As students return to college campuses across the United States, administrators are bracing for a resurgence in activism against the war in Gaza.
As students return to college campuses across the United States, administrators are bracing for a resurgence in activism against the war in Gaza.
An idea, for sure. It never materialized, though. People didn’t seem eager to just jump up and drop their day-to-day stuff to join a movement, even after it had recently directly fucked them all over.
That’s not really ows fault. They did their part. That the people failed to step up is on them. And I get the reasons. I have been there and I know them. I had a job, new marriage, elderly dying and teenager to care for. Three of those could have been permanently relinquished, the other not so much. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the new marriage and the unexpected care responsibility thrust upon me. Since then, they’re both gone, teen is grown. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice anything personal for that, then. That’s my fault.
That’s the thing though, we somewhat were at fault for choosing a method that was unlikely to work within the realities of people’s real lives. We didn’t know it at the time, and it was certainly something worth trying, but now that we have that experience we should learn from it and adapt our tactics accordingly instead of repeating the mistakes of the past.
Disruption alone simply doesn’t do enough. It’s predicated on this idea that people need to be “woken up” without acknowledging that they’re choosing to live the way they do for their own reasons.
So what we need to do instead, imo at least, is pivot to more groundwork, grassroots outreach. Building the base up with communication, which I think will have a much likelier chance of long-term success than seemingly bolder, short-term actions that risk not only being ineffective, but even potentially counterproductive.
I love this attitude. If we learn from our mistakes, they’re a stepping-stone, not losses. I’m ready and willing. Is something in the works?
Not that I know of. Afaik this “wake people up” philosophy is still running strong, and I find it disturbing, which is why I keep pushing back against it.
I mean, grassroots campaigns still exist. BLM is still around. Environmental activists of every shape, size and style are doing their thing. But nothing large scale and organized that I am aware of.
I’m the meantime, I revert to the familiar refrain: mutual aid, direct action.