I don’t know how young you are, so not all of this post may be relevant to you. If anything sounds complicated let me know and I’ll try to explain.
If you are in school, organizing there may be a great place to start. Every activist is most effective in their own location, where they know the problems and circumstances.
Look around you at what is wrong in your school. Racism? Transphobia? Poor kids without lunch? Teachers pushing hateful ideas as if they’re facts? Terrible sex education? Try to form a group with other people in your school to address what should change. You can form a support group for kids that face injustice, you can write to your teacher or in the school newspaper about it, you can make posters and stickers, you can distribute information, you can graffiti up the inside of toilet stalls, you can get lots of kids together and form a protest.
Remember that adults have a lot of power over you so try to be smart when you choose what to do. I won’t tell you to follow all their rules but do consider whether breaking the rules helps you with what you want to do. It’s no good getting in big trouble: you won’t be able to continue your work for long that way. It’s better to take the time to find out what works and what you’re good at and not rush head first into the most radical action you can find.
You can also work to address injustice at the playground, the after school centre, sports clubs, the neigbourhood, and so on. Don’t worry if it feels like the place you are changing is too small, if we all stood up and changed the spaces we arein we’d change the whole world.
If you want to work with activist groups organized by adults you’ll have to find out who is willing to work with young people and whether they have safe places for you to go. Mainstream political parties and charities often have youth groups but more radical groups often lack that. But they may have a safe space where activists bring their kids and young activists can join in on the work.
Things you could get involved with could range from painting banners to preparing food to other stuff. It’s all important! There are also things you can do from your home like photoshopping posters and flyers for activist groups (takes practice, but it’s fun practice) or checking other people’s texts for spelling mistakes and parts that sound difficult or confusing.
If you have parents, guardians, older siblings etc willing to help you and take you places, that’s of course great.
If your parents or guardians have very different opinions from you, be careful about which actions to choose. Fighting or lying may seem tempting but can also prevent you from continuing your work. Choose work you can sustain without starting a war in your own home.
So, to round up:
– Act locally. Change your school and neighbourhood first, the rest of the world later
– Organize. Get other kids together who want to change the same things. You are much stronger together.
– Take care of yourself. Choose things you can do safely for a long time without getting in huge trouble, or using all your energy at once or losing your family. People who disagree with you are likely to attack you, sometimes openly, sometimes by saying things to try to trick you into feeling like you are the aggressive person just for fighting injustice. If you find yourself feeling sad a lot or feeling bad about yourself, take a step back. Surround yourself with people who care about you. Only get back to work if you feel ready again. Don’t force yourself. Activists who sacrifice their own happiness for their work can never keep that up for long.
And finally, thus is true forever, including all years of adulthood: it’s perfectly fine to make mistakes, fuck up, say something embarrassing and learn from it. Trust me, adults activists are constantly looking back at the activist they were 3 years ago and thinking ‘I had so much to learn back then’. It’s okay.
QueerAnarchism 