Thread by @iyad_elbaghdadi

A few notes to my fellow activists (and myself) follow. I'll keep adding to this thread:

Understand your role in history. Our battle is ultimately the battle to raise consciousness, increase political awareness, convert apathy into energy, and present an inspiring vision. Sometimes we fight short term battles but the real fight is over the future.

Understand your real power. As a dear friend says: The superpower of an activist is moral integrity. Some call it consistency, some call it being principled. I call it having a clear, formidable, unyielding, outspoken moral compass. Yes, that's your superpower.

Understand your imperative: To speak truth to power. To speak truth to power. To speak truth to power. You do it not because it's your job, not because it's cathartic, not because you've been targeted. You do it because you can't not do it. You won't be you.

Do not give up. As helpless as we often feel, we're the true opposition. We're the ones to spoil their plans and expose their lies. They're spending billions to drown us out. If we give up, they'll have nobody opposing them. That's what they want.

Understand what progress looks like. We're used to sterile, robotic markers of progress but those rarely capture your true impact. Do not get frustrated when things seem to be going slow. Ours is a battle to awaken others, and it works one by one. No effort is too small.

Much of what you're trying to achieve is currently politically impossible. Make peace with this fact. If it were possible, you'd do politics, not activism. Don't focus on what's currently possible, focus on what's right and commit a lifetime to making it possible.

You're human. Sometimes you'll get angry. Sometimes you'll be tired. Sometimes the pain will get to you. And so sometimes you'll lash out. Activism isn't for the easily offended or the easily discouraged. Forgive yourself, forgive others, and learn to apologize and move on.

I don't have to tell you how hard this struggle is. I don't have to tell you how much patience and resolve and courage it takes. But you also have to be patient with those who don't get this. Work to educate them and treat them as potential recruits, not as enemies.

Remember that hurt people hurt people. Those who spew hatred are projecting their own fear, insecurities, and self-hatred outwards. You can't fix them. Protect yourself and create consequences for them, but don't obsess over them. You can't open their hearts, only they can.

Your activism is over when it becomes a vehicle for self-aggrandisement and careerism. There's nothing wrong with being famous, so long your ego serves your cause, rather than your cause serving your ego. Fame gives you power, but it doesn't make you a good activist.

Don't ever, ever disparage or look down on your own people, even when they frustrate you or disappoint you. When that happens, love them even harder. They'll notice, even when it least seems like it. Remember that you're not an anomaly, you're a member of your generation.

Understand the difference between strategy and tactics. You can lose ten tactical battles every day but still win the war strategically. Corner them into fighting today's battle while you win tomorrow's. Their power makes them feel they're geniuses - they're not.

It is basic physics that when a large force meets a small force on level ground, the small force will give way. All of strategy is about neutralizing your opponent's strengths and exploiting their weaknesses (and the reverse for your own strengths and weaknesses).

Work to shift the battle onto a field you have the advantage in. If your opponent is a heavyweight boxing champion, challenge them to chess. If your opponent is a chess grand master, challenge them to a singing contest. Don't meet your opponent on their own grounds.

Love yourself. Self-care is among the most revolutionary things you can do. Pain, shame, and guilt are human, but they're also very selfish and self-absorbed. Everything you project at the world has its source inside you. Love yourself so you can truly love others.

As a human rights activist you belong to the entire planet. You do not belong to a single cause or country. You're no activist if you don't *know* that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We're not safe until we're all safe, we're not free until we're all free.

Remember that this is a marathon, not a heroic sprint. It's a struggle and a career, not a single performance. Always keep your eye in the direction of your goal and always think long term. Are your daily activities aligned in the direction of your long term goal?

Own your identity and display it proudly, but avoid the trap of slipping towards identity-based activism. Your moral imperative as a human must trump all your identities. Find a purpose and make it your identity; don't find an identity and make it your purpose.

We each have focus areas into which we invest - don't let that separate you from other people's struggles. But also, don't become a know-it-all who comments without context. Build bridges with activists from other struggles, let them educate you, and elevate their voice.

The immediate battle isn't over politics, it's over narratives, and it happens within the minds and souls of a generation. Act to promote and prove your narrative, and disrupt and disprove the narrative of your opponents.

There are good enemies and bad enemies. A good enemy proves your narrative and forces you to get better at what you do. A bad enemy distracts you, dissipates your efforts and wastes your time. Similarly there are good allies and bad allies. Pick wisely.

Activism is a team sport. Solo players burn out, or turn into self interested careerists. Solidarity isn't just a good idea, it's a survival strategy and a moral imperative. Your opponents band up together and work together - so must you and your comrades.

Activism requires building alliances and coalitions, and multiplying efforts. This means working with people who may have different life philosophies, but share your goals. Work with them with all your heart, and love them. That is how philosophical barriers melt.

Understand that you have strategic enemies and tactical enemies. Most "bad guys" are only tactical enemies. The strategic enemies are mostly not individuals, but concepts and systems - like tyranny, racism, tribalism, cowardice, greed, and apathy. The biggest one is apathy.

Privileged people can afford to be apathetic, because their privilege shields them from consequence. Don't hold it against them - their privilege doesn't make them automatically guilty, it just (often) makes them blind. Work to awaken them, not to alienate them.

Realize that you are also privileged in key ways. The very fact that you can practice activism means you have it better than many who are too marginalized to even be able to. Your voice and platform should be theirs as much as it is yours.

A good battle is one that is winnable and worth winning. If you ever find yourself in a battle that's not worth winning, cut your losses. If you find yourself in a battle that's not winnable, question and recalibrate what "winning" means, at all.

Most people are apathetic most of the time, until they are moved, or targeted. These are windows of opportunity to get them involved; plan and use action strategically to recruit and train. Bring people into your circle and offer them camaraderie and meaning.

Fear is among the most powerful dark weapons, in politics and beyond. It's how they get people to give up, and surrender their agency to them. Counter fear with hope. Hope means that things are still open to possibility. So long there's still a fight, there's hope.

Faith is key to activism. We're not talking about religious dogmas - to have faith is to trust that there's enough goodness in the world to drown out the hate; that we can act out of love, not fear; that some things are worth a life's work; that someone will catch us if we fall.

Understand that defeat doesn't come when you lose a battle, or when you get depressed, or when you feel crushed. These emotions pretty much describe every day of being an activist. Defeat comes when you turn cynical and stop believing that anything is worth it.

Don't define yourself as a victim. It's tempting, because the self-righteousness and self-pity that come with it can be comforting. But don't be a victim, be a fighter and a survivor and an advocate. There are real victims out there who need you.

Don't let the oppressed people you care about get comfortable in the role of victim. Offer your emotional support, but do so in order to inspire them to find their voice. It is neither kind nor empowering to encourage the oppressed to wallow in their victimhood.

The crushed have little agency, but remember, their agency is all they have. Inspire them to understand and rise against the systemic injustices that keep them pinned down. When enough people apply their agency, even the most stubborn systemic barriers can be moved.