Advocacy, Cycles, Disillusionment, and the Paths We Choose

Humane Myth, already a vital Web resource for animal rights (and brought to us courtesy of the Tribe of Heart team responsible for Peaceable Kingdom and The Witness), recently launched a new section titled “Advanced Advocacy.” Featured is a video built around a talk James LaVeck gave at last year’s Summerfest, “Seasons of the Heart,” and its message for activists is important. Beyond exploring the new section in general, particularly if you haven’t previously read the information and perspectives included there, please set aside the 45 minutes to watch the video. So much of what James covers hits directly home for me (in painful and positive ways both), and I know many others will experience a similar reaction. But even if you can’t directly relate to everything discussed, there is something in this presentation for all activists. And I’ve been eager for folks to see this — and start talking about it — since I viewed it a few months ago.

I don’t want to say much about the talk’s focus before giving you a chance to view (or listen to) it yourself. But I will say that I know many of us have had and are still having, sometimes privately, conversations and experiences related to what Jim talks about here, and he’s done an excellent job of thoughtfully, bravely, respectfully, and honestly putting those experiences and feelings into words — into a narrative – and of encouraging us not only to think about these issues but also to change the directions we might be headed, personally and as a movement. For my part, I’ve long talked around or put off publishing my own feelings, experiences, and observations related to some of what Jim discusses; the number of relevant posts sitting here half-written is ridiculous. And I struggle off and on with being pulled back into disillusionment (and, yes, unhealthy bitterness). But talking and sharing ideas with Jim and others like him — or, in this case, watching a video of his talk — always brings me renewed clarity and a sense not only of community and others-get-it-ness but also of hope for where we go from here.

I hope that those who’ve felt alone or frustrated in certain activism experiences will feel less so after viewing this, after realizing that others have navigated the same or comparable routes before us and that many are ready to move in a different direction, a more hopeful direction, a more honest direction, a more effective and powerful direction. I need to watch it again (and again and remind myself of some of its important messages) as soon as I emerge from some deadlines. There are cycles I myself need to break out of; paths I need to veer off of rather than continue down; conversations I want to have; positive relationships I want to do a better job of nurturing and negative situations I want to do a better job of leaving behind; and better, more effective directions in which I want to move, inside myself and with all of you.

You can view the video below if you wish, but visit the aforementioned Advanced Advocacy page directly as well.