheerio (an adventure to see where my grandad had been held as a prisoner of war in World War II).
I thought I’d try something new. Something a little less project-based and a little more open.
Recently, I left my job at an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) based in the UK.
It was my first ‘real’ job (which I might define as, ‘a workplace with a logo on LinkedIn’). I’d been a freelance copywriter and travel blogger in one life, worked at a rail ticketing startup that never got off the ground in another, and had a few months of poor mental health before landing in the charity sector, which I thought for a long time was my spiritual home. The purpose was high, the work-life balance was poor. I was glued to Teams all the time. I lobbied internally. I reached out to people to tell them I was with them. Sometimes I fucked up.
It was, in many ways, as I thought it would be. Although there were more white people than expected. In fact, the staff were mostly white women in their 30s like me. (I felt a little embarrassed about this when I arrived).
There’s a lot of class advantage in the charity sector and A LOT of thinking. I’m an overthinker, but this was next level. And I ended up burning out.
I couldn’t free Palestine alone. I couldn’t achieve disability justice and class justice and racial justice and queer liberation alone. And I felt alone much of the time.
It wasn’t that my colleagues didn’t want those things. We all do. It just felt like there was a proper way to achieve justice and I didn’t speak the language. I felt myself shrinking. Whereas when I was marching in London I felt in community. I could shout, ‘in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians!’ with thousands of other people.
I started to lose faith when I saw all these ‘morally pure’ people in society who had waxed lyrical about decolonisation be totally silent in the face of genocide in Gaza. What a load of snake oil they had been selling.
How to become a better activist
I realised I’d been talking AT my partner about everything that was happening, not with him. I hadn’t radicalised him. I had failed.
I might have been at almost every national pro-Palestine protest over 15 months but I hadn’t signed anyone else up.
I’m now working in a different kind of institution where my colleagues are not 24/7 social justice overthinking.
And most people aren’t.
I think to connect with others and be in community with others we need to meet people where they are.
Some key things toward this are starting small and sharing a few accessible places with information about why none of us are free until all of us are free and what steps we can take so that everyone has the same opportunity to live their best lives with dignity.
Activism against the algorithms: disrupt
What social media do the people in your life spend their time on? My partner’s main social media channel is Reddit. He likes photography, music, and cars so his timeline might show him content just related to these interests (subreddits like r/photography r/disco, r/honda etc.). To disrupt this just a little, I sent him r/Palestine.
Share minimal-effort actions people can take
Signing petitions is probably the most low-effort activity you can do. For Palestine, there are a few petitions you can sign to ask the UK government to stop arming Israel. Google ‘stop arming israel petition’ and you will find:
A UK Parliament petition that ‘closed early because of a general election’ 👀
Amnesty International UK: Demand the UK suspend all arms transfers to Israel now
Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Stop arming Israel — end the sale of F-35 combat aircraft parts
There are so many things we can petition on — from Sudan and Congo to trans rights and saving the NHS. All of them about rebalancing power in this world so that it isn’t concentrated in the hands of a few billionaires at the expense of us all.
Speak about boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
BDS campaigns are actions you can take where you live to take your money away from entities invested in the genocide of Palestinians.
It’s easy to take action as an individual. There’s an app called Boycat that has partnered with BDS that you can download on your phone to search food items to avoid. (A couple of months back in M&S, I saw stacks of grapefruits from Israel).
Having a new job means investigating where my money is going. Does the pension scheme have millions invested in weapons manufacturers who supply to Israel? And in companies who keep illegal settlements going? Find out. Does the workplace use HP computers? HP provide equipment and technology for Israel’s police and army. Think about ways you and your colleagues can demand better from your workplace.
Share inspiring activist social media accounts
There are so many of these! I’m not on TikTok yet but a few of my favourite accounts on Instagram are on TikTok too. On disability justice, Imani Barbarin is hilarious and brilliant. Jupiterbaal is wonderful on everything. On prison abolition, you’ll find Mariame Kaba, author of We Do This ‘Til We Free Us. On Palestine, pure-hearted Omar on Twitter. And with strength and oodles of humanity, Francesca Albanese. On Substack, Marwa is sharing conversations with people in Gaza.
Share accessible activism ideas
Okay, so it’s not 100% accessible because it’s a bit academic in style, but Emma Dabiri’s What White People Can Do Next is a slim book. Let it radicalise you.
I’m pretty bad at getting through books but have a bit more success with audiobooks and recommend the platform libro.fm.
Podcasts for me are similar to TV, I use them to escape but a lot of the ones I listen to cover social justice subjects from time to time. I loved listening to Vivien Sansour talking about seeds in Palestine (before Macklemore released Hind’s Hall 2!).
There are also a couple of podcast episodes from The Moth about actions people took to protest against apartheid in South Africa that might serve as inspiration:
Articles are good. They’re short and you can read them on your phone. I’ve largely avoided (establishment mouthpieces) The Guardian and BBC, whose use of passive voice and rejection of Palestinian narratives in the midst of a genocide are unforgiveable. We do, however, have the gift of Nesrine Malik. Read her. (For news, see Al Jazeera).
Join actions with others: together we rise
They say a change is as good as a rest. Perhaps I will let my new work consume me. Perhaps my feelings of inadequacy and my ADHD will have me doing overtime to compensate for lack of focus. But maybe… just maybe I will have time to write again.
And find people to take action with locally. In this miraculous thing called ‘free time’.
I’ve called this substack Active Humanity, because our humanity is what connects us and what will free us. Theory won’t save us.
❤️✊🏽