A few years ago, about seven years ago, I found myself hiding in a festival toilet, a music festival toilet, and if anyone's been to a music festival, yeah, you'll know that by the third day, it's pretty nasty. I was standing in the toilet because I couldn't even sit down, because the toilet roll had run out, there was mud everywhere, and it smelled pretty bad. And I stood there thinking, "What am I doing? I don't even need the toilet."
Prije otprilike sedam godina, zatekla sam se skrivena u festivalskom zahodu, u zahodu glazbenog festivala, a ako ste ikada bili na glazbenom festivalu, znate da do trećeg dana postaje prilično gadan. Stajala sam u zahodu jer nisam mogla ni sjesti, jer više nije bilo toaletnog papira, svuda je bilo blata i prilično je smrdjelo. Stajala sam tamo i razmišljala, "Što radim ovdje? Ni ne trebam na zahod."
But the reason I went was because I was volunteering for a large charity on climate justice, and it was seven years ago, when lots of people didn't believe in climate change, people were very cynical about activism, and my role, with all of my teammates, was to get people to sign petitions on climate justice and educate them a bit more about the issue. And I cared deeply about climate change and lots of inequality, so I'd go and I'd talk to lots of people, which made me nervous and drained me of energy, but I did it because I cared, but I would hide in the toilets, because I'd be exhausted, and I didn't want my teammates doubting my commitment to the cause, thinking that I was slacking. And we'd go and meet at the end of our shift, and we'd count how many petitions had been signed, and often I'd win the amount of petitions signed even though I had my little breaks in the toilet.
A bila sam tamo zato što sam volontirala za veliku dobrotvornu udrugu koja potiče klimatsku pravdu, a bilo je to prije sedam godina, kada mnogo ljudi nije vjerovalo u klimatske promjene i ljudi su cinično gledali na aktivizam. Uloga koju smo imali ja i ostatak tima, bila je da nagovorimo ljude da potpišu peticije o klimatskoj pravdi i malo ih educiramo o tom problemu. Bilo mi je stalo do klimatskih promjena i nejednakosti u društvu pa sam išla pričati s ljudima, a zbog toga sam se osjećala nervozno i iscrpljeno. No, radila sam to jer mi je bilo stalo. Skrivala sam se u zahodima jer sam bila iscrpljena i nisam htjela da članovi mojeg tima sumnjaju u moju predanost cilju ili da misle da se izvlačim iz posla. Nalazili smo se na kraju smjene i prebrojavali koliko je peticija potpisano, i često bih ja imala najviše potpisanih peticija, iako sam imala svoje male pauze u zahodu.
But I was always very jealous of the other activists, because either they had the same amount of energy as they had when they began the shift of getting people to sign petitions, or often they had more energy, and they'd be really excited about going to watch the bands in the evening and having a dance. And even if I loved the bands, all I wanted to do was to go back to my tent and have a sleep, because I'd just feel completely wiped out, and I was really jealous of people that had the energy to go and party hard at the festivals. But it also made me really angry, as well, inside. I thought, "This isn't fair, I'm an introvert, and all of the offline campaigning seems to be favoring extroverts." I would go on marches which drained me. That was the other option. Or I'd go and join campaigns outside embassies or shops. The only thing that was on offer was around lots of people, it was very loud activism, it always involved lots of people, it was performing. None of it was for introverts, and I not only thought that that wasn't fair, because a third to a half of the world's population are introverts, which isn't fair on them, because we burn out, or we'd be put off by activism and not do it, and everyone needs to be an activist in this world. And also, I didn't think it was particularly clever, but I could see that a lot of the activism that worked wasn't only extrovert activism. It wasn't only the loud stuff. It wasn't about people performing all the time. A lot of the work that was needed was in the background, was hidden, wasn't seen.
