First of all, congrats to everyone who has posted on your school’s behalf. There is nothing more motivating than seeing how others are engaging in and, with some inevitable obstacles, making strides in the sustainable foods movement. It is absolutely imperative that we keep our voices loud and move forward together, supporting each other in every way possible throughout this “delicious revolution.
As excited and ambitious as we may get about this movement, it is also necessary that we keep everything in the right perspective. This can be hard, often frustrating work, and you have to be prepared for rejection by your peers, your schools, your food service providers, and others. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but the reality is that we’ve got a tough struggle ahead of us.
Then again — why should we see this as a struggle? Despite the challenges we’re facing (all of which vary drastically from one place to another), there is a way to approach the issues we care about that can have surprising outcomes. It’s called celebratory activism, and this food-centered movement is the ideal setting for it to flourish.
Celebratory activism goes against the kind of “angry” activism that plagues many social movements: demonizing the opposition, excluding others, drawing straight lines towards clearly defined objectives, and measuring success by how closely these objectives are reached. Rather than guilt-tripping people into accepting certain views, celebratory activism promotes alternatives to the status quo. It makes the movement accessible and appealing to anyone and everyone. It involves both rationality and spontaneity, recognizing that you need celebration and performance to stay passionate about whatever it is you’re fighting for. Finally, it frees us of our control-freak tendencies, allowing our ideas and actions to take shape naturally, often in ways we don’t intend but that are successful nonetheless.
The Slow Food organization is a great example of celebratory activism in all its glory. In a previous post, 
Dory D gave a concise summary of what Slow Food is all about. The foremost philosophy of Slow Food is that people must practice responsible pleasure — that is, pleasure is an inherent human right, but it must derive from action that respects our planet, our traditions, and ourselves. With this idea in mind, Slow Food chapters (also known as “convivia”) worldwide celebrate the virtues of “good, clean and fair” food in social settings. Slow Food does not detract from the seriousness of the issues at stake, but rather, by demonstrating the beauty of the alternatives with a sense of humor, it makes people want to address these issues.
So while you’re campaigning for sustainable foods on your campuses, think about what approaches you’re taking. What will you do to get people talking? In pushing for local food sourcing, will you focus on the evils of industrial agriculture, or will you show your peers how delicious in-season produce tastes? Can you incorporate music, art, and poetry into your campaigns? If you don’t reach your goals exactly, will you consider it a failure?
Whatever you do, dig in with gusto, keep the dialogue open, and enjoy the ride!
– Siv
Siv Lie is a recent graduate of Boston University and former president of Slow Food BU.
Hi Dory,
Did practicing celebratory activism mean that you didn’t have group objectives and clearly defined roles at Slow Food BU? How did you stay on track if this was the case?
The idea of celebratory activism sounds incredible, but I wonder if you could explain how it would go from theory to practice? How did you use it specifically in Slow Food BU?
Thanks!
Nina
Hi Nina,
Just to clarify, celebratory activism does not disqualify clearly defined objectives and roles. It is more of a method to keep in mind so that bureaucratization and rationalization do not stifle the energy it takes to keep a movement going. We at SFBU do have well-defined goals and put a lot of effort into programming and event planning, but when it comes to the actual execution of events, we try to approach it as positively and freely as possible. For example, our last event of the year was entitled “Foodie Free-For-All,” and it was a picnic of local and sustainably produced foods. it was completely open to the public and free of charge, but the catch was that you had to stop, sit down, and eat with the group. The idea was to expose the general public to these kinds of foods (descriptions of what they were and where they came from were clearly displayed), to make it as inclusive as possible (free of charge, easy to see and get to), and most importantly, to give a feeling of spontaneity. Though the whole event was carefully planned, participation was spontaneous: people passing by could just break out of their daily routine, enjoy a relaxed meal, and learn about food-related issues in the process.
So to recap, celebratory activism goes hand in hand with organized planning (since no movement can be effective without solid structure), ensuring that the “spirit” of the movement does not fizzle. It is the antidote to activist campaigns that focus on the wrongs of the world; it illuminates the good that is possible.
Siv