Monday, 19 April 2010

the supine activist

Supine - adjective:
1.inactive, passive, or inert, esp. from indolence or indifference.
2. Lying or sitting down
I always liked the idea of direct action but am always disappointed that it usually just results in the be-dreaded horde smashing stuff up. Sadly direct action is now a wobbly catch call for a media stunt, usually 'radical' and often alienating, to raise 'awareness'. Does climate change really need more awareness or just action? Worse, well-intentioned actions are often hijacked and end up being shambolic confrontations.

Dirtmeetsthewater started as a direct action, in the true sense of the word (just getting off my arse and doing something), but not in a political way. We were keen to make a point for sure, but mainly just wanted a clean beach. I had low expectations that our little beach clean would radically change the amount of marine litter sloshing about in the Solent, but the upshot has been that other local organisations have picked up the ball and are running with it. The beach was cleaner for a bit and a lot of unexpected people turned up and did.

The problem is that too often participating in a direct action does actually involve doing something and that is beyond a lot of people. Not always because they don't care but usually because they genuinely don't have the time or feel passionately enough to get involved. In the grand scheme of things marine litter has a very small impact on people's lives.... But the sad truth is that we're not often provoked enough by an issue to get off our arses.

So the new face of successful direct action needs to be the kind that you can do from your desk or sofa. Telethons have long known that it's easier to raise money through the TV and phone lines than by rattling tins on the high street, so it's no surprise that organisations are now trying to harness the power of the supine activist.

Through howies' brainfood blog I came across BeThatChange which has taken this idea to a nicely designed, and (I think) a well thought-out new level. BeThatChange is solidly and loudly apolitical and although they're taking on the minor project of ending world poverty in general, seem grounded in their main aims for their current campaign WakeUp:WalkOut.

Using the big noughties C word - change - they're nicely specific in demanding that the government commit to a 42% carbon reduction as a first step. Rightly bemoaning the anticlimax of Copenhagen, they are suggesting that everyone 'walks out' on Monday 26th April. Stop what you're doing and walk out. Where their plan gets canny is that they then want to create frenzied media storms; mass texting MPs, youtubing streets full of agitators and twittering to the rooftops. This, perhaps more than the physical action of meandering outside, will constitute the new direct action.

I'm a Twitter sceptic (I fear that I just don't get it, or worse, just don't like it), but there has been plenty of evidence that Twitter-storms can lead to policy change or at least a very fast,dynamic and powerful lobbying. Law firm Carter Ruck felt the full force of the Twitterverse when they tried to protect a nasty energy company from negative press and The Mail's Jan Moir got what was coming too when she made one snide homophobic comment too many. Read any article about new media and what becomes clear is that it is now all about speed and mass. It doesn't take much - a few active friends with huge lists of Facebook friends or Twitter followers to get a movement genuine traction in the real world. And it happens fast.

I enjoyed being part of the rage-against-the-X-factor victory. It felt like a win for the angry and ignored who like it loud and real over a faceless, beige, unit-shifting, soulless industry puppet. And it was, no matter how trivial the aim. What the bethatchange guys seem to be hoping is that someone or something (a tweet, a youtube clip or a facebook campaign) will be the catalyst for another 21st century direct action and that meaningful change will result.

Sadly I think that their immediate demand of carbon reduction will not spark the public imagination enough as an issue to really catch a fire, but if they can find that magic lightning bolt that provokes a response.... well it's clear that the new tools for a new kind of direct action are there to harness the couch-bound masses' righteous anger. It taps into the current Zeitgeist of voting with your phone (think dancing-with-the-x-factor-on-ice). Immediate say-so over who stays and who goes. Dial o800 for radical change if you want to reduce carbon emissions and dial 0801 if you want to save the whales. Get involved but costs from mobiles may vary.

What it means for the beach clean and campaigns like it, is that we have to try and get those that are too busy or too idle to trudge down the sand, to get involved without having to use more than their texting thumbs. Think what you like about the apathy and callousness of that state of affairs but you can only use the best tools for the job.

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