Close encounters with activism

At some point in every activists journey, there comes a point where one makes the transition from a nagging concern, or even anger, about the state of the world, into the act of doing something about it.

For most, there’s a period of individual activism, sending emails, writing letters (Amnesty style), making comments on Facebook etc, but then one day you walk into an encounter with a whole load of other people, that to an extent, feel equally annoyed..

Then you run screaming. Or chicken out when they're hard to find, and go to the pub. Or get bored, don't talk to anyone, decide you're not sure why you're then, and then go to the pub. Or perhaps you come back?

Marches – I reckon the first bit of offline activism people do is go on a march. Ben Elton did a stand up performance once that's distorted my thinking ever since (they are mainly crap), but everyone still seems to do them.

A whole generation of youth, was disempowered by the big Stop the War march (the war didn't stop - and god knows where they are now), a whole generation cut their teeth on the big CND marches of the '80's, CaCC still persist in organising December marches (bloody freezing) and the Unions still march for any excuse. Oh and Make Poverty History, after the Bono coup, claimed victory, mobilised loads of people and then achieved very little.

So if a million + people meet activism at a march, how do we rescue them? And should we be organising related events to give us the opportunity to rescue them?

Hippy on a stall – this might be my first. You're at a festival or a fair, and you see some folk campaigning on something you've read in the paper – that's been nagging you to do something. You hang around the stall, ruffle through some paper, they ignore you, and then you go home with a soggy leaflet. Or a band you like tells you go talk to the hippy on the stall, and the experience is much the same.

Or on a sunnier day, someone friendly – and pretty, talks to you, you sign something, give your details and maybe they email you, or more likely someone from the parent organisation phones you up asking you for money.

So again if hundreds of thousands of people are willing to sign something at the stall, and tens of thousands do so pro actively, to the point where they might do more, how do we inspire them to take the next step, either with a better soggy leaflet, or something sparkly – and maybe digital.

The meeting – or this might have been my first, walking into a big Reclaim the Streets meeting stuffed with undercover cops and journalists. Someone made a joke. Or later walking into a tiny Stonehenge meeting, of hippies getting stoned - not that I'm complaining but... Or for newer folk, day long climate camp meetings with lots of wiggly fingers. Kill me now.

How do we engage new people, without hunting them down. Where's the new persons 'trauma' guide to your first activism meeting, or the hotline 'help get me out of here'. Is it reasonable to ask them to do something, to participate, or simply to commit to coming back.

Genuine email asks – my experience is coloured by my involvement on the cusp of the digital age. Most of us now get dozens of emails asking to do stuff, often as covert fundraising asks, ladders of engagement leading to a fundraising ask, clever forms of data capture and often-times campaign asks generated by the marketing / fundraising department. Oxfam leap to mind.

Occasionally though there are real emails. Come do this locally, come meet us – we're nice, this action will actually mean something, come have fun, we'll look after you – but how do these emails stand out against the noise.

Finally the outreach – this cynicism was inspired by a BBC story about young people visiting Occupy London, and the true cannibal in me, suggested going to where the new people are, and stealing them. Or at least intervening to turn what might be a haphazard first encounter into something that leads onto something else.

Then I pondered the resources invested into outreach. Should we be out there, in schools and colleges, parachuting into citizenship classes, working with teachers (and saving them a lesson plan), organising events and trainings (mass NVDA) simply to light the spark on enthusiasm.

And if we do so, without a plan for what to do with that enthusiasm, or a campaign victory to offer (not a war), do we raise false expectations and risk disillusionment and disempowering paths. Or is it fine to spark the touchpaper and step back.