Hey so I’m sort of getting involved in my local XR (Extinction Rebelion) group but I have to say after a couple of meetings I’m feeling like it’s not really my type.

I appreciate the enthusiasm and I like the ideas of how the organization runs in a decentralized way but I feel it’s very demonstration oriented. Nothing wrong with demonstrations but I starting to think that the time for that has passed.

I had a sort of idea of the group also having initiatives to promote empathy with the cause, teach about what people can do both on a personal and large scale. From personal decisions to give them the knowledge to use their local political power to make changes. I know that’s a bit utopian. Also I don’t have many alternatives where I live…

I don’t know. Is XR just a PR thing? All about making people either hate them or love them? Do you think groups like this make a difference?

  • Brainsploosh@lemmy.world
    16·
    10 months ago

    I don’t know anything about the XR movement, but most movements need different types of activism.

    Protests/demonstrations are important, not the least for visibility and statement, but they rarely lead to change on their own. Most movements need outreach, community, organisation, communication and planned action as well, which can take many forms.

    As each of these parts require their own skill and effort, it might be that any local chapter might have to specialise in one or a few, and you might be better off doing your thing beside theirs’. With some good will and communication, you could probably get support morally and possibly more, and you’ll boost each other in knowing that you’re all fighting for the same cause, although on different battlefields.

    For recruitment, it’s fantastic. A passersby at a protest can much more easily be invited to a book club or bike repair day or vegetarian cooking class, or whatever form you feel might serve the cause. Those events can in turn both be educational in something useful, and further both the movement and individual action.

    Other types of activism also have their places in a cause, find a way to contribute, and consider that you can do more with more people and allies. Getting people to lobby government is cool, putting people in government could also be useful, and the more pervasive collective action, the more change you can enact.