image by CharlesThompson

A few Sundays ago, an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President Bush. He threw them hard and fast. President Bush dodged expertly. Afterward, the President reacted jovially, even citing the incident as proof of Mission Accomplished: “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves.”

While the thrown shoes did little to shame President Bush, they did a lot to counteract the spin the Bush administration has put on the U.S. occupation of Iraq. They contradict the notion of American soldiers as liberators, identifying them, instead, as butchers of children and widow-makers.

In a world in which language spins enchanting webs around realities, making bad situations seem good or, at least, necessary, the anger of those who see the truth may be best expressed in action instead of words.

For activists to call others to fight for justice can seem, today, as empty as the Army calling Americans to fight for freedom. Weary with gibberish, the public glazes over at these verbal arguments. But when a shoe is thrown, the message comes through loud and clear.

So perhaps, action borne of anger is what we need today to crash through the webs of words that build up to defend injustice. Anger is an important emotion in activism. It is often the emotion that pushes people into activism in the first place. But if we are to use anger, we must do so intelligently and with an understanding of its pitfalls. Each individual must learn to use his or her anger so that it works positively, not negatively. Anger in activism can work negatively in three ways: by turning to cynicism, leading to violence or alienating allies.

One way in which anger works against an activist is when she begins to associate her identity with it. An angry activist may even use her anger to bolster her ego. Seeing others who are not made angry by, say, the abuse of animals for fur, she may say to herself, “They are too stupid to be angry, I am superior.” As soon as an activist begins to view her anger as a sign of superiority, she becomes no better than the oppressor with whom she is angry. It is through this ego-identification that the worst outcome of all can arise, turning cynic: “People are too stupid to get it. I’ll just focus on my own life and stop trying.” The next time she sees protestors holding placards of skinned and bleeding animals outside the department store, she scoffs. Now, she is better than them too.

The other danger, if anger doesn’t turn to cynicism, is that it escalates. Needing to prove his superiority, an activist may urge more and more violent action, showing how “committed” and “unafraid” he is. Again, the activist has allowed anger to become associated with his ego and distract him from the actual issue. He will harm and destroy more to feed his ego than the help the cause. Violence usually hurts public faith in the overall movement, just as the anarchists smashing store windows in the WTO protest overshadowed the more noble efforts of the peaceful protesters.

The third way that anger can turn counter-productive is when it becomes misdirected. In this scenario, the activist gets so rooted in her stance of anger that she applies it to everyone in her path, friends as well as foes. Recently, a friend wrote me with such a case. She was part of an environmental organization that was seeking to determine how it would word its mission statement. One member showed the statement to a friend and asked for input. When the member sent the edited statement to the group and said she would be distributing this version at an upcoming event, another member lashed out, angry that an outsider had been given this power. Though the edits were related to clarity and not content, the angry member was offended and attacked the “offending” member verbally. When other members discussed the incident, they found they’d all experienced such lashing from this person. This one member’s anger was clearly getting in the way of the group’s forward progress. Such ill-directed anger can lead an activist to be pushed out of a group, no matter how effective they could otherwise be.

Instead of becoming a part of one’s identity that must be fed and affirmed, anger must be treated as a magnificent messenger, commanding us toward right action for the whole. If something makes you deeply angry, heed that message. Your inner compass is telling you something is wrong. Once you’ve figured out what it is, the function of the anger has ceased and the anger can be let go. Then you can move into choosing a heart-centered means of righting the wrong. It may be changing consumption habits; it may be holding a rally; it may be writing a letter. The bottom line is: act. It’s in the name “activist”. The name is not “talkivist”, nor is it, much as I might like, “write-ivist”. At best, the talkers and writers inspire others to act. If we make people angry about an injustice, then good, may it move them to action, not cynicism.

By stepping away from the TV, the computer, and the podium and throwing our shoes, we act our beliefs. We may end up in jail. But if our compass is correct, the public will ultimately judge our actions as justified – even if the powers that be do not – and they will have served a purpose toward the greater whole. When Woodrow Wilson and his cronies tried to have suffragette Alice Paul declared insane by a psychiatrist, he said, “Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.” The quote may be amended to read, “Courage in the oppressed is often mistaken for insanity.” But though they may initially be deemed insane, when the oppressed act with courage, the justness of their acts rings out loud and clear to all those who suffer under oppression. As Gandhi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Anger is a messenger. Honor your anger. The greater it flares on behalf of others, the stronger your sense of justice. But know it for what it is – a direction, not a destination. Let it point you toward right action and let the memory of it maintain your spirit as you work to carry out that action. Do not tie your ego to your anger or your action. Seek your satisfaction not through the strength of your anger or the success of your action, but through the kinship you form with those working alongside you and the progress you make, together, to change the world.