Beloved community: let's start thinking together about analog activism.
Analog activism is activism that is local, creative, and focused. It is a grain of sand in gears that would otherwise run smoothly. It is a chip in the knife's edge and a well-timed flash of light. It is short-lived and effective within a tight radius, loud to a meaningful few. Analog activism steps in when big activism falters and reminds us that the big gains are not the only gains worth getting.
The ticking clock in my grandfather's office
When I was a girl visiting my grandparents and it was time to nap, I took the bed in the "green room." It had once been my grandfather's office, and on the table was an analog clock. It was uncorded, unilluminated, and proudly showcased the LOUDEST tick I have ever heard. tick. Tick. TICK. Napping when grandparents are in the next room is hard enough. Napping with a clock hand ticking in your ear is impossible.
Analog technically means "not digital or computerized," but more generally, analog means "local, simple, and low tech." Compared to an HVAC system, a space heater is analog. Compared to a space heater, a campfire is even more analog. A clothesline instead of a dryer. A flip phone instead of a smart phone. A journal instead of a typewriter instead of a computer. Analog, analog, analog.
Our family knows about analog solutions because we live on the Gulf Coast, where a storm can knock out whole systems for hours or even days. When there's no power in the power lines, "analog" is a gas generator with extension cords snaking under the door. When the cell towers go dark, a grounded wifi router attached to that gas generator via one of those extension cords: that's analog. In summer 2024, Hurricane Beryl reminded us of the power of analog. In an emergency, the more analog, the better.
Analog activism
It is February 2025, and we are having a bit of an emergency. The emergency is big. It is overwhelming, relentless, and radiates from high-level rooms to which few are invited. When whole international agencies are being de-staffed and defunded, when Constitutional rights are precarious, when fifty years of legal precedence are suddenly gone — what are individuals, families, online churches, knitting groups, book clubs, and small advocacy groups to do?
The answer: analog activism. Local, creative, and focused.
The golden age of big activism
We are emerging from a golden age of big activism. In big activism, the goals are big gains, the biggest gains: election to office, passage of Congressional bills, or a won court case. Big activism hosts big events: million-people marches, thousand-people Zoom calls, high-wattage celebrities at football stadium rallies, and billions of dollars in fundraising. Big activism measures its success via viral videos and votes. Big, big, big.
Big activism wires us to think that the only gains worth getting are the big ones, because for a long time, that's how it worked in the golden age of big activism. We worked big and we won big: new laws! history-making elections! court case victories! Those big gains are important—and I will breathe easier when they are safe once again—but they are not the only prize.
Big activism, paradoxically, relegates most of us to the sidelines. Few of us will ever be in the big rooms, so big activism tasks us with the role of supporting the people who will be in the big rooms. It's meaningful role, but it's a distanced role.
We did a lot of big activism in the run up to the 2024 election. It didn't work, in the end.
Analog activism is local, creative, and focused
It is easy to respond to defeat by doing one of two things, both of which are missed opportunities. The first is to entrench: let's just stick to the old playback and do it better. The second is to freeze, because when faced with the magnitude of the emergency, what can we do? We can't build an everlasting fence around Obergefell, endowing those precious marriages with permanent protection. We can't reach into prisons and return medical care to trans prisoners. We can't turn the tide of Senate confirmations, un-pardon pardoned criminals, or reactivate thousands of DEI web pages that suddenly went offline.
(Importantly, big activism couldn't do any of these things, either.)
We have temporarily lost access to the big gains. But big gains are not the only prize.
Analog activism is local, creative, and focused. Its gains are isolated rather than widespread, but just as meaningful. It meets a particular moment at a particular tick of the second hand—TICK—with planted feet and a steely gaze: "Nothing gets by me, not today." It does its work, and then it's gone.
Last week, Hannah wrote about Benjamin Lay, an early Quaker abolitionist who poured red juice on the floor of the meeting house to represent the spilled blood of enslaved people. It didn't create a new law—the Civil War lay 150 years in the future—but I'll bet his allies felt a little more supported and emboldened. That mattered.
Two weeks ago, Madi wrote about Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who looked the new president in the eye and in a shaking voice, asked him to consider mercy. He smirked, demanded an apology, and then unleashed a flood of shocking executive orders. But millions of us felt a little bit lighter that day and said, "Finally!"
This week, I was reminded of Mary Molony, the Irish suffragette who followed Winston Churchill around, ringing a bell every time he spoke to drown out his words.
On Feb 3, 2025, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church won legal control of the "Proud Boys" trademarked name. This victory bars the far-right group from further use of their name or the sale of merchandise displaying their name or their symbols, without the church's consent.
These examples are inspiring. Creative. Local. Focused—but not fully analog, because we know about them. Analog activism is almost always obscure. It won't make the history books, and its noise is for a select audience only, sometimes just one or a few. This, too, will require reprogramming. Big activism values cameras, headlines, and historical records. Analog activism values creativity, immediate relief, and teamwork. Are we prepared to be obscure?
Obscure doesn't mean hidden, and obscure certainly doesn't mean quiet. Obscure means, "not discovered or known about." Analog activism is loud, annoying, and effective within its tight radius. It does its work, and it does it well.
Just ask that clock in my grandfather's office.
Queries for analog activism
In his 1963 "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that the first step of nonviolent action is "collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive." Injustices are alive everywhere, but instead of thinking big, think analog. What is happening locally where you are, perhaps even in your own family or inner circle?
If you don't know about any local injustices, shake your fist once more at big activism and the way it pulls your eyes far to the horizon. Then, start sleuthing. How could you find out what is going on in your area?
What tweaks can you make in your existing circles? Who are your neighbors who share your values? Would you be willing to "cold call" (or let's be real, "cold text") them and invite them over for coffee? They might say no: people are worried, exhausted, and afraid. But if they say yes, after a time of well-earned commiseration, can you turn your attention to action?
You found the live injustice and you found your team: what's the action? Think analog. What is a local, creative, and focused action item that would be meaningful?
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