Seven Stages of Revolutionary Activism

I have been involved in environmental and political activism

for 45 years

My career began as environmental revolutionary in 1966

soon after i went into business for myself

Deeply influenced by books on animal behavior

especially those written by Eugene Marais,

I made a wild life documentary film in the African bushveld.

Produced just six years after Rachel Carson wrote "Silent Spring"

who pointed out the devastating effects of DDT

and thus began the environmental movement

my production "Motsumi" was one of the earliest feature-length wild life films

(if not the first) eventually distributed world-wide as "Hunters of the Wild"

to bring attention to our responsibilities as custodians of our wild heritage

My move from wild life activism to the political arena

began while browsing in a book store in Hollywood in 1969

when I came across a shelf full of Communist manifestos

written by Marx, Moa, Lenin. Trotsky etc

I realized (as a child of the Cold War)

i had not read one of these works that had affected the life of the whole world

all these book were banned in South Africa

Tho I could understands why the Apartheid Government did not want blacks

to be influenced by communist manifestos

the banning also kept the whites ignorant of global politics

I felt then my first twinge of anger right then

of being untrusted by my own government

and deliberately excluded from my rights as a free soul

Unable to take them in the plane with me

I had a large crate of those books packed and shipped home

naively not realizing that they would be confiscated and impounded by South African customs as soon as they landed

My first act of rebellion opened a file on myself in the Bureau of State Security BOSS

the rest of my confrontation with BOSS over human rights violations

as a Television producer for the SABC

and then later after self imposed exile

as a producer for the BBC in Hong Kong over Chinese rights

is history already related elsewhere

so here

after 45 years of environmental and political activism

are the 7 Stages of Revolutionary activism as I see it

Stage 1

Become aware that some larger social injustice is being done

Stage 2

Collect evidence

Stage 3

Evoke righteous anger

Stage 4

Feel morally bound to become actively involved

Stage 5

Decide on what action to take

(This is where most people who find themselves involved in violence make a big mistake)

In order to decide on exactly what action to take

the evidence must be CAREFULLY evaluated

one will find that nobody is to blame

perpetrators of injustice and victims alike

are both caught up in a long history of evolutionary events

that are far greater than the sum of the negatives

therefore violence is NEVER an option

no matter how oppressed

Stage 6

Begin creative participation that you hope will lead to correction

Stage 7

Be prepared to be labelled as an unrealistic idealist by friends and relatives

who have yet to begin Stage 1