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There are quiet a few problems I have with how people define activism. Whether it’s the usual liberal feel-good activism, or the so called “radical” groups who rely on different tactics in order to enact their activism (for example, hiding behind academic jargon, using overly colorful language that the people who are being ‘saved’ often don’t understand). Here are some of my main problems with activism/activists:

The feel-good activism: This type of arm-chair activism relies on the happiness of the activist. This activist can support capitalism/uphold companies who exploit their workers as long as they promise a band-aid solution (e.g. TOMS “One for One” initiative which promises that “when you buy a pair of TOMS Shoes, you’re also helping improve the health, education and well-being of a child.” and the “One Day Without Shoes” movement for name a few). This activism, the corporations-for-the-people relies on band-aid “solutions” without challenging the structural (imperial) hierarchies this activism functions under. Moreover, the activist here engages in action such as choosing not to wear shoes for a day to show their sympathy, understanding nothing but how cheap and easy their feel-good-activism is.

Western Individualism and the notion of ‘empowerment’: This type of activist uses the idea of activism to push for personal empowerment and enrichment of character rather than challenging structural imbalances of power. Although individual empowerment can be political, when activism turns into, again, a feel-good gathering event they become problematic. As Lierra Keith said “activism has turned into one big group therapy session. It doesn’t matter what we accomplish—what matters is how we feel about it. The goal of the action isn’t to change the material balance of power, it’s to feel “empowered”… This rerouting of the goal from political change to inner change is the reaction of both a spoiled, self-absorbed people, and the utterly desperate, desperate to do something, anything.“

Power relationship between activists and those who are being represented: Often activism relies on the power imbalance between activists/the represented people – there needs to be voiceless victims for overzealous activist to engage with them and their identities. These activists are anyone from those who keep the power intact via academic jargon to the structurally-privileged who use their privileged status to ‘help’ people, however,there is a need for the people these activists represent to exist in confusion/gray area. Rather than eradicating it, this type of activism relies on various imbalances of power.

Activist-as-Identity: This activist treats activism as an identity – one is an “activist” and not “engaging in activism”. This type of activism relies on identity politics, on who can/is and who isn’t/cannot be an “Activist” rather than engaging in practice of it. Activism becomes a mere identity rather than a set of praxis (the process through which various theories/ideas are practiced). This activism often relies on all other types of activism mentioned above: the feel-good activism, the personal empowerment, and the use of power over others. Moreover, this type of activism “excludes those who do not speak the language of elites and thus reinforces social relations of domination. Educated elites typically claim that only they are qualified to produce theory and believe that only they can interpret not only their own but everyone else’s experiences. Moreover, educated elites often use this belief to uphold their own privilege.”

Of the 503 most powerful people in American culture, government, education and business, only 44 are minorities. 

Ran across these links at http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/

Online Articles:

Indigenous Feminism Without Apology, by Andrea Smith

Anti-Colonial Responses to Gender Violence, by Andrea Smith

Not an Indian Tradition: The Sexual Colonization of Indian Peoples, by Andrea Smith

Better Dead Than Pregnant: The Colonization of Native Women’s Health, by Andrea Smith

Women and the Indian Act, by Deborah Simmons

Nuu-Chah-Nulth Struggles Against Sexual Violence, an Interview with Na’cha’uaht & Chiinuuks

Sexism, Racism or Both? A Closer Look at the Indian Act and the McIvor Case, by Martin Cannon

Jennifer Nez Denetdale on Indigenous Feminisms

An Indigenous Perspective on Feminism, Militarism, and the Environment, by Winona LaDuke

Zapatismo and the Emergence of Indigenous Feminism, by Aida Hernandez Castillo

Video Lectures

The Lives of Indigenous Women in a ‘Post-Racial’ and ‘Post-Feminist’ World, by Andrea Smith

Conquest: Sexual Violence and the American Indian Genocide, by Andrea Smith

Other Important Resources

Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat, by J. Sakai

African Americans making $50,000 to $60,000 per year are way more likely to live in a polluted environment than poor white families making just $10,000 per year.

Women Artists Visibility Event: The Museum of Modern Art opens but not to women artists, NYC on June 14, 1984 Shot by Clarissa Sligh

Despite the increased visibility of women artists by 1984, most were not included in mainstream gallery or museum exhibitions. When the Museum Of Modern Art opened the exhibition the “International Survey of Painting and Sculpture,” with great fan fare, of the 169 artists chosen, all were white and less than 10 percent were women.

Women artists were incensed. The Women’s Caucus for Art and other women’s groups in the area organized to protest the underrepresentation of women artists.

Sisters Uncut protest in London today: the fountains run red to symbolise the women’s lives lost to austerity and domestic violence cuts. Two a week.

PHOTOS: Transgender Elders Show Us The Meaning of Survival

In the many years that Jess T. Dugan, a Boston-based trans photographer, has spent capturing images of gender-variant people, she says she’s consistently noticed a striking absence in both art and social sciences: imagery of older trans folks.

“And,” Dugan explains further on her website, “those [representations] that do exist are often one-dimensional.” So Dugan set out to fill this gap, teaming up with social work researcher Vanessa Fabbre since fall 2013 to develop the evocative photo project, “To Survive on This Shore.” In the recently released collection, diverse trans elders ages 50 to 86 are pictured at home or in meaningful spaces, gazing unapologetically into the camera, as if asking the viewer to look deeper into their unique context and life story.