Gave a lecture at York University recently on how activists can sharpen up their act. Nothing much new here, but the sound quality is good, and the Q&A was fun, so thought I’d repost here. Feel free to nick/copy/download etc.
Best new line, IMO was towards the end: ‘Effective activism = analysis + anger + empathy, but in practice people find it exceptionally hard to combine all 3. Academics do the first, activists do the second and psychotherapists the third.’
Thanks for posting, Duncan. Your mention of empathy resonates. It brings to mind how activists might extend empathy towards themselves—recognising their own emotions and how these are shaped by the contexts they navigate. It reminds me of a conference I attended on the systems-psychodynamics of social movements and advocacy groups, which I reflected on here: https://ajoydatta.substack.com/p/social-movements-and-advocacy-groups. One of the key questions I explored was: what mobilises or motivates individuals to join social movements, and how does this shape their work and approaches? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.