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."
幾年前,大約七年前, 我躲在一個節慶現場的廁所中, 一個音樂節活動現場的廁所, 如果你有去過音樂節, 是的,你就會知道,到了第三天, 廁所很噁心。 我站在廁所裡, 因為我甚至無法坐下, 因為已經沒有捲筒衛生紙了, 到處都是泥巴, 氣味非常難聞。 我站在那裡,心想: 「我在幹嘛? 我根本不想上廁所。」
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.
但我去廁所的理由 是因為我自願參與一個 關於氣候公義的大型慈善活動, 那是七年前, 那時很多人不相信氣候變遷, 人們對於行動主義冷嘲熱諷, 而我和我的隊友的角色, 是要讓大家簽氣候公義的請願書, 並教育他們,讓他們了解這個議題。 我非常在乎氣候變遷 以及許多不平等之事, 所以我去和很多人交談, 那讓我很緊張,耗盡我的精力, 但我還是因為在乎而去做了, 但我會躲在廁所裡, 是因為我累壞了, 我不希望我的隊友 懷疑我對理想的承諾, 覺得我在偷懶。 我們會在輪班時段結束時碰面, 然後計算簽了多少份請願書, 通常我取得的簽名請願書都最多, 雖然我有在廁所中小歇。
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.
但我總是非常嫉妒其他行動主義者, 因為從輪班時段開始, 請大家簽請願書, 一直到輪班時段結束, 他們的精力都不變。 甚至有人的精力還更旺盛了, 他們會很興奮地去看晚上的樂團演出 並跳跳舞。 就算我喜歡那些樂團, 我想做的也只有回到帳篷倒頭大睡, 因為我完全精疲力竭了, 我很嫉妒有那種有精力 去節慶狂歡的人。 而我內心也感到很憤怒, 我心想:「這不公平, 我是內向的人, 所有的非線上活動 似乎都偏袒外向的人。」 我會去讓我覺得很累的遊行。 那是另一個選項。 或是我會去參與 大使館外或商店外的活動。 唯一提供的,就是一堆人, 那是很大聲且招搖的行動主義, 總是會涉及很多人,這也是種表演。 沒有什麼是適合內向者的, 我不僅僅覺得那很不公平, 因為世界上有三分之一 到二分之一的人是內向的人, 對他們不公平, 因為我們若不是筋疲力竭, 不然就是對行動主義冷感 而不想去做, 而在這個世界上每個人 都需要成為行動主義者。 此外,雖然我不覺得這點特別聰明, 但我可以看到,許多成功的行動主義 都不只是外向的行動主義。 不只是很大聲很招搖的。 重點並不是要人們總是在表演。 很多必要的功夫都在背後, 是隱藏的、沒被看見的。
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.
當我最後成為一個從事社會運動者, 因為其實那是我唯一能做的工作── 我大學時就在從事社會運動, 過去十年來,我的職業一直是在做 大型慈善運動, 現在我在不同慈善團體 以及我其他工作中擔任 社會運動創意顧問── 但我知道還需要有 其他形式的行動主義。 大約七年前,我開始瞎忙, 想了解我能參與哪些 比較安靜式的行動主義, 才不會覺得當行動主義者很累人, 且能去探究在做社會運動時 我會在乎的那些議題。 我非常幸運,當我為樂施會 及其他大型慈善團體工作時, 我可以閱讀許多大型報告, 內容是關於什麼會影響政客、企業、 一般大眾, 什麼運動非常成功、 什麼沒有用等等。 我算是個怪胎, 所以我會看所有這些東西, 我喜歡什麼都試試, 看我能如何用不同的方式 讓人們去參與社會變遷, 因為我認為如果我想要 讓世界更美麗、仁慈、公正, 那麼我們的行動主義就應該 是美麗、仁慈、公正的, 但通常卻不是。 今天,我只想要談我認為行動主義 需要內向者的三個原因。 我認為有許多原因, 但我只想談其中三個。
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.
第一,行動主義通常很快速, 它的重點是去做, 通常外向者對於 不公平的立即反應就是, 我們現在就得行動, 我們得要非常快速地因應── 是的,我們的確需要因應, 但我們在從事社會運動時 得要有策略, 如果只因為憤怒就行動, 通常我們會做錯事。 我會用手工藝,像縫紉── 就像我身後這個人在做的── 來當作讓那些外向者 緩下來的一種方式, 同時也可以把緊張、安靜的 內向者帶入行動主義。 透過進行重覆性的動作, 比如手工藝,你不能做很快, 你得要慢慢做。 重覆的一針又一針, 能協助你去調解大型、複雜、 混亂的社會變遷議題, 並想出我們身為 公民、消費者、選民等等角色時, 能做的是什麼。 它能協助你一邊縫紉 一邊做批判性思考, 它也能協助你更留心你的動機。
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.
