Activism 101

Table of Contents:

What Do "Oppositional Systems" Look Like?

How to Avoid Being Taken Advantage of as a Youth Organizer

Youth Activism vs. "Regular" Activism

Despite the fact that school walkouts, anti-war encampments, nationwide marches, etc are examples of effective youth organizing that pushes activism itself further left, "youth activism" is often more romanticized than actually taken seriously. This is because student/youth organizers are humble in our organizing as we are more aware of our flaws and how unlimited power can corrupt even the best organizers. We might make more mistakes because we're young, but we are also more willing to learn from them and adapt our organizing methods accordingly.

Often "senior" organizing falls into the trap of believing their organizing method is the only one that works, preventing the group from learning, growing, or adapting. This creates power struggles, stifles creativity, and suffocates young/new organizers who may have a fresh perspective. This is especially true for organizations that are more focused on reform than direct action, as youth activists tend to challenge the status quo.

"Elders lead and teach the youth, and the youth challenge our elders to think differently..."

What Are "Oppositional Systems"?

"Oppositional systems" is a term derived from 'oppositional knowledge'.

Patricia Hill Collins in her book 'Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment', defined oppositional knowledge as "a type of knowledge developed by, for, and/or in defense of an oppressed group's interests..." basically meaning that oppressed people view and understand the world in completely different ways ("opposite" ways) from their oppressor. For example, white feminism centers white thought-processes even if it does advocate for some women, whereas Black feminism centers all-women around the globe. Indigenous activists rarely use the term "feminism" outside of a decolonial context, because pre-colonial societies rarely experienced patriarchy. Violent supremacy & domination are both traits of patriarchy and colonialism because colonialism stemmed from the patriarchy. So Black & Indigenous women cannot fit the frame of their worldview into a white feminists world view... meaning that the world Black & Indigenous women live in is different entirely. This is oppositional knowledge, and oppositional systems function the same way. Oppositional systems use oppositional knowledge to rebuild the world that existed pre-colonialism. This does not mean we are romanticizing or generalizing pre-colonial societies, but rather understanding that pre-colonial societies functioned so well because they were primarily egalitarian. In many pre-colonial societies, people lived in harmony with nature rather than trying to dominate it, allowing for huge communities with vast culture, art, history, and science to develop while also respecting each other and the land.

Oppositional systems do not function within the government's worldview or by the government systems at all. This includes education, healthcare, childcare, grocery stores, insurance, war, etc. It's an entirely new (and yet also old) way of looking at the world. They are by the community, for the community.

What Do "Oppositional Systems" Look Like?

In practice, oppositional systems look like healing, supporting, educating, loving, and caring for ourselves and our community in a world free of money & capitalism. This is important because capitalism and the United States colonial empire are not guaranteed to last; if anything history has shown us that they are doomed to fail. Capitalism, even though it feels like it's been around forever, has actually been around less than 1% of human history. For 99% of human history, the value of the labor we created stayed in our own hands. Spending our entire lives working to make someone else a profit while children starve and our neighbors sleep on the street is not normal. The best part about it is that we do not have to wait for a "cultural" revolution or class-war to begin supporting and uplifting our neighbors by building oppositional systems, we can start today. Many activists have already started the ground work, such as bartering groups, community gardens, free medical clinics, buy-nothing Facebook groups, etc. While these aren't quite oppositional systems unless they explicitly support Black & Indigenous sovereignty, they are building community support and trust for relying on our neighbors for our needs.

We have two of these oppositional systems on our website! The first is Šimiyi's Sovereign Seeds 4 Justice, the social justice community garden & radical food sovereignty group that teaches people how to grow their own food and offering free nutritional organic meals made with fresh produce grown in the garden. The other is Comunidad Care Network, a network of healers, mental health professionals, spiritual leaders, indigenous elders, bodyworkers, artists, and more who come together to offer free (or bartered) services to people surviving state-violence. This can include protesters experiencing trauma after being arrested, people who sleep on the street without access to food, and families who've been separated because of I.C.E & immigration enforcement.

How to Avoid Being Taken Advantage of as a Youth Organizer

Youth involvement is necessary in every activist movement around the world because without it, you ignore a large portion of the group that is directly affected by our shared oppression who will deal with those impacts for decades to come. Youth organizers (similar to immigrant workers) are known to be over-worked because we are willing to take on more labor. We have more energy, sometimes a stronger work-ethic, and more time/resources to be able to work long hours with minimal (or no) pay. Because of this, it's well-known that youth activists are taken advantage of, and rarely have moral/emotional support from adult mentors.

If you're a youth activist, be careful of who you take on as a mentor! Three small questions to ask yourself:

Is your mentor(s) interested in your wellbeing outside of organizing (your family, your neighborhood, your pets, etc) because they care about you as person? Or are you just a glamorized intern?
Do they offer more than 'technical' guidance such as emotional regulation, stress/time-management, labor abuse-preventation, knowing your rights, etc? Or do they expect you to figure everything out yourself?
Do they support your long-terms goals, or are they mostly interested in the labor and services you provide them?

Be careful that the personal relationships you're building are not inappropriate as well. Sometimes "older" organizers will want to take you under their wing as a mentee, and spend months or even years building those relationships, before one day changing the dynamic to something inappropriate for a child-adult. This happens in every organizing space, and you can never assume that just because an organization has been around a long-time or that an organizer is well-respected that grooming won't happen. Keep an eye out for red flags such as messaging late at night, making comments about your physique, complimenting your "maturity" for your age, separating you from other organizers/your guardians frequently, meeting with you one-on-one without a mediator around, sharing details about their love-life, placing you in romantic situations, comparing you to older organizers/former romantic partners, giving you rides everywhere, etc. It may be hard to tell when potential grooming is taking place, so if you're ever unsure ask at least 2-3 other organizers who don't know them to get an unbiased answer. Regardless of their answers, if you are uncomfortable, put space between you and that individual immediately (physically, emotionally, and digitially). If you need someone to have a chat with the individual who made you uncomfortable, you can ask another adult organizer that you do trust to have that conversation on your behalf so you don't have to engage with the perpetrator. This advice is true regardless of the situation that made you uncomfortable, the person who made you uncomfortable, or the reason why. You deserve to feel safe when organizing, always!

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