We have developed a sort of something we call Environmental Street Theatre as a way to …..
“You will never get any form real activism by merely glue your hands to tarmac. Real Effective Activism only comes about if you get those that are listen, start to hear what you are saying and they best way to cultivate the act of really hearing what’s being said empowered those that hear to actually get involved with the messages you are sending. This is how Commonground see’s the concept of real Activism especially when if comes to all aspects of combatting our Climate and Biodiversity Issues.”
People have many different views of what it means mostly from the negative but there are positive ways to get your maeesage acted on. If you take a modern dictionary definition you will find it takes a rather negative opinion of the word. The word Activism is defined by the Collins Dictionary as “a policy of taking direct and often militant action to achieve an end, especially a political or social one”. Its a real shame that the idea of militant action is now sole part of the dictionary definition of activism. The introduction of the term give ‘militant’ gives activism the wrong conitation of what real real and meaningful activism is about. We need to develop a much more benign and approachable way that garners attention but at the same time sends a message and captures hearts if we are to change minds and solve our climate issues.
An great example of the way Direct Action can work, is shown by the Patagonia Clothing Co, they define themselves by saying “We’re in the Business of Saving the Planet”. At Commonground so are we of the same mind. Our aims are very similar to this of Patagonia and many other businesses in this type of genre. The “Environmental Street Theatre” the concept we have developed to progress our activism aspirations. It definatly does not involve sticking our hands to motorways, mainly because it never engages people with the real needs of Authentic Sustainability. Our quote above we think works, it needs a little tinkering but it says what true activism should be defined as.
Activism is About Learning
Most of us never really associate the idea of real meaningful effective activism with learning. Our founders Phd is about learning. He soon came to the realisation that human based learning is fundamentally about being enaged academically and practically in what you have learnt. To break down the true meaning of human based learning – its all about learning to solve problems. Every thing we do is a problem to solve. The two links at the end of this section explain more, if you are so minded to dive in.
Old Ben got it right. We just added the small text below to illustrate how when we go to school tell alot but never involve us in the learning concept. This creates a profound problem when learning about the myriad of climate and biodiversity issues. The question has to be asked if we are only told about the issues how are we meant to get involved and learn how to solve what needs to happen.
This is why the placard is so so correct. You want to solve any problem you need to to be involved in the development of the solution. This essay is about
Our Right to Protest is Recognised any more
Our Right to Protest is today under threat. By definition if we protest whether in the streets or writing letters to our MP and everything inbetween we are basically demanding something. The problem today is that our so-called leaders pay no heed. In fact they go so far as in many situations criminalise or seriously dumb down our right to protest.
There is a great speech by Sean Penn in the film “Fair Game” that we think defines the idea that Direct Action should be about. Its about demanding that truth. It’s about illustrating the challenges we face and then demanding real action from that truth..
If you are familiar with book ‘the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’ where the meaning to Life, the Universe and Everything was 42, we would suggest that this is a good starting point to ask what questions do we need to ask. We need to ask the right questions and demand answers. Some Books We Recommend you Peruse
….. The Concept of the number “42” is a metaphor about asking the wrong questions.
We know the problems and as Al gore said on our home page we have today ways to solve the problems. Our starting point to developing meaningful Activism is to understand what you are asking for. At present the answers could be anything because we choose to ask all the wrong questions.
Today we are effectively trying to solve the problems by demanding solutions to the wrong questions. At Commonground our job is to set out the solutions that are related to the facts. Most people don’t know what the real problems are and how to act against them.
Once you start to see the what the problems are and the solutions that come as a result change can happen. By pushing the facts and then showing real solutions from those the facts, we can start to create real change. Activism done properly has an important part to play in all of this.
Below are 3 Essays on asking Questions and Developing solutions.
(These come from out Founders Phd look into Cognitive Creative Thinking and also from our Manifesto)