Is Activism Dead?

Last week Socialist No. 2 and I went to a lecture on this very topic – is activism dead? Now I’m only a college student but was able to go because nobody checks your name or age. You know your at a university lecture when people are making jokes about dissertations. Socialist No. 2 and I were the only non-university students there (as always); which was quite intimidating especially when they’re asking very complicated questions about people and groups you’ve never heard of. However i really enjoyed it. I thought it’s a really interesting question especially in the day and age of the Internet, 24 hour news and instant communication.

The lecture consisted of a panel of four, two were activists or ran activist organisations and the other two were academics from the university of Sheffield, it was obviously quite academical and even though all the panelists said activism wasn’t dead, I think that they missed important points. So I have decided to write my own view.

I think that when people talk about activism, they often mean the people participating in democracy in the fullest extent that they can. For example protests and petitions. The Ian Duncan Smith petition is a major example of that over 460,000 people signed that petition for Ian Duncan Smith to live on £53 a week in less than 5 days, it is one of the fastest growing petitions or the fastest growing petition in the UK ever. I would class this as activism, people obviously care enough about an issue to let there feelings be known and try to make a change (though this petition just shows the obvious distaste for politicians by the public, I think). And in counties like Egypt, the world has seen a new revolutionary spirit in the Arab spring; spread by the Internet and the power of the people’s voice.

But is there something more? Activism is about change, changing or trying to change something usually using democratic means. The world isn’t perfect, there are always things that people are trying to change so in that sense activism can never die (though don’t get me wrong unfortunately it can be restricted). However I think a society needs more than activism, it needs engagement. Activism is a part of engagement but it ignores the importance of having community bonds and doing things not because you want to change it but only for the sake of keeping society going. As Aristotle once said when people are no longer taking part in democracy (or society), it will wither and die.

I think we could learn an important lesson from that. Engagement is the simple things like talking to your neighbours and helping out at your local schools and charities. Things we do everyday like using public roads and parks with the decency of not littering etc. Activism is important but we shouldn’t forget that pure engagement at a everyday level is often a lot more valuable.
Socialist number one signing off. 🙂

Related articles

• 450,000 sign IDS ‘£53’ petition (standard.co.uk)
• Don’t Forget the #wowpetition! (neitshade.wordpress.com)

Round Up, Thatcher, NUS and North Korea

The Baroness Thatcher, 1925-2013

Evening readers (still working on a name). So unless you have missed the news or haven’t walked into your local news agents or live under a rock with no TV, radio, wifi or even neighbor it falls to me to let you know Baroness Thatcher is dead. Now I know this is a socialist blog, and while other socialists have spent the night drinking and celebrating, you won’t get any horrible spouts of evil from me. Although, like many other socialists, I don’t agree with many of the things Thatcher did, I can’t help but think the whole media coverage is ill thought through and slightly disturbing to watch.

On the day the news broke the news was very subtle in its coverage having only one or two opponents to Thatcher with a whole coach full of people speaking how ‘she saved Britain’. Turn midnight and suddenly (maybe not so dramatically) the news outlets, daytime TV shows and shows that normally wouldn’t cover headline news (cough cough Loose Women! How I hate you!) had invited opponents onto the sofas to release a tidal wave of abuse. Now I know I shouldn’t defend any aspect of MT but as a human and not a socialist now I can only think of the family who are still grieving. To use an old phrase ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’. If you want to celebrate her death, do so in private, if you want to mourn her do so in private, if you want to throw a party do so in private and think before you speak (or tweet in this day and age). What’s done is done, no amount of debate and arguments to be had will change what she did, what we should focus on today is how we can improve British industry and how we can start to stop privatization.

The National Union of Students National Conference 2013 kicked off in our hometown of Sheffield on Monday 8th, I don’t have too much to say as I was only elected to my Union position earlier in the month, but Socialist No 1 (Already on the same union) is there and has promised me a great coverage and summary of the event which shall be published tomorrow!

North Korea was going to be my topic for today but obviously other news has taken precedence. So if the story is still bubbly away on my next post day I shall have something to say. As I said, Socialist No 1 is posting her first blog post tomorrow, so if you see this before hand be sure to check it out, if you don’t check it out anyway!! 🙂 (smiley faces to balance out the aggressive double !) However I may do my own brief obituary of her life and her legacy.

Thanks for Reading, Socialist No 2, Signing Out

Related articles

• Thatcher’s big funeral ‘disrespectful’ (itv.com)
• RIP Margaret Thatcher. TY 4 Dealing With The Socialist Scourge Which Had Infested England (themadjewess.com)
• MSNBC: Thatcher Was a ‘Good Socialist’ Because She Kept Some Welfare Programs (nationalreview.com)
• Hundreds gather in Glasgow’s George Square for ‘party’ to mark death of Margaret Thatcher (dailyrecord.co.uk)
• Margaret Thatcher Dies (people.com)
• Tale Of Two Obituaries: AP Basks In Legacy Of Chavez, Sneers At Accomplishments Of Thatcher (mediaite.com)
• Left-wingers shocked Thatcher’s death hasn’t unfucked the nation (genericparody.com)
• The Real Thatcher and the Symbolic Thatcher (reason.com)
• Margaret Thatcher is like Alex Ferguson… (sluggerotoole.com)
• Police injured and arrests made as hundreds ‘celebrated’ death of Margaret Thatcher (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)

BBC’s The Village! Does it has resonance?