(Re)-Defining Activism

Most of the following messages were sent to WMST-L in May 2003 in
response to a query about literature that defines "activism" in
new ways.  At the end of the file is one message that is somewhat
related but was not sent in response to this query.  For
additional WMST-L files now available on the Web, see the 
WMST-L File Collection.

Hello, Could anyone help me locate the literature that defines "activism" in
(new) ways? I am particularly interested in the widening of the term to mean
more subtle forms of social change and political agency beyond traditional
street activism.

Thanks, Denise Bauer bauerd  AT  newpaltz.edu

Denise Bauer, Ph.D.
Coordinator of Women's Studies
SUNY New Paltz

I think Patricia Hill Collins does this in _Black
Feminist Thought._
Jessica Nathanson

For at least 10 years (& probably longer) Gloria Anzald·a has been
developing a theory of "spiritual activism" which I would describe as a
visionary, experientially-based epistemology and ethics, a way of life and
a call to action that includes concrete strategies for social change.  See
her *Interviews/Entrevistas* & also her essay in our recent anthology,
*this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation* (Routledge
2002).  A number of the essays in this anthology illustrate types of
spiritual activism.

AnaLouise

**********************
AnaLouise Keating, Ph.D.
Women's Studies
Texas Woman's University
P.O. Box 425557
Denton, TX  76204-5557
Phone (W) 940/898-2129; (H) 940/323-8695
Fax: 940/898-2101
Email: akeating  AT  twu.edu or zami  AT  mindspring.com

You might find Chela Sandoval's _Methodology of the Oppressed_ helpful as
well, particularly the chapter on U.S. Third World Feminism.

-Sharon

Mary Fainsod Katzenstein's, Faithful and Fearless: Feminists in the Church
and Military is very helpful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heather Laube, M.A.
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Sociology
University at Albany
hlaube  AT  nycap.rr.com

You might also want to take a look at Hardy-Fanta's
Latina Politics/Latino Politics.  She addresses men's
and women's different approaches to and definitions of
political participation within the Latino community.
It seems equally as applicable to definitions of
activism.

See the description at:
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/938_reg_print.html

-Denise Copelton

-----------------------------------------
Denise A. Copelton
Doctoral candidate in Sociology
Binghamton University

dcopelton  AT  yahoo.com

Hi. Denise reminded me of _Women Transforming Politics_ edited by
Cathy Cohen, Kathy Jones and Joan Tronto (1997 NYU Press). There is a
chapter written by Hardy-Fanta and countless other examples of
activism in communities of color, working class communities or in the
GLBT community.

Janni Aragon
UCR Political Science
jaragon  AT  cox.net

Open to Dr. Bauer,
    This will sound like criticism, and if it were, I would make this a
private note, but it is really an honest inquiry as to the origin of
ideas being taught in our univeristies.

  1.  From where did you get such a cramped conception of social
activism?
  2.  Why do you need some "literature" to expand what you thought was
social activism?

  If you need literature, consider "Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky,
originally publshed in 1971.  Despite its title, it is really a guide
for organizing individuals of with little power or money into a
politically effective force.  During the 1980's, all us more serious
young activists read it.

  Socially-effective Activism, if it needs a defintion is:

  1. Anything done to either encourage others to help cause some social
change or;
  2. Communicate opinions on a current issue to those with power
(government officials, corporate managers, military officers, police
officials, newspaper editors and publishers, television and radio
station owners, physicians, professors, etc.).

  Examples:

1.  In the 1942 film, "Casablanca," Laslow asks the band a nightclub to
play "The Marseillaise"--the national anthem of France (and also a
blood-curdling threat to tyrants), to drown out Germans trying to sing
the German war anthem "Wacht Om Rhein."

2.  After the Polish Communists crushed the Solidarity trade union and
placed the nation under martial law, word was passed around for everyone
to display their support for Solidarity by flushing their toilet at 9
p.m. on a particular night.  How can you arrest someone for flushing
their toilet?--but the government could gauge from the drop in water
pressure in Polish cities the intensity of opposition.  The examples of
how people without any freedom, particularly in countries ruled by
Communist, Nazi or military governments, are inspiring and many-fold.

3.  During the bitter anthracite coal strike around Hazleton, Penn. in
1902, even though the state militia were blocking all the roads, Mother
Jones led an army of women armed with mops, brooms and dishpans from
village to village to persuade women to urge their husbands to support
the strike.  "Mother" used a combination of persuasion and the men's
paternalistic reluctance to not hurt women.  This is from the
Autobiography of Mother Jones:
http://coaldalehighalumni.homestead.com/files/Mother_Jones11.htm. 
  Incidentally, the Anthracite strike was the first in which the U.S.
government took a neutral, perhaps pro-union position, thanks to
Theodore Roosevelt and his "Square Deal All Around" policy, plus strong
nationwide support for the miners, even though anthracite was as
necessary for home heating as natural gas is today.
 http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h927.html

4.  The U.S. Supreme Court cases are full of examples by individuals
making statements to the general public, especially during the Vietnam
War.  In one case, a man expresed his feeling that the U.S. was "in
distress" by hanging  the flag upside-down in his window (and arrested
for "improper use" of the Flag).  Spence v. Wash., 418 U.S. 405 (1974). 
Another man wore a jacket with the words:  "F*CK THE DRAFT" on the back.
 In both cases, these were ruled examples of free speech.  Cohen v.
Calif., 403 U.S 15 (1971).

