Published College Sociology Textbook: Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability, Intersections of race, class and gender- Excerpts
Edited by Phoebe Godfrey and Denise Torres
Routledge, 2016 - not to be shared or reproduced without express permission of the publisher
ISBN:978-1-138-83005-9
Chapter 21
Incorporating the Arts is the Key to Building Social Movements
by Cori Redstone
The age of magical thinking
Western culture has disconnected us from living in the present and created mass
anxiety. Our collective ethical compass has been lost, and in its place we find an
obsession with consumption as a means of personal fulfillment. Collective anxiety
is a symptom of collective cognitive dissonance. Our choosing to remain on
the sidelines and watch oppression only adds to our angst. Today’s social norm
regarding controversial topics is to avoid confrontation for fear of causing offense
or to be forced to debate. Those who push against the status quo are shamed and
sent back to their corners. The rebels then either conform by toning down their
demands or they are subjected to societal alienation.
Ever-increasing economic pressures have added to cultural contempt for
lengthy and messy democratic debate. Rather than address society’s problems,
people are distracted with job obligations that come from constant financial
stress. Workers are kept so busy trying to get ahead, they rarely have time to stop
and ponder the state of one’s life or the situation of contemporary humankind.
The arts open that space. Traditionally, the arts have provided room to wonder,
to think and to contemplate something beyond ourselves and to act as a mirror
for self-examination.
Few will ever achieve prosperity despite the threadbare sentiment that
common people can become wealthy if they just work hard enough. The game
has been rigged and today most wealth is inherited rather than earned (Picketty,
2014, p. 379–383). This “wealth” also refers to the advantages experienced by
those coming from middle class families who assist young adults with basic financial
needs. Those living at the social and economic margins are excluded from
the shaping of popular culture and mass movements. The conformists, the children
of the wealthy and the middle class reinforce their perceived norms of race,
class and culture and society slowly becomes more conformist, less idealistic, less
just and more likely to slide towards conservatism.
The ideology of endless economic expansion and wealth as a reward to those
who deserve it is a symptom of magical thinking. Continuing to pollute without
considering the consequences for our own and future generations is also a symptom
of magical thinking. Because these narratives go largely unchallenged, people buy into the system with the slim hope they too will one day live their
dreams. This narrative is reinforced by our media, education system, government
policies, and the language of political pundits.
When artists encounter idealistic notions of what art can be and attempt to
reconcile them with what art is in the present, they become politicized (Davis,
2013, p. 4). Artists shape culture. The contributions of artists concerned with
ethics are now invaluable and will be invaluable to creating the resilient movements
that take our economies beyond the exploitive methods of profit that are
causing global climate change.
From fence-sitter to organizer
Following the news has been a lifelong obsession. I was caught up in the international
Obama frenzy in 2007 and served on my state’s steering committee for
the campaign. My entry into politics came when I saw the ways, good and bad,
that policy decisions affect real people every day.Creating art that connects to the heart
Painting and drawing were my passions from an early age. As soon as I had a
home of my own I devoted space and time to daily art making. Sometimes that
meant an easel in the corner of my cramped living room, other times I had the
luxury of a small bedroom as an art studio. When it came to political organizing,
I thought my art skills may come in handy to paint nice letters on signs. Early on
in Peaceful Uprising, bay area organizer David Solnit devoted several days to
teaching us how to create art in order to serve a movement. He showed us how
to make puppets in the tradition of the Bread and Puppets Theater and how to
mass-produce banners for big demonstrations. David taught us about messaging
strategies and practical ways to apply art to organizing. Those few days with
David completely changed my approach to politics and organizing. I will forever
be grateful to him. He taught me to share my love of an issue with people through
my love of art. It was natural that they merge.
Art and celebration are needed to balance activist burnout. Resistance
becomes exhausting, whereas celebration, poetic expressions, and joy channel
the human desire to build deeper connections. Art and activism can be synthesized
through the mediums of drawing, painting, sculpture, teaching, song, dance,
community building, consciousness raising, acts of nonviolent civil disobedience,
performance, street theater, guerrilla art, puppetry, strategic protest, sign making,
absurdist interventions, rallies, events, and storytelling. These forms of expression
can be used to confront the institutionalized injustice within government,
education, and industry in order to build a healthy and just world.
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New forms of direct action and nonviolent civil disobedience
Aesthetics are at the core of successful social movements and therefore, artists
belong at the core of social movements. This has never been more the case than
since the beginning of the technological age. Our world is ruled by the digital.
We have entered the age in which our economies are based on information much
more than production. We are now more able to share knowledge and educate
others utilizing high-tech platforms. Some of the most exciting activist work is
being done by those on the margins of these new platforms. *Section continues. To read full chapter- purchase Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability
Art steers social movements
In a public lecture, writer and radical Chris Hedges advocated art playing a key
role in social movements. Hedges said grief, beauty, the struggle for mortality,
meaning, and love can only come through art. It is not accidental the origins of
religion were always fused with art. Culture is as important as the traditional
infrastructures of resistance. Artists using the methodologies of more traditional
and conceptual art can challenge the power of the state. Chris Hedges believes
the transcendent forces of art are powerful because they remind us we are human
and what life is about (Hedges, 2013).
Art has been used in political campaigns and special interest groups to shape
public opinion. Think back on the ambiguous platitudes of the Obama
Campaign: hope, change, etc., were all over posters, buttons, and t-shirts. The
art became the branding of the campaign rather than articulated policy positions.
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…Albert Camus said, “The first concern of any dictatorship is, consequently, to subjugate both labor and culture. In fact, both must be gagged or else, as tyrants are well aware, sooner or later one will speak up for the other” (Camus, 1961, p. 95).
Many contemporary visual artists consider themselves laborers and closely align themselves with the platforms of labor rights organizations.
A matured climate justice movement
Enduring narratives that sustain public support are the infrastructure of a movement.
In a November 2014 article on CommonDreams.org, Chris Hedges
defined the ways in which organizations can be truly revolutionary in nature:
There are environmental, economic and political grass-roots movements,
largely unseen by the wider society that have severed themselves from the
formal structures of power. They have formed collectives and nascent organizations
dedicated to overthrowing the corporate state.
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As Adrienne Rich said: “If you are trying to transform a brutalized society into
one where people can live in dignity and hope, you begin with the empowering
of the most powerless. You build from the ground up” (Rich, 1986, p. 158).
The most serious consequences of climate change are now inevitable but can
still be mitigated. The motivations of climate justice work are as selfish as they
are altruistic. We are protecting our own futures. Our destinies are bound
together.
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References
Alinsky, S., 1946. Reveille for Radicals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Boyd, A., 2012, Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution. New York: OR Books.
Camus, A., 1961. Resistance, Rebellion, and Death. New York: Random House
Davis, B., 2013. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
Hedges, C., 2013. The Role of Art in Rebellion [video], Truthdig. Available at:
www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_on_the_role_of_art_in_rebellion_
20131127, accessed 26 July 2015.
Hedges, C., 2014. Why we need professional revolutionists [online]. CommonDreams.
Available at: www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/24/why-we-need-professionalrevolutionists,
accessed 26 July 2015.
Picketty, T., 2014. Capital in the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Rich, A., 1986. Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. New York: W.W.
Norton
Rosten, L., 1962 Address delivered at The National Book Awards, NYC, published in the
Sunday Star, Washington, DC.