What Is the Meaning of Activist?

Protesting is often part of activism.

An activist is a person who, usually grouped with similar-minded individuals, is someone working to change a perceived problem. Often the problem involves societal issues such as gay rights and women's rights. It can also be environmental or economic, as with activists who oppose spraying crops or activists who work to help the needy. Alternatively, it can be political, such as working for one political party to win office.

Types

An activist can start a mail campaign.

Activists work in many ways. Some create conflict by staging a protest or boycotting something, as they feel this is the only way to achieve their goals once they have tried more peaceful methods. Some go straight to this step. Others start with methods that are more peaceful and stay with them. They write letters, post blogs, distribute literature and go door-to-door to talk to people.

Effects

Pesticides like DDT got banned after an activist wrote a book decrying its effects.

Activism has brought about great change. Because of the efforts of human rights advocates, we now have an African-American president and women have the right to vote. However, activists don't have to work in large groups. A single book, Rachel Carson's 1962 book about the pesticide DDT, "Silent Spring," brought about the Air Quality Act, the Water Quality Act and the Wilderness Protection Act and spurred the beginning of Greenpeace. Another book, Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," had widespread influence on the issue of slavery.

Considerations

Activists have had their causes go as far as the Supreme Court.

You can participate in activism on a small or large scale. It can be a small, locally organized movement to close down an adult bookstore or a worldwide group working together to end genocide. Activism often is controversial, as in the case of the right to life group versus the pro-choice group. This can lead from shouting matches to marches to acts of violence. Media have helped widen activists' audience.

Warning

Graffiti can be a form of activism.

Non-violent activism is generally the preferred and accepted form of activism; however, it has not always worked. It took a war to stop Adolf Hitler from his systematic killing of racial minorities, and wars continue to be waged over race and religion. Sometimes violent activism grows out of other violence. The 1992 Los Angeles grew out of the violence in the police beating of an African-American man named Rodney King during an arrest.

Significance

Activism helps keep our culture a just one.

Activism becomes a moral compass of sorts for a society. It helps a society take a look at the status quo and see if it wants to go forth on that path or go down another road. It responds to the changes in the makeup of its people and brings about new laws and mores that more adequately reflect the current culture. As we are becoming a more global society, this is becoming more of a challenge, and activism continues to be a moral compass.

References

• US History:Environmental Reform
• The Free Library:Taking Back the Academy!: History Of Activism, History as Activism.
• The Trials of University of Missouri-Kansas City: Los Angeles Police Officers' in Connection

Resources

• University of Maine Farmington: Student Groups: Want to Be an Activist?