Remote Activism

In the last almost two years we have been faced with a pandemic that we haven’t seen in over a century. Accordingly, like every other area, activism has to adjust to not only the conditions of the pandemic, primarily a remote environment, as well as what many have called, “a new normal.” However activism can still be effective and impactful even in the midst of a global pandemic. In today’s episode we discuss the basics of maintaining your activism remotely. We will discuss what remote activism is, how it occurs, examples of remote activism, as well as resources to assist you.

Definition -What is remote activism?

Remote activism is maintaining a level of speaking truth to power in support of various causes, and issues just outside the in-person environment. Remote activism can include advocacy for public policy, legislation, rule change, impact litigation, direct services, research and scholarship, as well as citizen activism or grassroots organizing. Remote activism is done primarily the same way as in person activism just using the tools and resources, primarily technological in nature to do so. Having said that, as we discussed in the introduction, a global pandemic such as this one has occurred in a previous century. During this time there were also activists operating as well. Thus, there are things that we can learn from historical activists as well.

How does activism occur remotely?

New technological advancements will be discussed later, however there are some good old-fashioned methods of conducting activism remotely, that people may not think of, but that are still effective. These methods are ones that have been used and were the primarily means of remote activism in the generations before social media and even before the Internet.

The Telephone

At least since its invention in the 19th century, the telephone has been one of the primary means of communication. Although many people probably favor text over phone conversations today, the phone, especially the cell phone is still a very useful tool for activism, that does not require you to be in person. Moreover if your audience is from the Generation X or earlier, this may still be the primary way to contact your chosen constituency. In the days of the civil rights movement, many times activists used a phone tree, which would essentially require volunteers to be responsible to call a certain number of people and so on on under their “tree.” In addition, of course, texting is also a very popular function to use for cell phones today, and is used by everyone from Presidential candidates, civil rights organizations, and colleges and universities to communicate with its members or supporters. Thus, creating a texting campaign for your issue or cause is a very successful, and powerful tool that is available for remote activism. In addition to communicating your cause, you can also utilize the phone or cell phone to have your groups contact elected officials, government officials, and even to spread the word to other people to increase awareness about your particular campaign.

The Written Word

Ever since the first ink was developed, the invention of the printing press, all the way up to today, where we don’t need ink or printed paper at all, writing has been a very effective tool for activism. From letters, to Declarations of Independence, to A Letter from a Birmingham Jail, penned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and published later, which was perhaps one of the single greatest documents of activism ever written, were all done with the written word.

Letters and Direct Mail

Even in the age of TikTok, the written letter is still a very effective means of activism. Perhaps because of the rise in technology, people tend to pay more attention when they get an actual letter. In addition a direct mail campaign can still be very effective despite the use of social medial and e-mail marketing. Thus, you can still have an effective activism campaign through a letter writing campaign. In addition, writing letters to the very elected officials and government agencies that you are seeking change from can also be an effective tool for activism. Moreover, in the days of President Booker T. Washington and Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois, they would write letters to other activists, each other, and even to the editors of newspapers and publications. Even today, writing opinion pieces in newspapers and similar news sources whether in print or online are also an effective tool for advancing and creating awareness about your cause and issue.

Email Marketing

Keeping with the written word, even in the age of social media, email marketing is still the most effective means of generating interest, awareness, and creating a following. Accordingly, writing effective and captivating e-mails, targeted correctly, and consistently can generate significant publicity for your activism. Again this is the tool used by politicians, organizations, and entrepreneurs to get their message out to the masses. Whether by written letter, direct mail campaign, or email marketing the written word can be a powerful tool to continue your activism remotely. Additionally, something that has become even more popular today, is the use of online petitions, which can be circulated remotely and generally occurs through email marketing.

Social Media

Finally, the penultimate weapon for communication in the twenty-first century. With new platforms being born every day there is virtually unlimited means of pursuing your activism. Of course the largest and most popular platforms, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, probably are the most effective in advancing your activism. In addition, Instagram is a very powerful tool as is LinkedIn, which is becoming another social media powerhouse and platform. Each of these social media platforms and others may be used remotely and can be a tremendous tool in advancing your activism.

Examples

There are numerous examples of activists who have continued to pursue their activism in a remote environment.

Color of Change

For instance, Color of Change has built an entire platform and organization of utilizing the tools of the Internet and social media to advance cause for civil rights and social justice.

Legacy Organizations in the Digital Age

In addition, even the legacy civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP, the National Urbana League, the NAACP-LDF, and National Action Network, and Rainbow Push Coalition, all have utilized, Facebook Live, Instagram, and Youtube to continue get their message out to their supporters, even when they were not able to gather in person as had been their custom. Instead they used these tools to livestream their conferences, Saturday meetings, and other events and maintain a healthy level of activism, mostly remotely during the height of the pandemic. In addition, organizations such as the American Bar Association, as well as the National Bar Association have held conferences and panel discussions throughout the pandemic using Zoom and Youtube to continue to provide valuable information to activists, attorneys, social entrepreneurs, and social justice activists.

Resources and Helpful Links

For more discussion about how a phone tree was used to spur activism, please see: The Telephone and Its Uses in 1980s U.S. Activism, accessible here: (requires subscription) . In addition, for a discussion of the use of direct mail in campaigns, see this article. For more information about running a Direct Mail campaign for your activism, see this article. (even though this is at Entrepreneur, the same principles can be applied to your activism.) See this article, for a discussion of using letters to the editor for your activism. A great guide for email marketing is available here. For a discussion of the effectiveness of online petitions, see this article. In addition, for a discussion of social media marketing for businesses (that can be used for activists as well), see this resource.

Despite the advent of a global pandemic, and the change in paradigm from in person events to remote events, utilizing remote activism efforts can be the key to maintaining your current level of activism, to enhance it, or to just get started.

Thank you for being an activist, and continue in your activism.

Until the next post,

Brian K. Leonard