The Ego of Activism with Bayo Akomolafe

Exploring BLM, Cancel Culture, Karens and JK Rowling…

“Maybe you are searching amongst the branches for what only appears in the roots.”  - Rumi

In the midst of Black Lives Matters, there is both a renewed urgency to protect marginalised groups and a simultaneous backlash against it. Is this because of ignorance or is there a valid concern? 

Friendly critics draw a distinction between the goals and methods of social justice activism. While the intentions are good, the dominant display of social justice activism is contributing to a political culture that strips complex issues of nuanced discussion. There are no two sides to the debate, not even multiple perspectives on a complex issue, but instead a subtle but powerful moral pressure to conform to the prevailing social justice orthodoxy, for fear of being labeled racist or oppressive. Think moral outrage, cancel culture, middle class women being derogatorily referred to as Karens, or the dilemma for people who resonate with JK Rowling’s opinions on biological sex, but in no way want to be transphobic. Even if activists are completely right on these issues, this isn’t a good strategy to get the rest of the world on board. 

We are in a paradoxical landscape where unacknowledged trauma shapes all sides, and the dominated become the dominators, balkanising into smaller tribes that speak largely to their in group. This highly polarising activism plays into the hands of the far right who capitalise on an increasing allergy to ‘woke’ activism. It’s Trump’s trump card in the 2020 US presidential election. 

Our intuition is that these polarising tendencies have psychological roots that need to be understood and integrated. The promise is a mature form of activism that can vigorously stand with those who are oppressed, whilst finding a language and form that inspires the majority to stand with us. Not from a place of fear or silent coercion, but empathy and integrity. 

In preparation for the original event with Charles Eisenstein, we compiled an incomplete list of egoic tendencies in Activism. We're curious what from this list you feel are difficult to name in activists circles or that you find yourself reenacting.

1. Tribalism

2. Totalising worldviews

3. The belief that you are right

4. Cultural superiority

5. Enemy creation

6. Fragility in the face of criticism

7. Pathologising activism as a defence mechanism

8. Privilege blindness

9. Privilege bashing

10. Victimhood and revenge

11. Shaming and blaming

12. Dominator mindset

13. Virtue signalling

14. Moral purity

15. Idiot compassion

16. Frenetic productivity

17. Poverty mindset

18. Taking ourselves way too seriously

19. Overly negative and masochistic

20. Acting from fear and insecurity

21. Blind spot we're not aware of yet

22. Blind spot we're not aware of yet

We’ll explore the wounds, traumas, limiting beliefs and primal desires that animate this collective ego and how to playfully disarm it.

Bayo Akomolafe is an Author, speaker, lecturer, renegade academic, ethnopsychotherapeutic researcher and proud diaper-changer, Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), is globally recognized for his poetic, unconventional and counter-intuitive take on global crisis, civic action and social change. He is Executive Director and Initiating / Co-ordinating Curator for the Emergence Network. Bayo has authored two books: ‘We Will Tell Our Own Story’ and ‘These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters To My Daughter on Humanity’s Search For Home’ and has penned forewords for many others.

Ronan Harrington is a speaker and founder of Alter Ego, a network of social change leaders that are pioneering personal, cultural and political renewal. He has worked as a Political Strategist for Extinction Rebellion UK and Futurist at the British Foreign Office.

@RonanHarrington on Twitter

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