你是先前提到的芭比 人道救助人員嗎? 你是否即將要加入人們,團結一心, 還是你想要當 通常不太道德的救星? 但一起做縫紉,也能夠讓 外向者、內向者、外向又內向者── 來自光譜上任何一個區段的人── 因為它是行動主義的 一種安靜緩慢的形式, 它真的能協助內向者, 在通常聽不見他們聲音的 領域中被聽見。 這聽起來很奇怪, 但當你在縫紉時,你不需要 和別人做眼神接觸。 所以,對於緊張的內向者而言, 這就意味著你可以在 一個人或一群人旁邊縫紉, 並問出你腦中的問題, 那些你通常沒有時間 去問別人的問題, 或是在眼神接觸時你就會 緊張到問不出來的問題。
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.
所以你可以讓那些 深思熟慮的內向者說: 「很有意思的是你想要做那種 重點是讓人感到羞恥或是 很快要跑去哪個地方的 外向式行動主義, 但你試圖瞄準的目標 是什麼人?你要怎麼做? 那是最好的做法嗎?」 那意味著你得用非常慢的 方式來進行這些討論, 對於外向者而言, 能慢下來深思是好事, 但這也對內向者很好, 能被聽見,感覺有參與 造成改變的社會運動, 用一種好的方式。
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.
我們的一些做法是縫紉卡片, 用針線描繪出我們行動主義的價值, 且能確保我們不會 用不道德的方式來因應。 有時,我們會和藝術機構合作, 我們能在維多利亞與艾伯特博物館 聚集超過 150 人, 他們能來數小時, 坐下來一起針對特定的議題做縫紉, 然後用推特分享他們的想法 或過程狀況,就像這個。
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.
此外,我總是認為 行動主義需要內向者, 因為我們非常擅長親密的行動主義。 我們擅長緩慢的行動主義, 我們也很擅長親密的行動主義, 如果在這一年我們學到什麼, 那就是當我們遇到掌權人的時候, 我們要用的方式是 去傾聽我們不認同的人, 要建立橋樑而非圍牆── 圍牆(walls)或戰爭(wars)── 要成為批判性的朋友, 而非好鬥的敵人。
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.
舉一個例子,我常和內向者這樣做, 和很多人都這樣做, 就是為當權者做禮物, 不是在外面對著他們吼叫, 而是給他們某件東西, 比如訂製的手帕, 上面寫:「別搞砸它。 把你的權力用在好的地方。 我們知道你在這個有權力的位置, 工作是很困難的。 我們能如何協助你?」 很棒的是,對於內向者, 我們能一邊做這些禮物,一邊寫信, 所以對我們而言,馬莎百貨, 我們試著發起運動, 讓他們採用最低維生薪資。 所以我們為 14 位董事 通通做了訂製的手帕。 我們寫信給他們,我們把信裝箱, 我們跑去股東年會, 親手送我們的禮物, 進行那種親密式的行動主義, 並得以和他們進行討論。 很棒的是,董事長告訴我們 我們的運動有多不可思議, 以及多麼窩心。
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?"
而董事們,如瑪莎.蓮恩.福克斯, 在推特上有數十萬的追隨者, 且對商業的影響力也相當高, 她在推特上說她的印象有多麼深刻, 在十個月內, 我們和馬莎百貨開了會議, 然後告訴他們: 「我們知道身為最低 維生薪資的僱主是很困難的, 但如果你們能做到, 這一行的其他人也都會看見, 而且有些很棒的全職員工 仍然無法支付他們的帳單, 這樣是不對的。 我們愛馬莎百貨。 你們要如何成為我們 期望的那個典範呢?」
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 --
那就是親密式的行動主 義。 我們和他們開了很多場會議, 聖誕節和情人節我們都 送卡片給他們,寫著: 「我們真的很想要鼓勵你們 採用最低維生薪資。」 在十個月之內,他們對媒體宣布, 他們將會支付獨立的 最低維生薪資,而現在──
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you.
謝謝。
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.
