Today, there are good reasons to doubt the effectiveness of many elements of conventional activism—oftentimes marked by aggression, extreme extroversion and violence. Award-winning campaigner Sarah Corbett started looking for alternatives that appealed to the introvert, namely, craftivism. Sarah’s gentle protest approach to craftivism aims to change the world with deliberate, thoughtful actions that provoke reflection and respectful conversation instead of aggression and division.
She’s a world-traveling storyteller, has given several TEDx Talks and wrote A Little Book of Craftivism which was published in 2013, and How To Be A Craftivist, published in 2017. Also notable to mention, Malala has attended one of her workshops.
In this conversation, Branden and Sarah chat about how craftivism can be for everyone. From skilled crafters to burnt out activists, gentle protest can be for those people who want to challenge injustice in the world but don’t know what to do, where to start or how to prioritize their energies and time.
“People think that activism has to be loud, aggressive and angry. But it doesn’t have to be! To be more effective as activists, we should be more kind, thoughtful and firm to our values of love and equality — and then build it from there.”
— Sarah Corbett
