| I appreciate every activist
working to improve the environment, education, the health and well-being
of children, and every other good cause in this world. We each have our
work cut out for us. If we were all working on the same thing, though,
the Earth would probably be three miles deep in whales. I can't personally
take up every cause, so I focus on homelessness and related issues, like
abuse of police authority, abuse of the civil rights of homeless people,
institutionalized racism, and abuse "in the name of help" in
the mental health system.
"Activism" is not a bad word. "I've been
told, "You're not homeless -- you're just an activist." When
I was homeless, and now when I'm formerly homeless (and still low-income)
I take responsibility for myself and my community, and that means working
to change what I see as injustice. An "activist" is someone
who acts: someone who doesn't just feel that "things" should
be different, or think that things should be different, or say that things
should be different, but works to make them so.
We each have a vision of the world we want to live in.
The people who put the most energy behind making their vision real get
to live in it. That's activism.
I'll accept being called a left-wing radical, because I've
come to support a lot of the things that my Daddy used to cuss out the
left-wing radicals for when I was a kid.
- It is the proper role of government to coordinate public resources
and institutions so that every member of the society has equal access
to wealth, power, communication and community participation.
- It is the proper role of government to adjudicate between different
ideas of what is right, just, and fair in the way people deal with each
other, to try to be equitable to everyone.
- It is not the proper role of government to intervene in any individual's
private affairs to dictate what is personally moral or ethical.
- None of this will ever be perfect. We can go a long way, however,
before we run any danger of approaching perfection.
I have certain stipulations, however:
- I do not believe as an article of faith that Che Guevara was, in
fact, the Messiah.
- I do not care to have my life dictated by self-righteous socialists
any more than I care to have my life dictated by corporations.
- I believe that small businessmen and middle-class workers are my
allies, not my enemies.
- There is no truth that cannot be turned into a lie if you just take
it seriously enough.
- There is no lie that doesn't have a grain of truth in it. If you
learn from your opponents and they don't learn from you, you're ahead.
- A conscious idealogical framework is important. So is the human being
in front of you. Neither should be sacrificed to the other — but
if forced to choose, I'll care for the human being first.
- The Right seems to believe that the height of moral crusade is to
snipe at the Left — and so does the Left. I will not play.
- I would rather dialogue with people who disagree with me than preach
to the choir, or commiserate with each other about Them Bastards.
- I cannot see the logic in saying "I insist on being treated
with human dignity, you filthy capitalist / male chauvinist / Libertarian
reactionary ... " etcetera. I treat everyone as an equal member
of my community -- neither more nor less.
- Don't sacrifice the good in pursuit of the perfect.
- This also goes for your allies who don't agree with you 102%
- I have been known to miss a demonstration in favor of teaching a
class or building something.
- I believe that activist flyers are one of the major threats to the
Earth's trees and their disposal is probably a factor in global warming.
- Just because somebody else made the mess doesn't mean you can't take
the responsibility for cleaning it up.
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Anitra and WHEEL friends
at the cleanup for a new homeless shelter
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