Things to do today!
Maybe it’s a Tuesday morning, or a Sunday evening, and you want to do something useful, but you haven’t really got time, or it’s dark already. Don’t fret, there are positive actions you can take while you are revving up to a full blown protest march, that take minutes but make a significant impact.
Not everyone is cut out for the mean streets, and although I would argue that your actual visual presence would be wonderful, it is much more important that you get involved somehow.
Democracy desperately needs every single person who can find time to step up.
10 ways to overthrow the system without having to find your keys:
1. Weaponise Your Wallet Transform your spending habits into political statements. Support businesses that aren’t actively destroying the planet, and boycott the baddies that stubbornly sit on the wrong side of your most pressing issue.
Choose an ethical brand over its morally bankrupt competitor.
For example, Eat more Tony Chocolonely (amazing organisation, delicious chocolate, what is not to love here?)
Tony’s Chocoloneley Ethical Chocolate Company
Top 200 Ethical Businesses on the Good Shopping Guide
2. Digital Rabble-Rousing Share petitions, amplify informed voices, and disseminate actual journalism amid the tsunami of nonsense. Social media may be a dystopian nightmare factory, but it’s also your personal megaphone. Extra credit for crafting the perfect caption/image/message that makes people laugh first, before hearing the penny drop on a subject they have been ignoring, avoiding or misunderstanding.
Some causes are high profile and well supported, but do not make the mistake of thinking that other people are ‘on it’. Do your bit.
Amnesty International UK Actions Page
Liberty is an independent membership organisation. They challenge injustice, defend freedom and campaign to make sure everyone in the UK is treated fairly.
‘We are campaigners, lawyers and policy experts who work together to protect rights and hold the powerful to account.’
UK Petitions to Parliament (Gov.uk website)
3. Electronic Bombardment of Elected Officials Your representatives are legally obligated to pretend they value your opinion. A concise, passive-aggressive email about an issue you care about lands with surprising force in an intern’s inbox. Remember: politicians can smell fear and indifference, so write like someone who might actually remember this at the ballot box.
UK Government ‘Find My MP’ Page
Gov.uk Complain about Your Council Page
5. Stealth Education Campaigns: Arm yourself with facts, then casually detonate them during conversations. Pick your battles to conserve your physical and emotional energy. If you are passionate about an issue, and it is an ethical no-brainer (Ceasefires, for example?!), follow your conscience, seize the moment and lead by example.
38 Degrees article with golden tips for Talking to Your Friends and Family about Politics.
6. Fund The Frontlines From Afar Local activist groups need resources—money, design skills, writing talent, or someone who understands how MS Office works. You don’t have to be the one getting arrested; you can be the one who coordinates communication with friends and family, makes sense of Google Sheets, or sends a contribution, or a first aid kit or a megaphone to the organisation.
7. Fashion Statements As Actual Statements Turn your wardrobe into a walking billboard for causes you care about. T-shirts, pins, and tote bags let you signal your politics without the inconvenience of actual conversation. “Oh, this old ‘Tax The Ultra-Wealthy’ scarf? It’s a bold political statement AND keeps my neck warm in this late-stage capitalist winter.”
Peaceful Protest Shop Coming Very Soon.
8. Automate Your Virtue Configure your digital life to passively generate good: search engines that plant trees, browsers that donate while you shop, automatic monthly contributions to causes.
Ecosia – the search engine that plants trees.
9. Analog Activism by Post There’s something surprising and subversive about an actual handwritten note in our digital age. Write physical letters to politicians, CEOs, and newspaper editors. They’ll be so shocked by receiving mail that isn’t a bill that they might actually read it.
In my humble opinion, Royal Mail is a cause for concern that could arguably make it the subject of any citizens’ revolution, if only for the price of stamps! Recently bought by a Czech billionaire with diverse business interests (!), it’s on a path, shall we say. Anyhoo, strategic postal protest is a good idea.
10. Micro-Movements For The Motivationally Challenged
Start tiny: a group chat for like-minded complainers, a book club examining dystopian fiction that’s becoming suspiciously non-fictional, or a TV series that provokes terror and admiration for its foresight (and yes, I am talking about Years and Years – now on Netflix) You might want to start a neighbourhood seed exchange. Allotments are extremely cool, and not to rain on the cosy parade, but we are in a slightly dodgy era of low food security, so a bit of preparation might go a long way! Small actions accumulate into movements, and before you know it, you have momentum and company that cares as much as you do.
You don’t need to be freezing in a protest encampment to contribute to progress. History books might not mention the person who organised the Google Doc for the locally based revolution, but without that Doc, chaos may reign.
Remember: every significant social change requires both the louder members with the good knees, AND the quiet background orchestrators. If you care enough to have read this far, you’re already part of the resistance.