Ali, uvijek sam bila jako ljubomorna na druge aktiviste, jer su ili imali jednaku količinu energije kao i na početku smjene za promoviranje peticije, ili su često imali više energije i bili su jako uzbuđeni što će ići slušati bendove navečer i plesati. No, čak i kad su mi se svidjeli bendovi, sve što sam htjela bilo je otići natrag u šator i spavati, jer sam se osjećala potpuno iscrpljeno i bila sam jako ljubomorna na ljude koji su imali energije za tulumarenje na festivalima. No, to me i jako naljutilo. Pomislila sam: "Ovo nije fer, ja sam introvert, a sve offline kampanje bile su pogodnije za ekstroverte." Išla sam na prosvjede, a to me iscrpljivalo. To je bila druga opcija. Ili bih se pridružila prosvjedima ispred ambasada ili dućana. Sve što se nudilo uključivalo je mnogo ljudi, bio je to jako glasan aktivizam i uvijek je uključivao mnogo ljudi. Bio je to nastup. Ništa od toga nije bilo za introverte i mislila sam da to nije fer, jer introverti čine između jedne trećine i polovine svjetske populacije, što nije fer za nas, jer pregorimo, ili nas to udalji od aktivizma i ne bavimo se njime, a svi ljudi na ovom svijetu trebaju biti aktivisti. K tome, nisam mislila da je pretjerano pametno, ali vidjela sam da mnogo učinkovitog aktivizma nije bio samo ekstrovertirani aktivizam. Nisu to bile samo glasne aktivnosti. Nije bila stvar u stalnim nastupima. Bilo je mnogo neophodnih poslova za raditi u pozadini, poslova koji su skriveni i koji se ne vide.
And when I ended up just being a campaigner, because it's the only job I can do, really -- I was campaigning at university, and for the last 10 years, I've been a professional campaigner for large charities, and now I'm a creative campaigner consultant for different charities as well as other work I do -- but I knew that there were other forms of activism that were needed. I started tinkering about seven years ago to see what quieter forms of activism I could engage with so I didn't burn out as an activist, but also to look at some of the issues I was concerned about in campaigning. I was very lucky that, when I worked for Oxfam and other big charities, I could read lots of big reports on what influenced politicians and businesses and the general public, what campaigns worked really well, which ones didn't. And I'm a bit of a geek, so I look at all of that stuff, and I wanted to tinker around to see how I could engage people in social change in a different way, because I think if we want the world to be more beautiful, kind and just, then our activism should be beautiful, kind and just, and often it's not. And today, I just want to talk about three ways that I think activism needs introverts. I think there's lot of other ways, but I'm just going to talk about three.
I kada sam završila kao sudionik kampanje, jer je to jedini posao koji mogu raditi, sudjelovala sam na kampanjama na sveučilištu i zadnjih deset godina time se profesionalno bavim za velike dobrotvorne udruge, a sada radim kao savjetnica za kreativne kampanje raznih dobrotvornih udruga, uz sav drugi posao koji radim. No, znala sam da su nam potrebni i drugi oblici aktivizma. Prije sedam godina počela sam eksperimentirati da vidim kojim bih se tišim oblicima aktivizma mogla baviti kako ne bih pregorjela, ali i da se pozabavim nekim problemima koji su me zabrinjavali u kampanjama. Imala sam sreće što sam tijekom rada za Oxfam i druge velike udruge, mogla pročitati puno izvještaja o tome što utječe na političare i poslove, kao i na širu javnost, koje kampanje su dobro prošle, a koje nisu. Pomalo sam štreberica pa volim čitati o takvim stvarima i htjela sam vidjeti kako mogu uključiti ljude u društvene promjene na drugačiji način, jer mislim da ako svi želimo da svijet bude ljepši, ljubazniji i pravedniji, onda i naš aktivizam treba biti lijep, ljubazan i pravedan, a često to nije. Danas želim pričati o tri načina na koja su intoverti potrebni aktivizmu. Mislim da ima više načina, ali pričat ću samo o ta tri.
And the first one is: activism is often very quick, and it's about doing, so extroverts, often their immediate response to injustice is, we've got to do stuff now, we've got to react really quickly -- and yes, we do need to react, but we need to be strategic in our campaigning, and if we just act on anger, often we do the wrong things. I use craft, like needlework -- like this guy behind me is doing -- as a way to not only slow down those extrovert doers, but also to bring in nervous, quiet introverts into activism. By doing repetitive actions, like handicraft, you can't do it fast, you have to do it slowly. And those repetitive stitches help you meditate on the big, complex, messy social change issues and figure out what we can do as a citizen, as a consumer, as a constituent, and all of those different things. It helps you think critically while you're stitching away, and it helps you be more mindful of what are your motives.
