All power to the people.
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In a country under siege, activism isn't a choice. It's a survival tactic. Here in America, however, most of us have enough creature comforts to keep us from revolting. As E.B. White once said:
"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
Fortunately, Alice Walker is around to help us "plan the day":
"Activism is my rent for living on this planet."
On some level, we all know there are no free lunches. If we want peace, justice, and solidarity, we have to work for it. If want clean air, clean water, and safe food, it's not going to happen without some serious, sustained rabble-rousing.
WATCH VIDEO: Protesting The Coal Industry
So, how do we decide when and how to step up for ourselves and our planet? When surrounded by war, oppression, environmental degradation, and more, how do we even know where to start? Derrick Jensen has offered as useful an answer as I've ever heard:
"One of the good things about everything being so f---ed up—about the culture being so ubiquitously destructive—is that no matter where you look—no matter what your gifts, no matter where your heart lies—there's good and desperately important work to be done."
5 Ways to Pay Your Rent on Time
1. Become a Voice for the Voiceles
As The Lorax proclaimed: "I speak for the trees." On a planet dominated by a profit-driven culture, trees, animals, children, etc. are typically assigned less importance than the numbers of the next fiscal quarter. The same could be said for many (if not most) adults dwelling in what we call the Third World. This is where activists fill the void, e.g.
As long as 80% of the world's forests are gone, animals are tortured in labs, child labor is commonplace, and the Third World is viewed as repository for cheap labor and resources, the concept of justice does not exist.
2. Make the Tough Personal Choices
Two examples: Most Americans consume animal products but a plant-based diet is best for the environment. Most Americans rely on cars but the eco-system is begging for more bicycles.
Green choices: CFL bulbs, recycled paper, shorter showers—all fine. But remember, even if every person in the US did everything An Inconvenient Truth suggested, carbon emissions would fall by only 22% vs. the 75% scientific consensus believes that emissions must be reduced.
A tougher choice: How we make our money. A capitalist society demands its citizens to earn, earn, earn and spend, spend, spend. What if we decided to not allow our gifts and skills to work solely for the advancement of this soulless machine? In an obscenely privileged nation like the US, this just may be the toughest activist choice of all. To illustrate my point, I offer this exchange between David Barsamian and Noam Chomsky:
Barsamian: The rewards for playing ball with the system in this society and this culture are very clear. The financial rewards are obvious. What about the other side of the coin? What about the punishments?
Chomsky: "Societies differ. It can happen [in the US], but it's not on the scale of a state that really terrorizes its own citizens. If you come from the more privileged classes, if you're a white middle-class person, then the chances that you are going to be subjected to literal state terror are very slight. It could happen, but it's slight. What will happen is that you'll be marginalized, excluded. Instead of becoming part of the privileged elite, you'll be driving a taxi cab. It's not torture, but very few people are going to select that option, if they have a choice. And the ones who do select it will never be heard from again. Therefore they are not part of the indoctrination system. They don't make it. It could be worse, but it's enough to discipline people."
But what happens when the ranks of the "marginalized" reach a majority?
3. Opt Out
When faced with a "ubiquitously destructive" culture, some opt out. This can mean voluntary simplicity: Not participating in the endless cycle of consume-and-dispose, the treadmill of manufactured needs. The alluring charm of material goods is rendered impotent if humans define themselves as citizens and comrades instead of consumers.
Taking things to the next level could mean choosing to live "off the grid."
Some 200,000 people are already doing it so if you need a truly major break from society's pliers, you can start with the Rule #1 of living off the grid: The electricity you produce must be greater than the electricity you consume. Learn more about the grid-free life.
4. Use Traditional Methods When Needed
Protests, marches, petitions, strikes, candlelight vigils, and so on can all play a role in raising awareness, creating solidarity, and connecting comrades. But all evidence shows that such efforts must never be mistaken for a "movement." They are means to a much, much larger end.
5. Engage in Direct Action
There are billboards to be liberated, seed bombs to be detonated, whale killers to be stopped, monkey wrenches to be utilized, and other forms of direct action waiting to be created....because here's the most inconvenient truth of all: its time to embrace a darker shade of green.
Paying Your Rent is a Full-Time Job
Doing the green thing means always doing the right thing. Every single time. This is much more than most of us have been willing to do so far, but we need the type of commitment displayed by Bob Marley back in 1973. There was a politically motivated assassination attempt on his life and two days later, there he was, up on stage at a giant outdoor concert. He was asked how he could get back on stage just two days after nearly being killed. His answer:
"The bad people trying to make the world worse never take a day off, so why should I?"
