What Is Activism?

Activism - Definition #1 (Yahoo Education)

The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.

Activism - Definition #2 (Wikipedia 01-26-08)

Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action or inaction to bring about social or political change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversial argument.

Activism - Definition #3 (PUA)

(1) The use of peaceful and organized direct and indirect citizen action, by special interest or public interests groups, in opposition to, or support of, a cause or proposed solution (typically relating to law). (2) The organization of a democratically principled citizenry toward providing benefit to a cause or ensuring a solution that government is either unwilling or incapable of providing without direct intervention from the citizenry. 

Activism Types

There are several types of grassroots activism, whereby individuals work with a political goal in mind on behalf of:

The creation of the PUA adds two new types of activism to this mix:

National Referendum - Definition (PUA)

(1) The act or progress toward creating and securing new laws at the federal level through the process of semi-direct or direct democracy via the electorate; (2) a process that creates for the electorate a defacto membership in both houses through the exercise of semi-direct democracy; (3) the effective bypassing of traditional forms of federal law making in lieu of direct or semi-direct democracy exercise. 

Mass, National, or Common Interests Activism - Definition (PUA)

The act/s of  democratic electorate working on a national scale to bring about social or political change on behalf of the "common interests" as opposed to "special interests". 

Note: Judicial Activism is another form of activism reserved for corrupt judges who deliberately fail to uphold their oath of office. Judicial activism occurs when a judge fails to do his/her job of interpreting the law and instead promotes his/her activist opinion and agenda through deliberate expansionary or inaccurate judgments that attempt to create new laws or  interpretations thereof. Judicial activism is otherwise known as legislating from the bench. 

New laws are the strict domain of legislatures or the Constitution and are not the domain of judges (under the Constitution) so when a judge legislates from the bench they are violating their oath to uphold the Constitution and should therefore be severely sanctioned, reprimanded, and if the act is egregious enough, or the infringement multiple in events, permanently disbarred - which is rarely the case with judicial activism. 

Judicial activism is largely responsible for the degradation of our laws and legal system. The Judicial Branch, as a whole, has been derelict in its duty to uphold its own cannon of ethics and ensure branch integrity through self-policing actions, and should take constructive steps to counter its own digressions without the need for intervention.

In all cases, the Judicial Branch might consider reorganizing itself and begin reviewing such erroneous judicial activism decisions toward listing them as officially "omitted from case law" so that they cannot be used by other courts in their future decision processes. In all cases, a recommendation for "law amendment" should be made by the Judicial Branch to the Legislative Branch when such legislating from the bench breeches are determined to have occurred, that such clarifications to the law will be secured. 

 Lobbying

There are several forms of lobbying that direct attention to:

Forms Of Activism: Offensive Actions (On Behalf Of Formulated Solutions)

Offensive Actions work to formulate and secure a solution using an an organized offensive attack. The goal to push for and create a proposed solution. Tools include:

Forms Of Activism: Defensive Actions (On Behalf Of Opinions)

Defensive Actions work to counter an opposition's offensive attack and block the proposed solution. The only goal is to stop or block the opposition's proposed solution. Tools include:

Forms of Activism Education and Opinion Making (Inactions)

Generally, before actions can occur, the public or targeted group must first be educated to the facts and underlying causes and issues as well as a host of potential solutions or items that should be abstained from or included in the solution making proposal. The dissemination process includes:

Propaganda Activism

Propaganda is any information, whether factual or fabricated, that is has an ulterior motive behind it but usually promotes a group's position or agenda.

This form of activism is also a form of social engineering. It is generally a technique used by special interest groups or individuals toward manipulating public opinion and consent. It seeks to slant all or many of the facts (and sometimes deliberately applies erroneous or misquoted facts).

Lastly, propaganda activism typically seeks to control the use and application of language toward favorably enhancing the group's perceived message or tearing down of the opposition's perceived message in the eyes of the public or targeted audience. It's tools include: