[Sust-mar] What makes an activist?

[a borboleta]

Greetings:

Below in the Introduction to my essay "What makes an activist? (Part
1)." The full essay is over 4500 words and can read be at

http://deepgreenweb.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-makes-activist-part-1.html






Best and for the Earth,

David





What makes an activist? (Part 1)

 



Introduction



I have sometimes been asked, what events made me turn out the way I am – an
environmental and social justice activist, interested in theoretical questions,
and still going at the age of 77? More generally, I have often thought about
what makes a person the way they are? Why choose one direction in life rather
than another? What fosters in a person a sense of injustice, either human or
ecological? What makes a person renounce the general sentiment of this society,
which is to keep one’s head down and basically pay most attention to personal
advancement? Also, what is the role of an activist’s partner or partners in
life? Does it necessarily mean that the partner gives up their own
self-direction, in order to play a supporting role to the activist? This
amounts to basically subsidizing with their lives the life of the activist – is
this acceptable? What makes someone say what they believe, no matter how
unpopular, to stand up to power, and to public opinion if necessary? Why is it
that today, Earth preservation turns out to be of overwhelming importance for
some people and not for most others? Are there common factors to explain why
someone remains an activist throughout their life, or is this a highly
individual path?



Given the fundamental change in my personal health, with the early March
diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, I’ve decided to look back on my life and write
out what seem to be the significant events that helped shape the way I am. I
hope others might find this of interest. 

...

Continued at http://deepgreenweb.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-makes-activist-part-1.html


 



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