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