The Activist Cookbook: Creative Actions for a Fair Economy
By Andrew Boyd
96 pp.
Send US$16 to United for a Fair Economy, 37 Temple Place Boston, MAQ 02111
Review by Dave Riley
In my time trying to pilot coalitions hither and thither so that we'd win what we were after, there was sure to be folk on board who wanted to campaign with a bit more pizzazz. Mostly, their enthusiasm focused on engineering stunts to draw attention to what we were on about. Mostly, the argument would run: "People are tired of marching and demonstrating, let's do something different." Mostly, they'd advocate anything rather than organising "another march and rally".
The most sophisticated would enthuse about the usefulness of utilising the media "to get our message across". So any action we'd organise would be judged, not by the numbers of people participating, but by how much coverage we'd picked up on the six o'clock news.
Counterposed like that, I'm overwhelmingly on the side of mass organisation. Masses of people in motion politically is at the heart of any campaign. That — rather than relying on a network news editor — is what I have confidence in.
This book takes an alternative view. The Activist Cookbook is cool toward the orientation I am enamoured with, mainly because it has a liberal rather than a mass perspective. It tries to tell us that a little spirited cleverness by small groups of people can make all the difference. Its toolbox is a series of stunts.
Nonetheless, the core methods advocated in The Activist Cookbook are a comprehensive menu of tactics that could juice up any campaign, while still preserving its mass perspective.
It describes itself as "a hands-on manual for organisers, artists and educators who want to get their message across in powerful, creative ways". With topics like: a survey of styles and modes of creative action; a soup to nuts guide for producing your own creative actions; a buffet of quick and dirty actions and simple ways to spice up routine events; and complete do-it-yourself kits for producing a few of our pre-designed creative actions, this cookbook is true to its name.
By using the theatre methods it revises and adapts the techniques that have been employed so effectively in the past and, in doing so, revitalises a tradition that extends back to the cultural work of all the major western Communist parties in the inter-war years. For instance, in 1930 there were 150 agitprop theatre groups affiliated to the German Communist Party which performed before a total audience of at least 2 million people.
Similarly, I was involved with a series of performances in 1970 which, over a four-week period, presented an antiwar message to 15,000 people.
So what the book's author, Andrew Boyd, waxes on about with such enthusiasm is warranted. In terms of responsiveness from targeted audiences, these techniques have a proven track record.
Boyd's make over is probably one of the few manuals available. Theatre of this nature has been drowned in rhetoric by leading practitioners such as Augusto Boal. This book cuts all the crap and makes the business of getting the message across the primary function.
For its clarity, zeal and wherewithal, this cookbook belongs in every activist's kitchen.