What is activism?

The word "activism" is only about 100 years old, at least in its current usage, and it comes from the English verb "to act" to be active. An activist is someone who takes an active part in campaigns for some kind of change and change, usually in the political or social field. Activism is what activists do, the methods they use to bring about change.

Two peace activists organized public name readings at the entrance to a house in Downing Street, where the British prime minister lives. One of them, Maya Evans (23), read the names of every British soldier killed, while her friend read a long list of Iraqis known to have died in the Iraq War. Maya was arrested because she had not notified the police in advance of the upcoming action. The event received coverage in the British media and sparked a debate about freedom of speech and the right to protest. As a result of this, as well as many other similar protests, the government agreed to revise the law prohibiting protests in central London without prior approval from the police.

"I didn't want to be arrested, nor did I think I was doing anything wrong when my colleague and I read the names of those killed in the war on a rainy Tuesday morning. I don't think it's a felony, and I don't think I should have been arrested for it." Maya Evans

Human rights activism means the protection of human rights wherever and at whatever level they are threatened or violated. Human rights activism thus consists of responding to injustice, abuse, violence or discrimination and trying to remedy the situation. Activism means a willingness to help and show solidarity with the struggles of others who defend respectful and dignified treatment and contribute to the transition to a more humane, egalitarian society in which rights will be duly respected. They believe that a world in which human rights are respected is possible, and they want it to happen.

Are activists so different from "normal" people? What qualities of an activist can you identify in yourself?

Activism undoubtedly requires and flows from commitment to a cause or ideal, and as a general rule, this commitment must be permanent and long-lasting. For example:

• Environmental activists win one battle to stop building a coal-fired power plant and immediately launch another campaign against the expansion of the runway.
• Peace activists have been fighting for 30 years to develop an international convention to ban anti-personnel mines.
• Local activists fighting the closure of a hospital or gym try to act from different angles, and, having failed in one direction, do something else.

While we believe that everyone is a "mini-activist" who enters into a lifelong struggle for one reason or another, in this manual we tend not to talk about activism, but rather about "practical activities". Activists in the more traditional sense are also "getting down to business" and doing "practical activities", but they do it constantly, using various methods, and they will not stop until their actions have the result to which they aspire. The young people you work with are more likely to "run" from one protest campaign to another, sometimes teaming up with other activists and sometimes speaking alone on an issue they consider more important at the moment.

What is "practical activity"?

When we talk about a group that gets down to business and does something more than "formal" exercises like those in Chapter 2, because it encompasses a wider range of people than the group itself. Practical activities, as part of human rights education, are aimed at achieving an outcome that is valuable not only for the learning itself, but also for life outside the educational sphere. For example:

• Attendance by trainees at a local shelter or homeless shelter can help overcome barriers or prejudices and improve the conditions of those visited by young people.
• A letter to the press from young people criticizing racist or intolerant attitudes can draw media attention to their opinions and encourage journalists to reconsider their own positions.
• A photo exhibition with specific examples of environmental pollution in your area will help visitors open their eyes to this problem and, possibly, make them deal with it.

Each such action is aimed at a specific result and has an impact outside the group and the classroom, but it also empowers and inspires group members. The action can teach a life lesson: to reveal the meaning of human rights and perceive it as something positive. To see that your actions can benefit others, including yourself, is a powerful lesson, a powerful incentive, and a clear example that things can change if we ourselves participate in changing it.

 Human rights education, practice and activism: what is the difference?

• The exercises of Chapter 2 are structured so that the learning work is focused mainly on the group: its goal is to train each participant.
• Practical activities outside the educational process have an educational value for the group, and they are aimed at specific problems of the outside world.
• For activists, both professional and those who act in their spare time, the only real goal is to achieve results and influence the outside world. Activists will continue to work and campaign until their goal is achieved.

A group of young people of African descent living on the outskirts of Lisbon chose music to express a sense of social exclusion and to teach others to respect cultural diversity. As members of the group explain on their website, second-generation immigrants often feel "excluded from society in the country in which they were born and live, and excluded from society in the countries where their parents were born and lived. Music helps to express this dilemma and the hopelessness it engenders."

Thus, young artists decided to use rap and other music as a form of social education that could interest young people and promote social cohesion. To do this, they used rhythm and poetry, and contributed to the fact that other rappers began to use music as a means of social transformation. After several preparatory courses and with the support of the Youth Programme of the European Union, putos qui a ta cria has recorded two CDs and DVDs, participated in various social events, organized a youth human rights festival and inspired other rappers. "Hip-hop isn't fun, it's workable."

When can the group get involved in practical activities?

The short answer is "anytime." Local actions such as those described in section 2 of this chapter may in most cases take place before or after a training session at a club or school. The advantage of holding an action after the lesson is that the group will understand the problems more deeply and will be able to more creatively approach the choice of the optimal form of the action. The advantage of holding the action before the lesson is that the group, having understood the importance of the problem, will more consciously participate in the training session.

Educators who regularly engage in human rights education often move from one model to another depending on the specific topic, the level of interest or awareness of the group, and their own relationship with the group. We have tried to link many of the activities proposed in this chapter to the individual exercises discussed in Chapter 2. The titles of these exercises are given in the margins, and many of the actions complement the "Ideas for Action" that are given at the end of the respective exercises. Almost all exercises can be used either as an introduction, before practical actions, or after them, as a way to show the practical significance of problems already studied.