What Is Activism?

What is activism? Is what most of us engage in activism or is it just so much showing off? Can we become real activists? What's holding us back?

What Is Activism?

by C. A. Matthews

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

--George Bernard Shaw, playwright and critic

This week I was planning on introducing a documentary film, To Kill A War Machine, to the general public at our main library branch downtown. After doing some research on the group the film is about, Palestine Action, it got me to thinking: What is activism? Is what most of us engage in activism or is it just so much showing off? Can we become real activists? What’s holding us back?

I’m not going to dissect the “No Kings” event that happened recently since so many others have already done so. Caitlin Johnstone and Lee Camp both wrote excellent pieces about it. What I am going to say here for the record is that I agree with their takes on it.

No Kings wasn’t a “protest” as much as it was a “rally” or a “parade” (if people marched along a parade route). There’s nothing wrong with rallies or parades, but when circumstances are as dire as many of us think they are, then we simply don’t have time to waste on fun things like rallies or parades. We need to get down to business. Things are happening in our world that are deadly serious and need addressing. Now.

This is the way I saw the No Kings event I attended: It was like an adult spying a house on fire and then deciding to dress up in an inflatable dinosaur costume and prance about in front of the burning house holding a Trump is a DICKtator sign instead of organizing a water bucket brigade to put the fire out. Cute costume and clever sign but a juvenile reaction. It’s neither helpful nor appropriate to the occasion. For instance, where were the Feed the people! or General Strike Now! signs?

And the classic If Kamala were president, we’d all be at brunch signs… Yes, I spied a few of those. That sentiment explains in a nutshell exactly what’s wrong with the US. Life here is always about well-to-do Americans supporting the status quo, maintaining their wealth, and living in their comfort zone, often at the expense and suffering of others.

How self-centered and selfish can you get! The poor and needy don’t exist in their worldview other than as unpleasant bumps in the road as they race their Porches down the highway of life. That’s all we working class peons are to the elites really—speed bumps that kill the richies’ buzz. It probably explains why not everyone appreciated our Palestinian flags, anti-genocide signage, and chants of “Say it loud! Say it clear! We don’t want no Zionists here!” at our local No Kings event.

But enough about brain dead, immoral, capitalist genocide-enablers… What we need to be doing is straight-up activism. We need to take direct actions to end the genocide in Gaza and so many other atrocities that the US and Western nations finance and operate around the globe. We need to take direct actions to shut down the abuses of the corrupt and cruel economic system we live in.

Palestine Action challenged the war machine directly, and they got arrested and are currently paying a heavy price for their actions. Are you willing to do the same? Are you willing to risk your reputation, your job or career, perhaps even your very life to stop a genocide?

Don’t be afraid to admit, “No, I’m not willing to risk my life to save others’ lives.” Most people think along those lines. We have our families to think of, after all. And if we’re all dead, then who will be left to shut down the genocide and help rebuild Palestine? Those are important considerations. Because even after the last bomb is dropped by the IOF, the last child shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, there will still be a lot of work to be done to bring wholeness again to the brokenhearted Palestinian people.

Having said that, I believe we all can do more than what we’re currently doing to bring an end to the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. We don’t have to dress up as dinosaurs and carry We’d rather be at brunch signs, either. We all can speak out boldly and point out the narrative spin on current events reportage to others who might not quite understand that propagandists like Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher aren’t to be trusted. Of course, in doing so we’ll risk losing friends and close contact with some family members, but it will be worth it.

Who really needs a Zionist as a confidant anyway? In our ever-increasing fascistic society, a Zionist is more than likely to turn you over for "wrong think” to the closest ICE vigilante for a monetary reward. Anyone who is okay with the deaths of so many innocent Palestinians isn’t going to lose any sleep over you being left to rot in a prison cell. I hate to say it, but they just won’t.

But for all the friends we lose, we’ll find new ones who believe in justice and fairness and are willing to take direct action alongside us to kill the war machine. I hope that watching the documentary To Kill A War Machine will inspire our audience to do just that. I hope it will inspire more of us to take action, even if it’s only to morally or financially support others who do the actual physical work.

As the Freedom Flotilla and Global Sumud Flotilla participants proudly said: “It’s all hands on deck!” Now is not the time to jump in a lifeboat and paddle back to your comfort zone. Now is the time to take action. What will your response be to the call?

Watch the film here: youtu.be/_hdHCS0X610

Here’s my introduction to the film:

Welcome everyone to the Toledo premiere of To Kill A War Machine. Tonight we’re going to watch a documentary that is currently banned in the country where it was filmed—the United Kingdom.

Following a vote in the House of Commons on July 2, 2025, Palestine Action, the activist group the documentary follows, was proscribed or determined to be a terrorist organization. The filmmakers, the Rainbow Collective, made a difficult decision to take down the online version of their film and plan no further screenings in the UK. The film itself isn’t illegal, as it was produced and edited prior to Palestine Action’s designation as a terrorist group.It has always been the filmmakers’ intention to tell critical and truthful stories with integrity, but they don’t want their documentary to expose audiences to danger from the state and, as such, the film will remain unavailable in the UK for the time being. Fortunately for us, we’re still able to see and promote the film here in the United States.

The House of Commons’ vote put Palestine Action on par with armed terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). You might have read about and seen photographs of protesters—many of them elderly or disabled—being arrested in London recently for simply holding up a sign stating: I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action. More than 2,100 people have been arrested in these demonstrations and some 170 of the protesters* have been charged with allegedly showing support for a terrorist group, which can lead to a six months prison term and a fine of up to 5,000 pounds. One of the oldest of these protesters, 83-year-old Anglican priest the Reverend Sue Parfitt, has been arrested twice for her support of Palestine Action so far. (Now, that’s bravery!)

