How to be a Craftivist: The Art of Gentle Protest

by Sarah Corbett

If we want our world to be a more beautiful, kind and fair place, then shouldn’t our activism be more beautiful, kind and fair?

Gentleness is not a weak form of protesting, it’s not mild or non-assertive. It requires self-control when what we feel is anger or sadness when we see injustice. It requires thoughtfulness to understand the context of the situation and empathy to help understand people’s views and actions. We need tact to know what’s the best way to tackle the problem and we need concern for all involved.

Stitch by stitch we can make a difference. Sometimes we need to unravel an unjust system before we can sew it back together and sometimes we simply need to make do and mend a situation rather than create a revolution.

we need to be careful that our awareness-raising also encourages people into effective action to solve the injustices – or at least encourages them to question why these injustices are happening, rather than simply seeing that they are happening – and, furthermore, to disrupt the status quo.

My protest wouldn’t have fixed the systemic issue but injustice shouldn’t continue because we don’t know how to protest effectively.