Effective Activism: How to Avoid Crossing the Line Between Assertiveness and Aggression
You may have heard about the woman who was forcibly removed from a town hall meeting after she repeatedly interrupted the proceedings.
I admire the courage it took for that woman to stand up for her beliefs.
And it appeared that the security guards violated the woman's rights because they did not inform her of who they were before they detained her.
This incident provides a clear example of what can happen when we allow what is called in Internal Family Systems a "Protector" part to drive our behavior while we are engaged in Activism.
Protector Parts often show up as aggressive, either verbally or physically or both. And when that happens, the Protector Part in others gets activated.
It becomes a No-Win situation. In the recent incident, the activist was dragged away, and I doubt that was the result she wanted. Perhaps the security guards and officials in charge got the results they wanted, but they violated the woman's rights in the process.
If we are to be effective in finding justice amidst today's turbulent times, we must, as spiritual thought leader Patricia Cota-Robles puts it, "transcend the chaos."
Because Aggressive Activism breeds more aggression.
We must learn how to be what a therapy and coaching model calls Internal Family Systems (IFS) calls Self-Led Activists.
One of my IFS teachers, Guthrie Sayen, recently led a seminar where he identified the first step for effective Activism.
Sayen describes Self as “the loving core of every being, regardless of political affiliation.
Self is a coherent field. It is naturally creative and resourceful and whole. It is awake and aware. It's available to all humans.” Sayen says that when it comes to polarities in the internal system and in external systems such as societies that contain people with strongly opposing and polarizing belief systems, Self can hold one side and the other side, both with love.
Some people think that Self-led activism involves looking the other way when people’s rights are violated. That is not the case. Self can be fierce, and takes decisive action in these instances. Frank Rogers Jr, a professor at the Claremont School of Theology who teaches people how to engage in Compassionate Activism says that Self sets “firm limits around violations” of others’ rights.
The first step in learning to show up as a Self-Led Activist, according to Sayen, is self-care. And by that, he means tending to our Internal Parts who feel so angry that they show up aggressively when we do our work as activists.
Those Parts probably experienced trauma and had their rights violated earlier in life. In the process of tending to them, we hear their story and help them heal.
And then we can engage in Compassionate or Self-Led Activism without crossing the line between assertiveness and aggression.
It's not an easy process. It takes time. We need to remember that we're in a marathon, not a sprint in our work as activists.
So for now, if we're not sure we can engage in Activism without creating more divisiveness, maybe we need to use the buddy system.
We can find someone we trust who HAS mastered the art of Self-Led Activism and ask them to let us know or gently pull us aside when we cross the line.
And we can tend to our Parts and seek out training in Self-Led Activism*.
It's crucial for us to continue to stand up for our rights. But we must do so in ways that get the results we desire, without creating more chaos and divisiveness.
We CAN do it. When we come from the right place as we do the work.
* Resources for becoming a Self-Led Activist
The Institute for Healing and Awakening, co-founded by Guthrie Sayen and Barti Bourgault
https://www.healingandawakening.institute
Frank Rogers Jr. Ph.D, Co-Founder & Co-Director, Center for Engaged Compassion
https://www.centerforengagedcompassion.com
“No Bad Parts” by IFS founder, Richard Schwartz
https://ifs-institute.com
Videos from 2017 IFS Annual Conference: Self-Led Activism: Releasing Your Inner Change Agent
https://ifs-institute.com/store