THE news of climate protesters draping the home of Mr. Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, while he and his family members were away, highlights a sad reality of the day. Without demeaning the cause of the activists, one must say that the methods they have been adopting are infantile. This is not the first time that a kind of infantile activism is on display. Such childish kind of activism by disoriented young activists across the world is a rising phenomenon especially in the past few years. Not long ago, a bunch of climate activists staged a protest at the visitors centre next to a Volkswagen factory in Germany. One of the activists had glued himself to the floor and then sought bowls to urinate and defecate since he could not move. There were protests in which the activists defaced the paintings of French artist Claude Monet. In the latest case of draping of Mr. Sunak’s home, Mr. Oliver Dowden, British Deputy Prime Minister, minced no words in saying that the British people were ‘sick of stupid stunts’. Mr. Dowden, one must say, is right in calling such acts ‘stupid stunts’. What kind of activism is this? These activists are not only causing security alarm but also destroying the collective heritage of humanity. In the name of freedom to protest, they are destroying, timeless creative expressions. Such infantile protests are on the rise across the world.

 

In India as well as in European and other countries, people have seen activists dumping milk on to the floors or on to the roads, food being hurled on to the walls, activists wearing eccentric attires, vegetables being thrown on to roads, activists climbing on to trees and staying there for days etc. When such things do not work, many of the activists become ‘trolls’ on social media. Many young activists -- saner exceptions excluded -- abandon rhyme and reason and resort to hurling abuses and citing opinions as facts. Some have traced the roots of such kind of activism to youngsters getting disoriented due to multiplicity of choices for leading their life. Some have attributed this to dizzying abundance of information and viewpoints to the extent that the young activists get confused and become desperate to find a cause to make their life ‘meaningful’. However, in the process, instead of ‘building’ own study, they rely on the Internet and social media to ‘shape’ their intellectual abilities. They shy away from studying issues in-depth by developing a deeper understanding of how the existing democratic political and judicial processes work. Since developing an understanding of issues takes time, the young impatient activists resort to gimmicks that give publicity.

 

Fan following on the social media platforms, not necessarily the actual impact value, makes them feel valued. Gradually, they get stuck in strong messaging only instead of actually challenging the Government decisions, if they are wrong, through available legal means. Unfortunately, such infantile activism is bringing a bad name to genuine activists who are striving for years to bring about positive changes in public life through concrete policy-level constructive interventions. There are several problems to tackle in the world, for which good, committed, constructive activists are needed. They are the vents of society. One can take names of Mahatma Gandhi who took out ‘Dandi Yatra’ or to protest against the British levying tax on salt, Ms. Rosa Parks who fought against racial discrimination by not vacating a bus seat for a White man, Mr. Martin Luther King Jr, Mr. Nelson Mandela as glorious examples of activism offering hope and positivity. Given the acts of disoriented activists, one is afraid whether activism is losing its sting and reason. May that fear be misplaced.