Prvi je: aktivizam je često vrlo brz i često se radi o djelovanju, i prvi je odgovor ekstroverata na nepravdu da odmah moramo djelovati. Moramo brzo reagirati -- i da, moramo reagirati, ali moramo strateški razmišljati u našim kampanjama. Ako samo reagiramo iz ljutnje, često činimo krive stvari. Ja koristim rad rukama, poput vezanja -- kao što vidite na slici iza mene -- kako bih usporila ekstroverte koji su više od akcije, već i kako bih uvela nervozne i tihe introverte u aktivizam. Radnje koje se ponavljaju, poput rada rukama, moraš raditi polako, a ne brzo. Ponavljanje radnji pri vezenju pomaže ti da razmisliš o kompleksnim problemima kod društvenih promjena i otkriješ što možeš napraviti kao građanin, kao potrošač, kao birač, i sve te druge razne stvari. Pomaže ti da razmišljaš kritički dok vezeš i pomaže ti da budeš više svjestan svojih motiva.
Are you that Barbie aid worker that was mentioned before? Are you about joining people in solidarity, or do you want to be the savior, which often isn't very ethical? But doing needle work together, as well, extroverts and introverts and ambivert -- everyone's on the scale in different places -- because it's a quiet, slow form of activism, it really helps introverts be heard in other areas, where they are often not heard. It sounds odd, but while you're stitching, you don't need eye contact with people. So, for nervous introverts, it means that you can stitch away next to someone or a group of people and ask questions that you're thinking that often you don't get time to ask people, or you're too nervous to ask if you give them eye contact.
Pomaže ti da otkriješ radiš li volonterski posao kako bi izgledao dobro, želiš li se povezati s ljudima na temelju solidarnosti, ili pak želiš biti spasitelj, što često nije vrlo etički. Ali, kada vezemo zajedno, ekstroverti, introverti i ambiverti, svi smo na različitom mjestu spektra -- jer je to tih, spori oblik aktivizma, zbilja pomaže introvertima da se čuje njihovo mišljenje u područjima u kojima se njihov glas često izgubi. To zvuči pomalo neobično, ali dok vezeš, ne moraš gledati ljude u oči. Zato za nervozne introverte to znači da mogu vesti pokraj neke osobe ili grupe ljudi i pitati ih pitanja koja često ne stignu pitati, ili su pak previše nervozni pitati kada ih se gleda u oči.
So you can get introverts, who are those big, deep thinkers, saying, "That's really interesting that you want to do that extrovert form of activism that's about shaming people or quickly going out somewhere, but who are you trying to target and how, and is that the best way to do it?" So it means you could have these discussions in a very slow way, which is great for the extrovert to slow down and think deeply, but it's really good for the introvert as well, to be heard and to feel part of that movement for change, in a good way.
Tako da introverti, koji vole duboko promišljati o stvarima, kažu: "Jako je zanimljivo što se želiš baviti ekstrovertiranim oblikom aktivizma koji se bazira na posramljivanju ljudi ili brzom odlasku nekamo, ali tko ti je ciljana publika i koji ti je plan, i je li to najbolji način?" To znači da možeš polako raspravljati o svemu ovome, što pomaže ekstrovertima da uspore i promisle o problemima, no, pomaže i introvertima da se čuje i njihov glas i da se, za promjenu, osjećaju kao dio pokreta, na dobar način.
Some ways we do it is stitch cards about what values we thread through our activism, and making sure that we don't just react in unethical ways. One, sometimes we work with art institutions where we will get over 150 people at the V&A who can come for hours, sit and stitch together on a particular issue, and then tweet what they're thinking or how it went, like this one.
Jedan od naših načina je da vezemo kartice o tome koje vrijednosti prožimaju naš aktivizam, i brinemo se da ne reagiramo na neetičan način. Ponekad surađujemo s umjetničkim institucijama i dovedemo više od 150 ljudi u muzej na nekoliko sati i onda sjede, vezu i razmišljaju zajedno o nekom problemu, a onda tweetaju svoje mišljenje o problemu ili radionici, kao na ekranu.