(*Update: The first of the “36 minute trials” are coming soon for the pensioners and disabled protesters accused of being “terrorists” for supporting Palestine Action. If convicted of terrorism, it could cause them to suffer travel restrictions and employment difficulties.)

To Kill A War Machine is directed by Hannan Majid and Richard York of the Rainbow Collective, filmmakers with 20 years experience in documenting movements for social justice around the world. The film chronicles activities by direct‑action activists targeting Israeli arms manufacturers in the UK—a chronicle of civil resistance caught on body cams and protesters’ cell phones. Its potency lies in its immediacy with handheld cameras capturing activists smashing factory glass, scaling fences, and dousing equipment in red paint.

To Kill A War Machine, in the very act of being released under threat, has become its own after‑the‑fact activism. It doesn’t merely report on activists and their actions. The film itself is a defiant act, contested in the same courts as the actions it documents. Interspersed with interviews and narration by Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard, co-founders of Palestine Action, the film humanizes a covert movement, presenting trespass and property damage as moral resistance to complicity in conflict. Rather than depicting protesters as faceless disruptors, it presents them as individuals bound together by care, urgency, and shared risk.

Palestine Action describes itself as a movement “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.” The group was launched in July 2020, and not as recently as some of you might have suspected, because the genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel has been going on for well over 77 years now. Palestine Action has stated: “The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”

On October 16, the UK government failed in its attempt to block a challenge against its decision to ban Palestine Action under terrorism laws. In a highly significant ruling, the Court of Appeal paved the way for the review of the ban before a High Court judge next month. The Home Office said it would consider the implications of the ruling, but said Palestine Action, for now, would remain a proscribed group and those who support them will “face the full force of the law.”

From the era of the suffragettes to the gay rights movement to the anti-apartheid struggle, genuine political resistance has always involved intentional law-breaking. To Kill A War Machine reminds us that there are some who are willing to risk their freedom to fight injustice.

Inspiration to motivate you to take action…

SNAP Shutdown: Hunger as a Political Weapon https://futuredude.substack.com/p/snap-shutdown-hunger-as-a-political

Palestine Action supporters to be given just 36 minutes in kangaroo court to plead their case https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/palestine-action-supporters-to-be

What’s Next After ‘No Kings’ — Could Millions Go on Strike? youtu.be/70xK8FMFW6U

No Kings, Only Oligarchs: Foundation Money Behind The ‘Grassroots’ https://popularresistance.org/no-kings-only-oligarchs-the-foundation-money-behind-the-grassroots/

This Is The Moment To Scale Up Mobilizations For Palestine https://popularresistance.org/this-is-the-moment-to-scale-up-mobilizations-for-palestine/

Zionists Push Islamophobia Because It’s Easier Than Getting People To Like Israel https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/zionists-push-islamophobia-because

UN records 71 settler attacks in one week across occupied West Bank https://thecradle.co/articles/un-records-71-settler-attacks-in-one-week-across-occupied-west-bank

Israel’s Untold Environmental Genocide https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/israels-untold-environmental-genocide

Palestinians in Gaza Struggle to Retrieve Their Dead With Little More Than Hammers https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/palestinians-gaza-bodies-buried-rubble-missing-ghf-israeli-captives-prison

Israel and US Scorn ICJ Ruling Against Starving Civilians as Method of Warfare https://truthout.org/articles/israel-and-us-scorn-icj-ruling-against-starving-civilians-as-method-of-warfare/

Ohio University removes professor Tom Hayes detained by Israel from teaching his class https://israelpalestinenews.org/ohio-professor-detained-by-israel/

Biden Admin Discarded Internal Finding That Israel Killed Palestinian-American Journalist on Purpose https://truthout.org/articles/official-says-biden-admin-shunted-his-finding-idf-intentionally-shot-journalist/

The Speech That the National Press Club Censored: The Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-speech-that-the-national-press

EU Declares War On Its Own Members https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/eu-declares-war-on-its-own-members

25 years of war on Venezuela in 8 minutes https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/25-years-of-war-on-venezuela-in-8

Trump Suggests US Strikes on Alleged Drug Shipments on ‘Land’ Are Coming Soon https://news.antiwar.com/2025/10/22/trump-suggests-us-strikes-on-alleged-drug-shipments-on-land-are-coming-soon/

Why Trump is bailing out Argentina’s libertarian leader Javier Milei with $40 billion https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/trump-bailout-argentina-javier-milei

Is Your Medication Made in a Contaminated Factory? The FDA Won’t Tell You. https://www.propublica.org/article/fda-hides-drug-names-contaminated-factories

The Rise of the Thielverse and the Construction of the Surveillance State (w/ Whitney Webb) | The Chris Hedges Report https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-thielverse-and-the

The 308 Counts of Felony Cruelty That the Government Ignored https://blog.simpleheart.org/p/the-308-counts-of-felony-cruelty

Oil and Gas Companies Used Banned Toxic Chemicals Near the Rocky Mountains https://scheerpost.com/2025/10/21/oil-and-gas-companies-used-banned-toxic-chemicals-near-the-rocky-mountains

Can AI Help Solve Our Water Problems? https://www.thebrockovichreport.com/p/can-ai-help-solve-our-water-problems

Give Me Ecoliteracy School (and quit schools that promote Earth-ravaging capitalism and AI) https://www.greensocialthought.org/less-what-we-dont-need/give-me-ecoliteracy-school-and-quit-schools-that-promote-earth-ravaging-capitalism-and-ai/

Capitalism Is Shoving AI Down Our Throats Because It Can’t Give Us What We Actually Want https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/capitalism-is-shoving-ai-down-our

The world is at a crossroads https://merijngoeman.substack.com/p/the-world-is-at-a-crossroads