Activism is dead.
Ok here we go.
Darfur activists are amongst the most hyporcrtical self-loathing, hemp wearing "activists" on this planet. We all know about the genocide that has taken place in Darfur (and possibly still happening). Hundreds of thousands of people dead, and over a million displaced; we've all heard the numbers before.
Darfur activists for the most part advocate for a peaceful solution to the genocide. And very very few support a robust military force in the region.
The only way however to stop a genocide is through military force. In fact there has never been a genocide that has ended diplomatically, through peaceful solutions. Unless they killed them all, and only then do they come to the table for a peaceful solution.
The people of darfur are not going to be saved by people wearing t-shirts, wristbands, attending Save Darfur rallies or anything like that. They don't need us having a bake sale for them.
Just think about the holocaust for a second. Millions are being sent to the gas chambers. Did we really need people wearing "Stop the Holocaust" t-shirts? Did we need "Stop the holocaust" wristbands? Did we need a bake sale, "Buy a cookie, Save a Jew?". NO. All we needed was for someone to bomb the F@#$ing train tracks of Auschwitz.
This trend of activim is what I call "cookie cutter" activism. And yes I did invent that term. Now cookie cutter activism is designed to make people feel like they are making a difference when in fact they are not.
Another great example is the Israel at 60 party at the Ricoh Colliseum in Toronto. The problem with these mega Israel events is that people think that all they have to do, to support Israel, is to show up at these annual rallies, wave an Israeli flag, listen to HaDag Nachash or Idan Reichel for the gagillionth time and listen to our Prime Minister pander to a Jewish crowd.
C'mon. Can no one see through this? Everyone is talking about Prime Minister Stephen Harpers speech, "an attack on Israel is an attack on Canada." And the Jews just eat it up like it was their last meal on earth. Name one thing that Canada has done to stop the rocket fire in Sderot? Name one thing Canada has done to pressure the PA to crackdown on terrorism, corruption, human rights abuses, etc.. Nothing. But all the Canadian Jews will bow down to Stephen Harper as long as he says what everyone wants to hear.
But yet these mega funtions make everyone feel like an activist. For the low price of $75, you can drive all the way to CNE and feel like an activist. You can now sleep better at night.
And just like those university students who are engulfed in their idealistic drivel, who love to wear Che Guevera shirts like he's their f!@#$ messiah, who think they are actually doing something to solve the crisis in Darfur.
Activism as we once knew it, as we once prided ourselves on is DEAD. RIP Activism 1959-2008
3 comments:
Sorry to be your first post. I wont get offended if you delete it. Just because I'm family though it doesnt mean this is a pity comment!
Cookie Cutter Activism is not an accurate euphamism for what you say is "less than useful" activism. A more acurate term could be something like ...."Hollow Activism" or "Shadow activism" or "Empty Activism" or Uber Activism (I like that one (Uber=new world)...feel free to take it!) The term "Cookie Cutter" hasa common connotation of something being the same each time. I don't think that is what your message is realling saying. You are saying "this type of tepid actions are useless and not really activism"
I don't think that someone attending a pro-Israel rally feels that what they are doing is activism....its just showing support....a public display of support for a cause thay believe in. Support in numbers is important from a political point of view....albeit not as important as actually doing something concrete to fight the cause. (People who vote know that their one vote is not going to change anything, however, individuals voting together creates a force. These Israel "pep" rallies have their purpose, it rallies the troops, it raises the consiousness of sideliners to the important issues, it shows the world a united front....and it probably makes a few Israeli's happy that they are not alone in their fight against Islamofascists (did you invent that term?)
U.J.
It is true that attending a rally of any kind is better than nothing.
I do suggest that is creates a false sense of activism.
People feel that if I just wear this stop Darfur t-shirts I am making a difference.
If you didn't believe in bombing the train tracks of auschwitz than i don't believe you can call that person a holocaust activist, they then become bystanders.
About seven years ago I was invited to speak at an activism conference in North America. It was organized by Charles Lebow, and at first I thought he'd lost it. The speakers were all of my age (or even older!) and the participants were 19 and 20 somethings. Dany Isen (one of the speakers) clarified the issue for me. We AKs were the lastgeneration of activists. We were the ones who deferred careers, slept on friends couches and lived off social security for at least a year (some longer) to devote ourselves full time to causes. One, a South African, had risked his life under the apartheid regime. We were there to tell tales of daring do from long ago; not so much to inspire, as to let people know such lives existed (and, perhaps more importantly, you could go on to a "normal life" with a spouse and children afterwards).
When I started as a student activist in the UK in the late seventies there were several role models of people only a year or two older than me who I could look to as examples of what activism really meant. At least since the Oslo experiment, students were deprived of that. If they have never seen it done, they have no reason to think they can do it.
I feel that one of the most effective contributions that Hasbara Fellowships (and groups like it) have made in the last eight years is to restore the model of commitment. To demonstrate that there are people out there who are willing to put their lives on hold for a year or two for a greater good.
I think it's that lack of commitment that you are seeing as the missing element from what I call "therapeutic activism" (i.e. you do it to feel better). What we in the big black hats call mesiras nefesh. But comfort yourself that you are doing something significant to show that it isn't dead
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