Let’s talk about activism as a protest and support of Palestine have begun to ramp up, but also the responses have gotten more violent. I wanted to share some of my own experience as an activist. It’s really important to recognize that there are a lot of different types of activism. What does that means? That not everyone is going to be that public figure activist. Some people are going to be what is known as the silent activist. Other people are going to be somewhere in the middle. In my opinion, this depends on two things. No. 1, what is your current privilege level? And No. 2, what is your own current personality?
Like, activism doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to get on a stage or a platform and address thousands. It can mean participating in a boycott or it can mean calling and sending letters to your own representatives. And although some of these different acts of activism can exist together, there are the types of activism that really may not coexist. So let’s talk about those. As you start your activism journey, it’s really important for you to recognize and really start thinking about this at the very beginning.
What kind of activist do you want to be if you decide to be the outspoken type of activist going out in the streets, participating in protest, then you have to understand that type of activism does not really mesh well with the lobbying type of activism. The type of activism where the individual is actually invited to different political offices. It’s actually invited by senators, congresspeople, maybe even the president to have political discussions about these topics. If you’re someone whose activism is constantly in the streets and is perhaps even getting arrested as a result of these protests, then you are very likely going to be investigated and you are very likely not to be invited to have this sort of discourse in the higher level political offices. And that is okay. There are different in separate sites of activism, but you do have to choose. Because if at the end your goal is to go and have these conversations with the current people in charge in political office, then these other types of activism that has you in these very public spaces, then you are very likely closing those doors. Now in the few select cases where we have seen that both have been able to coexist. And the reason why I said may is because of one thing, your privilege. What kind of privilege do you have?
For example, we have Greta Thunderberg who has gotten arrested and has participated in these very public types of protest. She has become a symbol of the resistance that she is partially leading. So she has already elevated to a whole different status of activism. In Fonda, for example, also has participated in those kinds self protests and also is getting invited to these different types of spaces. But that’s because she’s Jane Fonda. She’s at a different level than most activists are.
Personally, I’ve been an activist for the past few years to try and create space related infrastructure for developing countries. This means that we are trying to create all of those necessary laws in order for developing countries to be able to develop their own space, technological type industries. This is very important because a lot of these countries have been kept dependent on the technology of other countries that currently do have that technology for so many generations and years. And this not only affects their own livelihoods, it not only affects the types of jobs that they can hold, but it also affects their own economy as a whole, as a nation. It involves convincing politicians to pass different types of laws. And in order to convince those politicians, you have to convince them not only on a personal level, but also convince them of the political implications as a whole, which as you can imagine, is very complicated when we’re talking about countries that don’t only have a two party system, but they have a multiple party system. But this type of activism is also very complicated from the public perspective. Because if the public is seeing you currently speaking to a senator that they don’t agree with or don’t approve of, they’re not exactly going to be thinking about the fact that you are currently trying to convince them to vote positively on a reform. They’re only seeing the negative actions that they associate with this individual and are now associating them with you. So it’s an extremely fine line that you have to walk on, and it is very difficult work trying to detach yourself from the actions of others because all you’re trying to achieve is a positive support on reforms and laws that are going to help everybody. So I really wanna encourage everyone to really think about the type of activist you want to be. And then also seek out people who are currently performing that type of activism if you need any advice.