Also, I always think that activism needs introverts because we're really good at intimate activism. So we're good at slow activism, and we're really good at intimate activism, and if this year has told us anything, it's told us that we need to, when we're engaging power holders, we need to engage them by listening to people we disagree with, by building bridges not walls -- walls or wars -- and by being critical friends, not aggressive enemies.
Ujedno mislim da aktivizmu trebaju introverti jer nam jako dobro idu intimni oblici aktivizma. Dakle, dobro nam ide spori aktivizam i dobri smo u intimnom aktivizmu, a ako smo išta naučili ove godine, to je da, kada pričamo s ljudima koji su na moćnim pozicijama, moramo pričati s njima slušajući ljude s kojima se ne slažemo, početi se povezivati, a ne ograđivati -- ograđivati ili se zaraćivati -- i to tako što smo kritični prijatelji, a ne agresivni neprijatelji.
And one example that I do a lot with introverts, but with lots of people, is make gifts for people in power, so not be outside screaming at them, but to give them something like a bespoke handkerchief saying, "Don't blow it. Use your power for good. We know you've got a difficult job in your position of power. How can we help you?" And what's great is, for the introverts, we can write letters while we're making these gifts, so for us, Marks and Spencer, we tried to campaign to get them to implement the living wage. So we made all the 14 board members bespoke handkerchiefs. We wrote them letters, we boxed them up, and we went to the AGM to hand-deliver our gifts and to have that form of intimate activism where we had discussions with them. And what was brilliant was that the chair of the board told us how amazing our campaign was, how heartfelt it was.
Na primjer, s puno introverata i s puno ljudi izrađujem darove za ljude na vlasti, dakle ne vrištimo na njih pred vratima, nego im damo nešto poput prigodnih rupčića na kojima piše: "Nemoj uprskati. Iskoristi svoju moć za dobro. Znamo da imate težak posao na svojoj poziciji moći. Kako ti možemo pomoći?" A odlična stvar za introverte je što možemo pisati pisma dok radimo ove poklone, tako smo pokušali voditi kampanju kako bi Marks & Spencer uveo plaće dostatne za život. Napravili smo prigodne rupčiće za svih 14 članova upravnog odbora. Napisali smo im pisma, upakirali ih i otišli na njihovu godišnju glavnu skupštinu da podijelimo darove i kako bismo započeli taj intimni oblik aktivizma, gdje možemo diskutirati s njima. Sjajno je što nam je predsjednik odbora rekao da je naša kampanja nevjerojatna i iskrena.
The board members, like Martha Lane Fox, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, and highly influential in business, tweeted how impressed she was, and within 10 months, we'd had meetings with Marks and Spencer to say, "We know this is difficult to be a living wage employer, but if you can be one, the rest of the sector will look at it, and it's not right that some of your amazing workers are working full time and still can't pay their bills. And we love Marks and Spencer. How can you be the role model that we want you to be?"
Članovi odbora, kao Martha Lane Fox, koja ima stotine tisuća followera na Twitteru i koja je jako utjecajna u poslovnom svijetu, tweetala je kako je impresionirana, i u slijedećih 10 mjeseci, imali smo sastanke s Marks & Spencer na kojima smo rekli: "Znamo da je teško biti poslodavac koji daje dostojnu plaću, ali ako vi to možete, ostatak sektora će se ugledati na vas i nije u redu da neki od vaših izvrsnih radnika rade puno radno vrijeme, a ipak ne mogu platiti račune. I mi volimo Marks & Spencer. Kako možete biti uzor koji mi želimo da budete?"
