To critics and even potential allies alike, such targeted actions are often dismissed as naïve or myopic. What good does focusing all one’s energy on one problem do? It is either seen as insignificant by the former or a distraction from the larger movement by the latter. Any one action will not by itself dismantle an unjust system, but it can build power for larger, more difficult demands. A veto is a victory, but it is not the eschaton.
Some pundits are beginning to see the real significance of the Keystone XL Pipeline fight. It’s not about the pipeline per se; it’s about keeping the fossil fuels it would transport unused in the first place. As a symbolic line in the sand, it mobilized thousands who had been inactive previously. They are idle no more.
Whenever you face a seemingly insurmountable opponent that is everywhere, whether that is racism, capitalism, heterosexism, or fossil-fuel infrastructure, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. So where do you start: with an objective that can help move you towards a larger vision.
I will admit that I am impatient with abstract idealism. Anything that sounds too much like “If only people would do such-and-such” leaves me a bit irritated. I want a plan, a campaign, a strategy that has a beginning-middle-end that leads to new energy and excitement. How do you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. Perhaps that is a personal foible of my need for organization, but I think there is some abiding value there, too.
Rightly or wrongly, that’s how I like to see Jesus, as well. He didn’t start with an abstract proposal of subverting the Roman Empire. He recruited disciples and invited them to an alternative that inevitably called the dominant way of life into question. But first thing’s first. “Let’s go to this town and preach this message and heal these people.” Maybe healing a man with an unclean spirit didn’t seem like a revolutionary act at first (Mark 1:21-28), but it set the stage for things to come.
Remember that when people say it’s hopeless to resist, that there is no alternative, and that you can’t change anything. Empires fall, unjust systems are subverted, and movements are built sometimes through the most unlikely of symbols.
Pass the elephant,
Timothy Murphy
Executive Director