unspeakablehorror | Activism and Protests (Reply)

I think there's a kind of totalizing thinking where a lot of people, whether they are really into activism or think it's kind of pointless, end up drawing this false equivalency of activism = protests.

And while I believe protests are a necessary part of activism, they are far from the entirety of it, and in fact protests in the absence of the other necessary components of activism are not sufficient to bring about change.

Activism is made up of many components: conceptualizing what you want, understanding the obstacles to get there, raising awareness of the problem, gaining support for your cause, direct action to obtain the result you desire, helping to organize other people to work toward the solution, mutual aid, and more. A person doesn't have to have the set of skills and abilities that makes someone good at protesting to help advance their cause. Whatever a person's skills, they are something that can help that cause. And if a person has no skills? Well, that's okay, too. You can't be faulted for what you can't do.