So that was that intimate form of activism. We had lots of meetings with them. We then gave them Christmas cards and Valentine's cards to say, "We really want to encourage you to implement the living wage, and within 10 months, they'd announced to the media that they were going to pay the independent living wage, and now --
To je bio intimni oblik aktivizma. Imali smo mnogo sastanaka s njima. Zatim smo im dali Božićne čestitke i čestitke za Valentinovo kako bismo rekli: "Zbilja vas želimo potaknuti da počnete davati plaće dostatne za život" i unutar 10 mjeseci najavili su medijima da će početi plaćati minimalne nadnice dovoljne za samostalan život i --
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
And now we're trying to work with them to be accredited, which is really important, and we went back to the last AGM this June and we had these amazing one-to-one discussions with the board members, who told us how much they loved their hankies and how it really moved them, what we were doing, and they all told us that if we were standing outside screaming at them and not being gentle in our protest, they wouldn't have even listened to us, never mind had those discussions with us.
I sada radimo s njima da bi postali ovlašteni, što je jako bitno, i otišli smo s njima na zadnju glavnu skupštinu u lipnju i pričali u četiri oka s članovima odbora, koji su nam rekli da su im se svidjeli rupčići i da ih je dirnulo to što radimo. Svi su nam rekli, da smo stajali vani i vrištali na njih, da im nismo ljubazno pristupili, ne bi nas ni poslušali, a kamoli diskutirali s nama.
And I think introverts are really good at intimate activism because we like to listen, we like one-to-ones, we don't like small talks, we like those big, juicy issues to discuss with people, we don't like conflict, so we avoid it at all costs, which is really important when we're trying to engage power holders, not to be conflicting with them all the time.
Mislim da su introverti jako dobri u intimnom aktivizmu jer volimo slušati, volimo razgovore u četiri oka, ne volimo čavrljati, volimo raspravljati o velikim, sočnim problemima s ljudima, ne volimo konflikte pa ih izbjegavamo pod svaku cijenu, što je jako važno kada pokušavamo pričati s moćnim ljudima, da se ne sukobljavamo s njima stalno.
The third way I think activists are really missing out if they don't engage introverts is that introverts, like I said, can be half of the world's population, and most of us won't say that we're introvert, or we get embarrassed by saying what overwhelms us. So for me, a few years ago, my mom used to send me texts in capital letters -- and she can now do emojis and everything, she's fine -- but as soon as I'd see this text, I'd wince and think, "Ooh, it's capital letters, it's too much." And I'd have to ignore it to read the lovely text she sent me. And that's a bit embarrassing, to tell people that capital letters overwhelm you, but we really need introverts to help us do intriguing activism that attracts them rather than puts them off. We're put off by big and brash giant posters and capital letters and explanation marks telling us what to do and vying for our attention.
Treći način na koji mislim da aktivisti gube nešto ako ne angažiraju introverte, je da introverti, kao što sam rekla, čine skoro pola svjetske populacije i većina nas neće reći da smo introverti, ili ćemo se sramiti reći što su nam slabosti. Što se tiče mene, prije par godina, mama mi je znala slati poruke napisane velikim slovima -- danas zna koristiti smajliće i sve, ide joj dobro -- ali kad bih vidjela takve poruke, lecnula bih se i pomislila "Oh, napisana je velikim slovima, to mi je previše." Morala sam zanemariti slova da bih pročitala poruku koju mi je poslala. I malo je neugodno reći ljudima da te velika slova smetaju, ali zbilja nam trebaju introverti da nam pomognu u zanimljivim oblicima aktivizma koji ih privlače, a ne odbijaju. Odbijaju nas veliki i napadni divovski plakati i velika slova i uskličnici koji nam govore što da radimo i nadmeću se za našu pažnju.
So some of the things I do with people around the world who take part is make small bits of provocative street art which are hung off eye level, very small, and they're provocative messages. They're not preaching at people or telling them what to do. They're just getting people to engage in different ways, and think for themselves, because we don't like to be told what to do.
Jedna od stvari koju radim s ljudima diljem svijeta, su mali komadići provokativne ulične umjetnosti, koji su obješeni u razini očiju, jako mali i u obliku provokativnih poruka. Te poruke ne prodikuju ljudima i ne govore im što da rade. One samo pokušavaju potaknuti ljude da se angažiraju i da misle za sebe, jer nitko ne voli da mu se kaže što da radi.
