Based on the questions I believe that activism is a starting a movement to change something. it could be a social problem, a law , injustice of any kind and so on. I had seen activism in videos and basically our whole society is where it is if it wasn’t because of someone taking the initiative to fight for change. just like one day a women decided we should all vote, we should all go to school and study the same as everyone else we should all work equal jobs with equal pays. one day someone had enough and that’s what I think its the best part about it. I was watching the film Girl Connected and it was very emotional , inspiring and sad all together. through the film we see 5 girls from 5 different countries fighting for a cause some of them with help and some alone. the all fighting against the discrimination of women, one of the girls from Bangladesh tries to fight against young girls getting married to older guys without their consent this specific topic had me emotional because no child should ever go through that kind of traumatic experience. I see another girl trying to educate and involve others on practicing safe sex and how to use protection even at a young age. another girl trying to go to college despite being told that girls don’t study engineer. after reading the text and watching this film I opened my eyes more the many injustices going on but not only that I was inspired to find ways to support it as well and I think that’s the magic of activism . these girls have more than likely inspired me to support them In this activism and that’s pretty much what it is, is to fight for a change and inspire others to join and do the same . I had shared some post and talked to others about injustices that goes on around the world and I try to educate my friends and family about it so they can help as well, although I have not marched or gather up people and go to people’s houses and tell them about this fight ill like to think that in a way I was part of an activism movement just by sharing a few post and inspire others to do the same. I’ll like to think this is my tiny portion of help.

After watching the film and reading the text I define activism as strategic movement to help bring changes to different communities and fight for everyone. Activism is not just a movement you throw yourself in without any planning. The way activism works is with thoughtful planning and strategic ideas that can help get the word to many people and inspire others to also fight. Even if you don’t get others to fight or do physical activism you can inspire others to educate themselves and others on specific matters. For activism TO work and move forward it HAS to be planned for example in the text ‘ How To Think Like An Activist ‘ by Wendy Syfret it gives multiple ideas on how you can get the word out there from connecting to other people , to watching documentaries to even taking advantage of todays modern world and the youth through social media and different technologies.

The film that I decided to watch was ‘ Knock Down The House ‘ a full feature film. This film follows four women who want to run for congress in their respected states. I picked this film because I knew the most about AOC and actually support her. The film shows the strategic planning on wanting to run as representative. It gives the backstory on all of the women and their motivations on wanting to becomes candidates and how a women has to work twice as hard as a man to even be respected when wanting to go in that field and how they are judged harder than the men. The activism I saw in the film mostly came from AOC since she was the center focus of attention in this film. Every move she made with her campaign was strategic from where she wants to mostly promote her campaign to the tiniest detail in design on her flyer. Explaining the difference between an organizer and a strategist. She is a everyday American and wanted to fight for the working class everyday American. The activism I saw was how she inspired many people to support her and how community groups would help fund her and push her forward. She connected with everyone and spoke to everyone regardless of who you were.

I am not a physical activist (marches , protests ect.) however I do carry the conversations along with friends and family. The only time I participated in physical activism was in high school when we decided to do a walk out and give a minute of silence to every victim that was killed in the Parkland School Shooting. Our school got upset and actually gave everyone an hour of detention. The ways i’ve decided to start participating in activism is by taking up space. I talk about my beliefs with my friends and have very informing discussions with them about multiple different topics from current ones that affect everyday life like gender and the sexes to trendy topics as well. With this i’ve helped my friends educate themselves and get them engaged in interesting conversations.

Activism for me has a whole new meaning. Activism is going against the grain to fight for what you believe in. In the documentary,”Vessel”, the women fought relentlessly for abortion rights. Being that abortion is still illegal in many countries, it is legal if it is on international waters. The group of women decided to get a boat where abortions can take place. Something I took notice of throughout the video is how disgusting men were treating them. In Poland, for example, there is a large anti-abortion movement. When the boat arrived, men were lined up in front acting animal-like. At some point, the women were even egged. News outlets were doing everything to make it seem like they were doing something illegal on the boat when they were in fact not. Regardless of the negative feedback, they continued their voyage and even created a hotline for women who are in desperate need of an abortion/abortion pills. The work put into making,”Women on Waves”, shows the dedication from the women. It should not take a ship for women to have freedom of choice, though. It is shameful that society has made them feel guilty for wanting to have rights to their own body. The reading made me think differently about activism also. It mentions how activism isn’t only about being loud, but having a voice at home too. Engaging people at home is how people start to realize what needs change. A few ways I have engaged in activism is mostly through social media. I frequently post petitions and post advocating for women’s rights. I like to spark up conversations to show people why abortion rights should be a priority around the world. For my generation, I believe social media is the best route. The reading notes how gen z and millennials have created a wave of activism through the media. The problem is that conversations aren’t strong enough to start a movement,”The ease with which current social movements form often fails to signal an organizing capacity powerful enough to threaten those in authority.” More has to be done. The average person does not have the resources to build a mobile abortion clinic on a boat, but there are things that can realistically be done. More ways to engage in activism is posters. In the video, women were finding creative ways to post up the hotline number. They even spray painted it on walls.

I define activism as taking a stand against something or someone to create a positive change. Activism doesn’t have to be expressed through violence. The idea of people saying what they thought or how they felt about a certain situation. Having a voice is probably one of the first  steps of activism. Using that voice to speak when there is an issue is the second step of activism. I think there are steps to being an activist, for that reason being, there are many people who see and disagree with something, but they never actually do anything about it. Others would disagree and speak up to create some type of change. Reading “How to think like an Activist” by Wendy Syfret was a big eye opener for me. In her book the chapter starts off by talking about the French Revolution. During that time craftsmen and store owners stormed the Bastille in 1789. They wanted changes socially, economically, and a whole new government thinking system. This is an example of activism. She goes on to talk about how Mahatma Gandhi  was very influenced by the Parisians. However Gandhi did not engage in violence he held peaceful protests and marches to create a change. I was always aware of activism and how it works. This reading made my understanding a bit more clearer. On this topic the film I watched is “United in Anger”. I thought this was a pretty increasing film to say the least. I am a history nerd and AIDS was a huge part of the 80’s and 90’s. I felt so happy seeing these young gay and lesbian be very active in their community. They held protests and conventions against the American government not providing help to people with AIDS. They had many different groups, one was called “Act up” They were persistent, fierce, and Angry. Act up wanted the government to stop treating them like sinners but as a human being. I think they inspired changed to groups today such as “LGBQT” group. Throughout the film, they participated in sit-ins that were non-violence and sang chants while holding hands. This is what activism looks like. People coming together to change a problem that affects them. One way that I have engaged in activism is at my job. I was overworked, talking for granted, and ignored. So one day my two co-workers and I decided to lock up the store and go home. We were fed up and tried, we felt like nobody cared about us. Long story short, we were fired. However not the company is taking more precautions and putting the employees first, which was what we wanted along.