The origin of activism, according to the official definition, is coming from social or political-based actions or movements. People associating around important topics and issues are the spark of later actions, giving a platform to gather around similar values and concerns, to become more and more involved. Joining a group is found to be easier for many activists, but of course, it isn’t mandatory! Such movements just have been proven to provide an important context for activism in several ways. They are helping with setting a main theme of actions and vision what should be changed in particular way, defining what are the most pressing problems and calling for further real actions and problem-solving solutions. Beside that, there could be also listed supportive and learning environment, with access to needed resources, guidelines, good practices or proper framework for how to advocate effectively, how to get closer to set goals and desired changes in the world and society.

But all movements are not coming from nowhere. They are the result and power of collective actions. They are starting from ordinary people, individuals taking up on issues that society seems to be not concerned about or not so aware of. This specific approach is called „grassroots activism”, because of building the power of voice from ground zero and is based on a rather spontaneous need to act – here and right now. According to its characterisitcs, we all have the capacity to make a difference and take action in large ways, choosing our role as activist depening on personal skills or interests.

With the development of civilization, we face a bunch of urging modern problems requiring the attention of society on many levels, be it in form of local, national or global activism. At the same time, they are providing several areas of activity to get involved in. Due to their large scale or specification, we can list some recognisable and interesting examples of movements of activism dealing with relevant issues:

• green activism; eco activism, environmental activism,
• climate (justice) activism,
• animal rights activism,
• human rights activism,
• feminist activism,
• LGBTQ+ activism,
• social justice activism,
• peace activism,
• youth activism,
• Internet activism; webactivism, digital activism, e-activism,

More about those areas of activism and their characteristics you can read in the next article.

Sources:

https://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/07Anderson.html

https://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/grassroots-activism

https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/activism/44871