It might be wearing a green heart on your sleeve saying what you love and how climate change will affect it, and we'll wear it, and if people say, "Why are you wearing a green heart with the word 'chocolate' on?" and we can have those one-to-one intimate conversations and say, "I love chocolate. Climate change is going to affect it, and I think there's lot of other things that climate change will affect, and I really want to make sure I'm part of the solution, not the problem." And then we deflect, because we don't like to be the center of attention, and say, "What do you love and how will climate change affect it?"
Jedan od načina je da nosiš zeleno srce na rukavu na kojem piše što voliš i kako će klimatske promjene na to utjecati. Mi nosimo ta srca, i ako nas ljudi pitaju: "Zašto nosiš zeleno srce na kojem piše 'čokolada'?", onda možemo imati one intimne razgovore u četiri oka i reći im: "Volim čokoladu. Klimatske promjene će djelovati na nju i mislim da ima još stvari na koje će klimatske promjene utjecati, i zbilja se želim pobrinuti da budem dio rješenja, a ne problema. I onda skrenemo pažnju na njih jer mi ne volimo biti u središtu pažnje, i kažemo: "Što ti voliš i kako će klimatske promjene utjecati na to?"
Or it might be shop-dropping instead of shop-lifting, where we'll make little mini-scrolls with lovely stories on about what's the story behind your clothes. Is it a joyful story of how it's made, or is it a torturous one? And we'll just drop them in little pockets in shops, all lowercase, all handwritten, with kisses and smiley faces in ribbon, and then people are excited that they found it. And we often drop them in unethical shops or in front pockets, and it's a way that we can do offline campaigning that engages us and doesn't burn us out, but also engages other people in an intriguing way online and offline.
Još jedan način je ostavljanje u trgovinama umjesto krađe. Mi napravimo malene svitke na kojima su ljupke priče o pričama koje se kriju iza vaše odjeće. Je li to vesela priča o izradi ili je okrutna? Mi ubacimo svitke u džepiće u dućanima i svi su napisani ručno i malim slovima, s poljupcima i smajlićima na vrpci, i onda su ljudi uzbuđeni što su ih našli. Često ubacujemo svitke u dućanima koji ne rade etički ili u prednje džepove, i to je način na koji radimo offline kampanje, koji nas angažira a da ne pregorimo, a angažira i druge ljude na zanimljive načine online i offline.
So I've got two calls to action, for the introverts and for the extroverts. For the ambivert, you're involved in all of it. For the extroverts, I want to say that when you're planning a campaign, think about introverts. Think about how valuable our skills are, just as much as extroverts'. We're good at slowing down and thinking deeply, and the detail of issues, we're really good at bringing them out. We're good at intimate activism, so use us in that way. And we're good at intriguing people by doing strange little things that help create conversations and thought. Introverts, my call to action for you is, I know you like being on your own, I know you like being in your head, but activism needs you, so sometimes you've got to get out there. It doesn't mean that you've got to turn into an extrovert and burn out, because that's no use for anyone, but what it does mean is that you should value the skills and the traits that you have that activism needs. So for everyone in this room, whether you're an extrovert or an introvert or an ambivert, the world needs you now more than ever, and you've got no excuse not to get involved.
Stoga imam dva poziva na akciju, za introverte i ekstroverte. Što se tiče ambiverta, vi ste uključeni u sve. Za ekstroverte, želim reći da kada planirate kampanje, mislite na introverte. Sjetite se koliko su vrijedne vještine introverata kao i ekstroverata. Dobro nam ide usporavanje i duboko promišljanje i dobro nam ide iznošenje detalja problema. Dobro nam ide intimni aktivizam, pa nas koristite na taj način. I dobri smo u privlačenju ljudi malim stvarima koje potiču razgovor ili promišljanje. Introverti, moj poziv na akciju za vas je, znam da volite biti sami i znam da volite biti u svojoj glavi, ali aktivizam vas treba pa ponekad morate izaći i djelovati. To ne znači da se morate pretvoriti u ekstroverta i pregoriti, jer to nikome ne koristi, nego to znači da trebate cijeniti vještine i osobine koje imate i koje trebaju aktivizmu. Za sve ovdje, bili vi ekstrovert, introvert ili ambivert, svijet vas treba više no ikad i nemate isprike da se ne uključite.
Thanks.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)