ART & ACTIVISM
The inclusivity of art
By The General Bazaar
The Inclusivity of Art by The General Bazaar
Published October 27,2022
It was a hot and rough day. My colleague was still throwing up in the little boat that we shared: Our tiny little dinghy that was facing down the megalith cargo transport, Ranger I.
We launched our zodiacs in the dark and our action began just after dawn: We had quickly forced the Ranger I to drop anchor and chained our small boat and ourselves to it. I watched as our climbers boarded and made a base in the rigging of Ranger I as we painted ‘African Forest Crime’ in eco-friendly paint on the side of the massive ship. You see this was back before the EU had banned importing illegally logged timber from rainforests.
I was arrested or detained seventeen times whilst serving for two campaigns on the MV GREENPEACE but I was only charged once. It happened the next day when Ranger I docked and I positioned my boat between it and the harbour wall in an attempt to stop it. As rubber bullets bounced around us and CS gas burned our senses, Bernard saved my life and risked his own by throwing me onto a ladder as our zodiac was crushed and sank beneath us; crushed between the harbour wall and the bulk of Ranger I. As I scrambled desperately up the ladder, the Guardia Civil welcomed me with batons and beat me unconscious.
I woke up handcuffed inside a hot police car, blood caked to my face and boiling in my own sweat, still in my dry suit and life jacket. In court I was charged with hijack on the high seas, obstructing the safe navigation of a ship at sea and eco-terrorism. Fortunately, Greenpeace has good lawyers. Furthermore, we were able to use our action and the retaliatory police brutality to highlight the deforestation and illegal logging of rainforests and help campaign for new regulation against importing it.
Before my boat was sunk on that hot and rough day, in all the smoke, violence and adrenaline, I have one distinct memory of a dockworker giving me a thumbs up as well as his packed lunch as he realised he would not be working today. That solidarity for the cause lifted my spirits in ways it is hard to put in words; but it made a difference.
Even though I was depriving someone of their livelihood that day; perhaps out of solidarity to our campaign or out of respect for the way we were doing it, we still won them over and gained their support. I leaned a valuable lesson that day, that if the objectives of activism are inclusive and understood by those who will be affected the most (dockworkers and jobs, businesses, corporations) then change can also be inclusive. It took me a few more years to realise that the opposite is also true, that when activism is not inclusive and aims to antagonize or exclude stakeholders that it can be thoroughly self-defeating.
For anyone committed to working for a better world tomorrow (a concept first turned into song by acclaimed South African Band FOUR JACKS AND A JILL) whether in environmental campaigning or human rights, the message and the strategic approach need to be as inclusive as possible so as not to alienate and reinforce counter-narratives: Self-serving politics is self-defeating.
Equally, in this battle of narratives between regulation and de-regulation, it is not enough to target dominant power narratives in the media and shame individuals and businesses that represent deregulation. It is also essential to develop counter narratives that can become dominant. This can be done by identifying and engaging with the people who will be directly affected or involved either from the negative consequences of deregulation (pollution, ecocide) or those who stand to gain from de-regulation continuing (jobs, investment) and find ways to win over their respect and gain their support.
The Greenpeace 1985 evacuation of Rongelap Islanders from their homes devastated by radiation from nuclear testing to Mejato by the Rainbow Warrior demonstrates this understanding perfectly. In the war of narratives you win people over not by antagonising them but by showing the world what needs to be done by doing it. Engaging with community interest is a narrative that is hard to counter.
These days, police brutality and environmental destruction flash across the news every morning and instead of being more aware of the issues, we grow slowly numb to the complexity. Is throwing soup at paintings helpful or is it better served to the hungry artist in all of us? Artists who can open spaces in our communities for genuine engagement to begin; artists who can transform perspectives and ask us: is phenomenalism the only game in town or are there other limits to the revolution of our senses?
Whatever horizons the future may bring, I am convinced that instead of single-issue divisive activism that reinforces counter narratives, the power of art can remind us of the inclusive and strategic solidarity pioneered by feminists and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Art and humour are also safer means of communication and more effective than police violence for photo opportunity. Nothing compares to the moment when the police join the protesters.