ACTIONISM + ACTIVISM
Just Stop Oil have hung up their hi-vis. After years of relentless action, the government has finally agreed to stop issuing new oil and gas licenses in the UK. Whatever you think of their approach, this is a monumental shift - one that wouldn’t have happened without sustained pressure from those willing to disrupt the status quo.
It’s had me reflecting on activism - what it means, where it’s led us, and whether it’s still the most effective path forward. A while back, I stopped calling myself an activist. The word never quite fit the way I showed up for what I cared about. It felt reactive, tied to resistance rather than creation. I wasn’t interested in just fighting against something - I wanted to build something new.
Protest has undeniably reshaped history - cracking open possibilities and making the once unthinkable possible. But I wonder: how much of our energy is still tied up in resistance rather than creation? Are we so focused on pushing back that we forget to move forward? What if, instead of only rejecting the old, we poured more effort into actively building the new?
Activist (noun)
/ˈæk.tə.vɪst/
A person who campaigns to bring about political or social change.
Campaigning matters. Pressure works. But campaigning alone won’t build the world we need. We’re so entangled with the system that even when we win, we often find ourselves trapped within its logic. Swap fossil fuels for green energy, and many of the deeper problems remain - extraction, inequality, disconnection. We need a broader vision, one that isn’t just about opposing but about embodying something different.
I’m not so sure anymore that activism - at least in the way we’ve traditionally understood it - is where my energy is best placed now. Foe me, the real work begins in what we create, in the community we build to replace what’s crumbling. It’s time to move beyond protest and into practice. To embody and demonstrate, not just demand.
The power of demonstration is in the quiet, steady act of revealing. Not just resisting, but making visible what’s possible when we dare to step beyond the familiar. We tell new stories, weave fresh narratives, and light the way for others. We stay attuned to what must be unsettled while tending to what longs to emerge. It’s not just about shaking the old - it’s about bringing the future into focus.
Let our deeds, not just our placards, demonstrate our protest.
We must build.
We need more ACTionism.
It is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking, than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting.” - Millard Fuller.
