As we transition out of a busy month for activist events, late February and March are here to greet us with several new important campaigns. This week is Israeli Apartheid Week, while Saturday brings the advent of women’s history month (and with it International Women’s Day on March 8th).
This week’s activist tools are all about organizing in practical ways for these events (or ways to apply these lessons to another cause!).
There are lots of ways to take action as part of Israeli Apartheid Week. This tool makes a good starting point if you need to get the creative ideas flowing! Most of these ideas involve some type of direct action. Check out this guide on effective organizing before, during and following your action. There are lots of general ideas that are useful whether you are planning a protest, some type of creative rally or a sit-in.
If you like the idea of non-violent shows of support your cause (think: sit-in, picketing, or public song/prayer/peaceful demonstration), this week’s workshop on non-violent street tactics is a great tool to spark discussion on effective organizing, safety on the street, and dealing with authority.
Boycotts are another effective way to stand up against injustice. Making an economic impact is often even more damaging to the corporate world than more tangible and visible action like a protest, because boycotts have the chance of affecting that all-important bottom line. Lots of ideas to help you understand and plan a boycott are found in this week’s tool. Of course, one of the most well-known boycott campaigns is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. It’s a nice way to take lessons from organizing for Palestinian freedom and apply those ideas to other activist work.
Are you looking for another great cause where you can put these ideas on direct action, non-violent shows of support, or boycotts into practice? A month to honour the history of women and celebrate International Women’s Day seems to be the perfect opportunity. The Activist Toolkit is home to a couple of additional tools that might help inspire your organizing in March.
Code Pink is a great example of merging feminist causes with Israeli Apartheid Week efforts. The organization is a grassroots, women-led effort to challenge military occupation around the world, instead funnelling such funding into social programs and other similar efforts to improve the daily lives of women.
If you use Twitter to share ideas and inspire your feminist organizing, you need to check out this software tool that blocks offensive anti-feminist users. The Block Blot allows you to screen those ignorant and non-constructive Twitter trolls and focus on the intelligent debate and support from your feed.
This week is also National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. In honour of these efforts, there are a couple of tools on the Activist Toolkit to support friends struggling with issues of self-esteem or self-worth.
About Face is a rabblepedia tool sharing the site of the same name. About Face is all about helping women and young girls understand and resist harmful messages perpetuated by the entertainment industry and much of the mainstream media about beauty and the importance of being skinny.
Another important way to organize for women is by offering support to women dealing with abuse. Obviously, violence against women is an important issue to discuss during this month. Check out these awesome tips and practical ideas for being there for a friend, acquaintance or colleague experiencing abuse.
We may be ending the activist paradise month, but there are plenty of important causes to support in March, too. The only left to do is get rid of all this snow (at least here in Canada!) and bring on all the great organizing that comes with warmer spring weather.
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