Craftivism: A spoonful of craft helps the activism go down
Channel: fairsay
Date: 2014-05-12

Sarah Corbett, Founder of Craftivist Collective, London
 
We live in an ever-changing world where many forms of activism are not as effective as they once were. The terms 'clicktivist' and 'slacktivist' are used to describe minimal personal effort and engagement. Politicians have referred to such campaigners as 'zombie campaigners'. Many people are becoming cynical and feeling like 'robots' just asked to do transactional activities rather than being helped in their own personal transformation to be the change they wish to see in the world. 
 
My view as a professional campaigner working in public engagement and as a full-time craftivist is that we need to adopt some new activism tactics: craft such as hand embroidery can address some of the problems in traditional activism and should become a valued tool in the activism toolbox. Craft connects your heart, head and hands, and when you relate that to justice issues, it can be world-changing personally and politically. Such activism is also able to reach out to people otherwise untouched by more traditional forms of activism.

Sarah Corbett was speaking at the 2014 eCampaigning Forum in Oxford, UK.  See http://fairsay.com/ecf