Top Political Action Tips From the ‘Rebel Steps’ Podcast
You have voted. Great! This is pretty much the basic level of participation in a democracy! This may be why you still feel anxious and relatively powerless. What are you going to do next? How can you become more involved in politics, especially if you are short on time or money?
Try Rebel Steps , a limited series podcast on how to get involved in politics, especially left-wing politics, although its lessons apply to a variety of ideologies. This is a two-hour introduction to political organization, divided into seven short friendly episodes. Here are my favorite lessons from the series.
Find the level of engagement you want
In Episode 4 “Join the Team,” anarchist Sarah talks about developing a browser extension (“ No Platform for Fascism” that helps people report hate speech that violates YouTube’s terms of service). Anyone can download the extension and engage in political work that does not require much effort and effort. But the organization behind the tool included closed-door meetings between people who could trust each other.
This multi-level participatory strategy, where each group is assigned responsibilities appropriate to their level of trust and commitment, works for a wide variety of projects. Take your time to create your own group; look for existing groups you can help with and find out how deeply you want to participate. You might find it most convenient to be just one or two steps from the center of your organization. You will also find that not everyone can be right in the middle of every planning meeting. Political groups must monitor government surveillance and attacks from opposition groups, so they cannot invite every new member to important strategic meetings. As with any human relationship, you need to build trust before you can count on full access and responsibility.
Work in the right environment
Several sources tell Liz that they have ditched one carrier in favor of another when it comes to taking action. You need to choose your environment based on your target audience, your skills, and your risk appetite. Sometimes a print magazine makes sense, but these days a blog or Facebook page can reach more people.
And it’s not just about abandoning the IRL to go online. If you are talking to young people, you will prefer Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter over Facebook. But you can also opt to recruit on campus rather than outside the office.
Beyond your goals, think about your skills and risks. For example, wheat paste posters may not work for you if you are concerned about being arrested or intimidated, or if the only design you know is MS Paint. You can create GIFs and memes, such as the dank political commentary that Data for Progress tweets between its science charts and charts:
Question familiar ways of participating
My biggest personal takeaway from Rebel Steps was that donating to charity – which seems like the highest manifestation of impeccable virtue – is not always the most moral use of your money.
Donations are good and helpful, and you don’t need to feel worse than those who donate their time! But you should consider donating to self-help projects . On a superficial level, these projects work in the same way as other charities. But they avoid many of the paternalistic, committed practices that some charities do, such as forcing recipients to attend religious services or somehow “earn” things that should be basic human rights, such as health and shelter.
Mutual aid recognizes that we live in a broken system, that accepting help should not mean sacrificing dignity and autonomy, and that the giver has no moral superiority over the recipient. In this way, they focus on the real needs of the recipients, instead of following the agenda of a rich donor, corporation or government by manipulating those in need.
It is difficult to question basic assumptions such as “charity is always good,” because it’s hard to even accept it as an assumption. And you don’t have time to systematically question everything you believe in, re-establishing that the Earth is round, 1 + 1 = 2, and that you are not really in the Matrix. This is why you are researching. To research effectively, you need to read points of view that challenge you.
They don’t have to have radically different points of view, although they can certainly be useful. You should study the history of the beliefs with which you identify yourself and listen to people who are more affected by political decisions than you are. They definitely need to pay more attention than you just to get through their lives.
This research is a one-way flow of information: you are listening, not discussing, because you are trying to educate yourself. Read some of the things you disagree with, and instead of arguing with the author, argue with yourself. Sometimes you reaffirm your current beliefs; sometimes you change your mind. Now go and do something about it.
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