A Question for activists.
The question which I keep asking, is how do we keep going with little or no support?
There is no easy answer to this, as achieving social change is a long term slog.
Yet there are some ways of thinking, and acting , which do help to sustain ones activism.
1. Keep focussed on those issues which very few people are working on, and which you have some special concerns or knowledge about.
2. Keep remembering that social change will only come by a day by week by month by year by decade, by decades, by century commitment to making it happen.
3. There is no such thing as a protest season, so just think in terms of what needs doing right now.
4. Match up your political actions and life style.
There is a lot of good information to be found about boycotts, and ecological lifestyle issues in the Ethical Consumer magazine.
5. Be willing to work with people who do not share ones political views, but are concerned with some of the same single issues.
It might mean you get your radical views seen in action by people who are never going to come in contact with them any other way.
This is something which I keep doing as a part of my Liverpool Pedestrian campaigning.
6. Don’t fall for the ‘one last push’ / ‘we need more people to make an even larger march / demonstration’ way of thinking.
This only results in burn-out or disillusionment.
And Last of All.
Just go on those small scale pickets or demonstration where a few people will make a big difference.
As to meetings.
My rule of thumb is that they are only worth while going to if they are planning ones, or where you are going to increase your knowledge base.
Though sometimes it is worth while going to them in order to do some networking.