The event was focused on the many different parts that are involved in activism. The open dialogue brought out a lot of interesting ideas from people who see themselves as activists and from people who aren’t yet ready to accept that label.

The first interesting topic we discussed is whether people are obligated to be activists. Esmeralda brought up Alice Walker’s quote, ” Activism is my rent for living on the planet” which certainly summarizes a potential viewpoint on this question. Walker argues that activism is more an obligation than a choice. The idea has merit, but I don’t support it fully. The inverse of the quote is that a lack activism somehow means you are freeloading. This feeds into a false dichotomy that all activism is good and working from within the system is bad.

Then, we talked about the idea of protests having a figurehead. There were arguments from both sides. People asserted that a figurehead makes the movement more sympathetic and easier for the general public to associate themselves with the movement. Others worried that a figurehead can lead to one person having too much power to dictate an entire movement’s agenda. I would make the case that a figurehead is useful because it allows a movement to most effectively control its message and pr. The downside is that certain people and ideas in the movement, particularity the more radical, will be marginalized and shunned. However, I think this is the price you pay since you can’t have a successful movement that has moving goal posts.

Overall, the morning discussion was very useful and allowed me insight on how others at Cornell view activism.