photo top: Hilary Klein background photo: David Hanks

POST-ISSUE ACTIVISM
Jason Justice
— HOW TO CHANGE THINGS —
A DJ spins CDs at a Reclaim the Streets party, February 14, 2004, Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco.
nature, the question of removing a megadam was an unthinkable
thought—it was beyond the realm of imagination. The “cracking” action,
however, challenged that assumption and created a new political space
and a powerful image to forward that agenda. Two decades later, in the
late nineties, the unthinkable thought had rippled right up to the powerholders
and the U.S. government actually began removing dams.
Likewise, as the anticar movement has grown, groups like Reclaim the
Streets have taken effective direct actions at the point of assumption to
make the idea of car-free cities imaginable. Reclaim the Streets groups
showed what a better world could look like with actions that occupy carclogged
streets and transform them into people-friendly spaces with
music, festivity, comfy furniture, and in some cases even grass and plants.
Similarly, activists around the world have taken creative “Buy Nothing
Day” actions to attack the assumptions of consumerism by calling for a
twenty-four-hour moratorium on consumer spending on the busiest
shopping day of the year. This simple idea, often popularized using ridicule
and humorous spectacle, has led to many successful efforts to define
consumerism itself as an issue.
Direct action at the point of assumption has taken many forms—creating
new symbols, embodying alternatives, or sounding the alarm. The
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— HOW TO CHANGE THINGS —
Zapatista ski mask is a well-known example of a symbol that functioned as
direct action at the point of assumption. The ski masks worn by the
Zapatista insurgents and particularly their spokesman Subcomandante
Marcos, created a symbol for the invisibility of Mexico’s indigenous
peoples. Marcos has eloquently written of the irony that only with the ski
masks on—the symbol of militant confrontation—was the government able
to see the indigenous peoples it had ignored for so long. 21
In Argentina the cacerolazos—the spontaneous mass banging on
cacerolas (saucepans)—is a tactic that has helped topple several
governments since the popular uprising began in December 2001. The
simple, inclusive direct action of banging a saucepan has created a
dramatic new space for people from many different backgrounds to unite
in resisting neoliberalism and structural adjustment. It broke the
assumption that people will simply accept the actions of a government that
ignores them. xxii
Direct action at the point of assumption provides us with many new
opportunities to expand the traditional political arenas because it is less
reliant on specific physical space than other points of intervention. This
gives us the opportunity to choose the terms and location of engagement.
Effective point-of-assumption actions can transform the mundane into a
radical conversation starter. For instance, putting a piece of duct tape
across a prominent logo on your clothing can invite a conversation about
corporate commodification.
Media activist James John Bell writes about “Image Events,” events
whether actions, images, or stories that “simultaneously destroy and
construct [new] meaning.” Image events either replace existing sets of
symbols or redefine their meaning through the “disidentification” of
humor or shock. 23 A simple application of this concept can be seen in what
Adbuster magazine’s founder Kalle Lasn has dubbed “culture jamming” to
describe methods of subverting corporate propaganda by juxtaposing new
images or coopting slogans. 24 For instance, when McDonald’s hyperfamiliar
golden arches are overlaid with images of starving children or Chevron’s
advertising slogan is rewritten to say “Do people kill for oil?” the power of
corporate images are turned back upon themselves. This type of semiotic
aikido exploits the omnipresence of corporate advertising to rewrite the
meaning of familiar symbols and tell stories that challenge corporate
power. These skills have been artfully applied in billboard liberations,
guerrilla media campaigns, and creative actions, but unfortunately they
often remain in a limited media realm. We need to expand guerrilla meme
tactics to connect with long-term strategies to build grassroots power.
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POST-ISSUE ACTIVISM