 5.  Any method of making a street protest into something other than
carrying signs, marching and chanting.  Examples:

a.  I once built a sort of shed from cardboard, and displayed it a peace
protest as a much cheaper version of the normal kind of bomb shelter,
and just as effective.  Then, rather than have a traditional "die-in"
during the monthly civil defense siren test, we all leaped into the
shelter--it fell apart, of course--which made it even funnier.

b.  To defuse anger when the U.S. Air Force brought a jet plane onto
campus, we created thousands of pieces of paper with military-sounding
instructions on how to fold the sheet into a paper airplane and "deploy"
the unit.  We then announced that thousands of students would "attack"
the jet with these airplanes.  The Air Force pulled the plane from
campus in the dark of the night--so after we declared our "victory"--we
made a pretend T-38 jet for a target, and hundreds of students who would
never go to a demonstration rushed to join our paper airplane festival. 


c.  To keep motorized vehicles from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
(BWCA), a protest at the Minnesota state capitol was planned.  I
suggested a symbolic "portage" of canoes up a street to the
Capitol--BIGGEST PHOTO-OP I ever saw--HUGE TV coverage considering there
were only a few thousand protesters.  It was a snap to get people to
bring their canoes to the protest--and after those colorful canoes were
lined up side by side on the capitol steps, every politician wanted to
make a speech in front of that backdrop!  The crazy thing is, my
inspiration was a Monty Python comedy sketch about "sidewalk
climbers"--men using mountain climbing gear to pull themselves across a
sidewalk.

    My training in using symbolic actions for protest came from Pete
Wagner, Minneapolis cartoonist and off-campus agitator who started
college the year after the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam (1973), and always
felt cheated out of being able to be part of a large protest movement. 
Our true inspiration, especially after he surfaced after going
"underground," was Abbie Hoffman.  I still remember from Pete's
interview of Abbie:  Abbie said, "People think the opposite of funny is
serious--the opposite of funny is not funny."   I don't think Hoffman
ever left a book form of his ideas--Wagner self-published "Buy This
Book" (inspired by Hoffman's "Steal This Book")--you could try to locate
him..
    One of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" was that it you made
protest fun, it was easy to motivate people.  These examples show he was
right.

7.  Choose an unusual target.  In 1997, Minnesota NOW held an
"informational picket" against Merrill-Lynch's treatment of women--but
not at their downtown Minneapolis office--their suburban Wayzata
office--15 miles from downtown.  When we issued our press release,
Merrill-Lynch panicked--they closed the office early, had all their
employees leave by the back door, and called the city cops to keep order
(there were 7 of us).  Our protest not only earned us front page
coverage and photo in the local weekly, but two women who worked for
other investment companies joined us, and one we connected to an
attorney, which resulted in a settlement and changes at that firm. 

  Last example, and it turns out to have a beautiful ending.  A few
years back, a Minnesota HMO put up a billboard in south Minneapolis with
a nude female carrying the slogan:  "With care, your body could last a
lifetime." Some person or persons unknown altered it to read:

     WITHOUT ABUSE, YOUR BODY COULD LAST A LIFETIME!

   The beautiful thing is that the company paused before changing the
message back, and decided that the message was too beautiful and
powerful--they intentionally left the billboard up the way it was, even
with their logo in the corner--literally endorsing a message from the
street.

    I do not know what plans you have for using the information you are
seeking, but there are many ideas here for study and discussion.

 Peace and Sisterhood,
 Hannah Miyamoto
 hsmiyamoto  AT  msn.com

Hannah,  Thanks so much for the interesting, inspiring and yes, humorous
examples of activism...I loved them.  I am a 60's child who did some
marching, protesting, women's libbing type things in the 60 and 70's and
have missed that somewhat idealistic (to me) time.  However, I realize
that I am now a  sort of "quiet" activist, one who writes letters, sends
e-mails, takes care in what I buy or don't buy, speaks out when possible
and thinks a lot about what more I can and should do.  Thanks to your
post, I think I will buy that book and do more!!
Susan


 "For if the mind can imagine it, the mind can make it so...Susan"

 Dr. Susan Clark-Cook
 Clinical Psychologist
 Counseling and Student Development

Feminist Activism and Research

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