Kendra Okonski recently wrote an excellent article on libertarian activism that ran Liberty magazine. A longer version of the article is on the CounterProtest.Net site, Taking our message to the streets.
Which is not to say that I necessarily agree with Okonski about the prospects for libertarian activism. Okonski holds up the anti-globalization movement as an example of a successful political movement, but I think she vastly overestimates the success of that movement (at least in the United States). The anti-globalization movement is largely a made-for-TV event. There is a lot to be said in favor of such movements, but do they really have any sort of lasting impact? I’m skeptical.
Second, like most libertarian commentators (especially those who have never been part of or worked closely with Left wing protest movements), Okonski ignores what I think is the fundamental problem with libertarian activism: how do you build a mass movement based on a highly individualist political philosophy?
Go to any left wing protest or hang around left wing groups and one word pops up repeatedly: solidarity. Leftist are always in solidarity with this group or that oppressed people or even the animals of the world. I don’t want to psychoanalyze people I disagree with, but one of the major appeals of Leftist political participation is the built-in community and social structure. They’re not just fighting for themselves, they’re working to free their oppressed brethren in Indonesian sweat shops.
Compare and contrast that to the libertarian philosophy which is basically, “Government, please leave me (and everyone else) the hell alone to do our own thing.” This is a view which Leftists have occasionally advocated, but libertarians really mean it. Regardless of whether or not libertarianism is correct, building a large, effective mass movement like the Left has done with the anti-globalization movement is going to be extremely difficult.
So what are we to do? My advice is this: be outrageous.
Like Okonski, for several years in the 1990s I helped run a campus libertarian group. On one occasion, a campus feminist group was leading protests against the stud net newspaper demanding that it stop running ads for a local strip club. After a little finagling we managed to arrange an appearance by several of the dancers at the club on campus to talk about their jobs and the controversy. We even created a cheesy flyer resembling the strip club ads which featured a “For One Night Only: Strip Club Dancers Appearing in Student Union”-style headline.
Anyway, while putting the flyers up on campus, an economics professor I knew who was very committed to the free market cornered me, and he was not happy to say the least. Angrily holding up one of the flyers he demanded, “Do you really think this is the best way to spread these kind of ideas?” Well, several hundred people showed up, all overwhelmingly in support of the newspaper.
Look, whatever your political cause is, you’re probably going to lose. You might as well have fun and make a point while doing it. Okonski mentions CounterProtest’s appearance at an anti-IMF protest where one of their members dressed up as a pig holding up a sign that said “No more pork for the IMF.” She related that the anti-IMF protesters supported the pig but became confused when they realized he was part of the libertarian crowd.
That is exactly the sort of thing that the libertarian movement needs. Will it result in an end to corporate welfare and IMF aid? Probably not, but its a helluva lot more fun than sitting around writing boring press releases and endless economic analyses of the economic efficiency of foreign aid.
Just don’t fool yourself into think that’s going to change the world. As the anti-globalization protesters have learned, garnering media attention is easy. Actually changing public policy is a totally different animal.
Source:
Taking our message to the streets. Kendra Okonski, CounterProtest.Net, 2001.