People aren't filled with apathy. They do care. People do want better lives for themselves, their children and their neighbors. No one wants to struggle to put food on the table or to keep a roof over the heads of loved ones.
What's happened, in my view, is there is a large group of people who have given up. They see no hope in challenging the system so they come home from work, lock the door, pull the shades and pump in hours and hours of broadcast anesthesia. Absent a movement with a message of where we need to go and effective tactics/strategies to get there, we are not going to recruit anyone to our cause.
In many ways, our movement organizations own this. We certainly understand how to agitate people - there are no shortages of injustices in the world. What we lack is a convincing program to challenge the power structures. How will our actions be effective? What can we say about the outcome? There are times when you simply have to protest because it is righteous, but does anyone really want to participate in a one-off event to be waited out by the power structure?
Collective action does not guarantee results, but it is the only action that produces results. The same group that many believe are apathetic are there to be persuaded, waiting for inspiration and tactics that work. This is our job moving forward.
People rise up and power structures double-down. Change requires coercive demand for change. To create an effective demand for change, we need people power. To get people power, we need a clear message and convincing strategy to move people in our direction. To do this, our communications should be on the Why, and our organizers and committed volunteers need to focus on the How to recruit our people power.
Both are needed. Why and How.
