Student Activism 101: How to Actually Make a Difference
Being an activist in the complex issues of today feels nearly impossible. Juggling performative activism, personal privilege and bias, while staying informed is difficult, especially as a student who is simultaneously getting their life sorted.
There are so many easy first steps– for example, one may change their profile picture to the Palestinian flag, share an infographic about sexual assault rates on their story or wear an anti-capitalist pin. Our generation, gen Z, is full of experts in this. Using social media to publicize the issues we feel passionate about and adorning our speech and clothes with what we believe in. This is good because this is something. These small actions are how activism starts.
Now, we need the next step. This is the hard part: activism that touches the community in need. Activism that is thoughtful, relevant, unbiased, non-performative, that considers perspective, class, privilege, neocolonialism, and a slew of other buzzwords that encompass the complexities of being a ‘Global Changemaker’. That said, there is no ‘correct’ way to be an activist because making ‘real change’ is all relative.
As much as we’ve tried to categorize how to make change, it can happen in so many complex ways, on both large and small scales. To simplify, Bill Moyer, a writer for The Commons, a ‘Social Change Library’ categorizes four roles of social activism. For this article, I simplified his theory into three roles and applied it to relevant student-level action:
The Citizen
This is a grounded member of society whose action is their education and political voting power. Through a public acting on a citizen’s shared belief, change happens. This is ineffective when the citizen does not challenge larger corporations and those with power (typically the government), and becomes complicit in their support of the elite and repression of the common good. This is the sum of the small things you do to uphold your values. The day to day that adds up and becomes a large-scale culture or treatment of an issue.
One of the largest struggles of activism today is mobilizing youth. Without the empathy built by being an independent citizen, youth have anger but often have displaced senses of responsibility. Simply put, if every democratic youth had mobilized to vote for Kamala, she would be in office. Yet, according to the Guardian, only 42% of generation Z voted this year. The best example of being a citizen activist is exercising your political power and right to vote.
Citizen activists as a collective are referred to as ‘grassroot supporters’, those with a positive, widely held value that can be mobilized to make large-scale change. Grassroot supporters are joined and nurtured by ‘The Reformer’.
The Reformer
This is the ‘professional route’: attempting to make changes in legislation. This includes police officers, state officials, Professional Opposition Organizations (yes, short acronym, POOs) and much more. Except, you don’t need to be a lawyer or government official to make changes as a reformer. Reformers have a tactic called lobbying, in which individuals citizens can communicate wants to government officials. In your home state, lobbying is as simple as communicating with a government official about an issue you feel passionate about. This includes emails, phone calls and political engagement. Found by copying/pasting this command in your search bar: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/.
The Rebel
This is a common form of activism for many students. The Rebel refers to those who protest, and by having clear strategies and tactics, they can shape the grassroots support to attract attention and inform the public on an issue. This is ineffective when paired with negative anarchy, an absolutist perspective that is anti-organizational structures, as it denies how our world is built. Change needs either a lot of money or a lot of people, in which a lone militant radical can’t make an impact.
A youth example of a rebel is Greta Thunberg, who made a national tradition of ‘Fridays for Future’, climate protests that happened all over the world. She started by, alone, skipping school and sitting on the steps of the Swedish Parliament. This caught publicity and day by day she was joined by others, and her clearly stated goal of informing more youth about the risk of global warming was achieved by thousands participating in the strike each year.
The main idea: you cannot make change without a mix of all of these roles. It takes every bit of acknowledgement and action. This starts with every citizen prioritizing their education and political power.Okay, now with this slew of information: what should you take away? How can you be your unique form of activist that fits your values and enacts real change? Nobody can do everything, focus on what’s in front of you. Know that being in school, educating yourself, is being an activist. Use this mentality and consistently inform yourself and challenge the thinking you are being taught. Double check your sources, don’t shy away from the news and make sure you are reading more than just US centric news. With reliable sources beyond social media: dedicate time to establishing informed standpoints. Yet, stay open to change and new perspectives. And most importantly: vote.