Who is an activist?

Some time ago, Dr  Gene  Sharp created a list of 198 non-violent forms of activism. Some of those were street marches, many were not. 

I have quite a few times come across a view that the only valid form of activism is what involves you being arrested. 

That certainly creates publicity, and often is essential to achieving change, but it is NOT the only valid form of change, nor is it always essential. 

In the 1990s, I was part of a group that achieved change to human rights legislation without a single street march - there was public pressure through writing, but no arrests. 

Emphasising street marches as the only form of protest excludes those with limited mobility - and a half-****ed after the fact inclusion doesn't do anything for the despair of "oh I'm not included as an activist". 

The behaviour of police means arrest is going to be triggering for survivors of sexual assault - another group that is exzcluded. 

Worst of all is that, despite the many benefits of visible street protests (including demonstration of ally-ship), it is sometimes not going to be effective - the evil Margaret Thatcher's refusal to budge is an example. The aim of all protest to effect a change for the better: that means changing the hearts and minds of powerful elites, which can be done by pressure, which can become bullying if not executed with careful consideration and thought, or, in some cases, persuasion. 

Whatever methods are adopted, they must involve careful consideration and thought (the effectiveness of Dr Sharp's methods have been analysed on a database at https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/),and be inherently inclusive. 

This post was inspired by a post on social media, but I was unable to find a way to link to it here.