現在,我們在試著和他們合作, 取得正式認可, 這是很重要的, 今年六月,我們又 去了上次的股東年會, 和董事們進行了很棒的一對一討論, 他們告訴我們,他們很愛那些手帕, 我們所做的真的讓他們很感動, 他們全都告訴我們, 如果我們的抗議方式是站在外頭 對他們大聲叫囂而不溫和, 他們就不會傾聽我們, 更不可能和我們進行討論。
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.
我認為內向者非常 擅長親密式行動主義, 因為我們喜歡傾聽, 我們喜歡一對一, 我們不喜歡閒聊, 我們喜歡和別人談 富有刺激性的大議題, 我們不喜歡衝突, 所以我們會不計代價避免它, 當我們面對掌權人時,這點很重要, 不要總是和他們衝突。
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.
我認為如果行動主義者 不納入內向者, 他們會錯失的第三點 就是我先前說的, 內向者佔世界人口的一半, 我們大部分人都不會說自己內向, 或是我們不好意思說出 是什麼讓我們不知所措。 所以,對我來說,幾年前, 我媽媽以前傳訊息給我時 都只會用大寫字── 現在她用表情符號之類的 都很行了── 但當我看到這種訊息, 我會皺眉蹙額,心想:「喔, 都是大寫字,太過頭了。」 我得要忽視這現象,才能去 閱讀她傳給我的美好文字。 要告訴別人說大寫字 讓你不知所措, 的確是會有點不好意思, 但我們真的需要內向者, 來協助我們策劃出能吸引他們 而不是讓他們冷感的行動主義。 我們會冷感的包括大型的傲慢海報、 大寫字、驚嘆號、 告訴我們要做什麼、 爭取我們的注意力。
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.
所以,我和世界各地 一些參與者的做法 是去做爭議性的小型街頭藝術, 掛在眼睛的高度,非常小型, 上面是爭議性的訊息。 不會反覆灌輸鼓吹, 或告訴別人要怎麼做。 目的只是要讓人們 用不同的方式參與, 並為他們自己想, 因為我們不喜歡被告知要做什麼。
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?"
可能是在你的袖子上 戴個綠色的愛心, 說說你愛的是什麼、 氣候改變會如何影響它, 我們會戴著它, 如果有人說: 「你為什麼要戴個綠色愛心, 上面寫著『巧克力』?」 我們就能進行一對一的 親密交談,然後說: 「我愛巧克力。 氣候變遷將會影響到它, 且我想氣候變遷會影響到很多東西, 我很想要成為解決方案的一部分, 而非問題的一部分。」 接著我們會把話題轉向, 因為我們不喜歡成為注意的焦點, 說:「你愛什麼? 氣候變遷會對它有什麼影響?」
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.
或是在店內丟下東西 而非在店內行竊, 我們會做小小的紙捲, 上面寫著美好的故事, 關於你的衣服背後的故事。 它是個關於衣服製做的喜悅故事, 或是折磨人的故事? 我們會到店家內, 把紙捲放到口袋中, 都是小寫字,都是手寫, 夾帶親吻符號和笑臉,還有絲帶, 人們發現它的時候會很興奮。 我們通常會把紙捲放在 不道德的店家中或前口袋裡, 用這種方式,我們可以 以線下的方式從事運動, 讓我們能參與而不會冷感, 同時也用很有趣的方式 讓其他人在線上及線下參與。
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.
我有兩項行動呼籲, 分別給內向者與外向者。 至於內向又外向者, 這些通通和你有關。 對外向者,我想說的是, 當你在規劃一項運動時, 要想想內向者。 想想我們的技巧, 是和外向者的技巧一樣有價值。 我們很擅長放慢速度和深思, 且我們真的很擅長 把議題的細節點出來。 我們擅長親密行動主義, 所以以那種方式來運用我們。 我們也很擅長引發別人的好奇心, 我們會做奇怪的小事情 來協助創造交談和想法。 內向者,我給你們的呼籲是, 我知道你喜歡靠自己, 我知道你喜歡自己想事情, 但行動主義需要你, 有時你得要站出來。 那並不表示你得要變成外向者, 然後筋疲力竭, 因為那樣對誰都沒用, 真正的意思是, 是你應該要重視 你擁有的技巧和特質, 行動主義需要它們。 所以,在座各位, 不論你是外向者、內向者, 或外向又內向者, 現在是世界最需要你的時候, 你沒有藉口不參與。
Thanks.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)