WHY WE’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT ACTIVISM & SOCIAL ADVOCACY
Activism and social advocacy are critical for fostering positive societal change and ensuring that marginalised voices are heard. They play a vital role in shaping public policy, raising awareness, and holding institutions accountable.
We list some of the ways in which activism and social advocacy are indispensable to building a fair and equitable society below.
1. Promoting Social Justice & Equality
Activism and advocacy are key tools for fighting systemic inequalities and injustice. Movements like civil rights, women’s suffrage, LGBTQ+ rights, and racial equality have all achieved significant progress through persistent activism. These efforts bring attention to unfair systems and help dismantle discriminatory structures that oppress individuals or groups based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status.
2. Raising Awareness & Amplifying Marginalised Voices
Many issues - like climate change, police brutality, or healthcare inequality - might go unnoticed or unaddressed without the efforts of activists and advocates. Activism raises public awareness about these important matters, often amplifying the voices of those who are marginalised or silenced by mainstream institutions. It makes invisible issues visible, encouraging broader societal engagement.
3. Driving Policy Change
Activism often leads to legislative and policy changes. Public pressure from organised campaigns can influence lawmakers and institutions to adopt new laws, reforms, or regulations that reflect the demands of the people. Many landmark laws, from voting rights to environmental protections, were achieved through sustained advocacy.
4. Holding Institutions Accountable
Activism acts as a check on power. Whether focused on governments, corporations, or other institutions, activism ensures that those in power remain accountable for their actions. Social movements like those advocating for corporate responsibility, environmental sustainability, or police reform create a sense of urgency and hold powerful entities to ethical and legal standards.
5. Empowering Individuals & Communities
Engaging in activism allows individuals to feel empowered, giving them the tools and collective voice to influence the direction of society. It fosters a sense of community and solidarity as people come together to work towards common goals. Social advocacy provides a platform for people to fight for their rights and the rights of others, instilling a sense of agency and responsibility.
6. Driving Cultural & Social Change
Activism and social advocacy often lead to shifts in societal norms and values. Movements like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and environmental activism have influenced how society views issues such as racial justice, gender equality, and environmental stewardship. These movements drive public conversations that can reshape cultural attitudes, norms, and behaviours, influencing generations to come.
7. Encouraging Civic Engagement & Participation
Advocacy efforts encourage people to be more politically and socially engaged. Activism promotes civic participation, urging people to vote, attend rallies, engage with their communities, and hold elected officials accountable. This active involvement helps strengthen democracy and ensure that it remains responsive to the needs of the people.
8. Challenging The Status Quo
Activism plays an essential role in challenging established systems and the status quo. It questions entrenched power dynamics, inequalities, and social norms, pushing for alternative systems that promote fairness and justice. Social advocacy helps open pathways for reform, innovation, and progressive changes that might not emerge through traditional channels.
9. Building Long-term, Sustainable Change
While short-term campaigns can raise awareness and spark immediate action, activism is also crucial for long-term, sustainable change. Movements that keep momentum - through organising, educating, and continuing to engage with policymakers - can create lasting impacts that transform laws, institutions, and cultures.
10. Providing A Moral Compass
Activists often operate from a position of ethical responsibility, raising questions about fairness, human rights, and justice. Social advocacy provides a moral compass for society, reminding people of shared values such as compassion, equality, and respect for human dignity. These values can influence not just laws and policies, but how people treat each other on a day-to-day basis.
11. Inspiring Future Generations
Activists serve as role models for future generations, demonstrating that individuals and communities can make a difference. Young people involved in or witnessing social advocacy are often inspired to carry on the fight for justice, equality, and human rights. This generational continuity ensures that social progress continues even after individual movements have passed.
In essence, activism and social advocacy play an indispensable role in driving social justice, encouraging civic engagement, challenging entrenched power structures, and fostering long-term change. They empower individuals and communities to fight for a fairer and more just society, promoting progress across a wide range of social, political, and environmental issues.
“[There is] no nobler motive for entering public life than the resolution not to be ruled by wicked men.”
- Cicero
OUR ACTIVISM & SOCIAL ADVOCACY
Our Guiding Principles
We advance the cause of social equity and justice by highlighting corrupt institutional practices, giving a platform to oppressed and marginalised voices and engaging in public interest litigation where appropriate.
Whilst pursuing these measures, we prioritise matters arising from systemic failure to respect the legally enforceable rights of individuals over those concerned with the expansion of the boundaries of legally recognised rights so that they may comport with self-evident truths. In other words, we prioritise matters that reveal systemic failure to give effect to existing laws concerning the enforcement of human rights over campaigning for the adoption of more equitable and just laws.
This is in accordance with our view that:
1. The legal recognition of rights is of little practical consequence if the mechanisms for their reliable and robust enforcement are lacking or ineffective.
2. The effective enforcement of recognised rights is an intrinsic and inalienable feature of the responsible and representative form of government guaranteed by the Constitution in modern liberal democracies. It also functions as an important safeguard against abuse of institutional authority, which if permitted to fester, inevitably leads to more complex and pernicious problems, including those of global character. Conversely, prompt and effective checks on abuse of institutional power create binding precedents which invaluably aid the universal struggle for justice and freedom.
3. The responsible and representative form of government maintained through the effective enforcement of individual rights has been purposefully contrived to achieve a perpetually evolving government, adaptive to the contemporary values and needs of the public and capable of protecting the rights of minorities with respect to prevailing exigencies. This system, when properly administered, naturally leads to a sympathetic government ceaselessly committed to the accomplishment of true social equity and justice.
“It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”
- Robert H Jackson
The Social Equity & Justice Causes That We Champion
We have identified the following social maladies to pose the gravest threat to the practical recognition of the natural rights of all persons that are enshrined in legal systems around the world.
Our initiatives aimed at achieving social equity and justice primarily involve public campaigns and the prosecution of public interest litigation in relation to the aforementioned causes.
To learn about our current public campaigns in relation to the aforementioned causes, please [click here].
To access our analysis of important considerations and developments concerning the aforementioned causes, please [click here].
To access videos capturing vital news, expert analysis, investigative reports produced by various media, government and non-profit organisations as well as evidence of government corruption obtained through our public interest litigation, in respect of the aforementioned causes, please visit our YouTube channel by [clicking here].
We share a collection of resources including legal articles, government reports and documents concerning our public interest litigation in respect of the aforementioned causes, with site members who sign up for The Wize Subscription. If you’d like to sign up for The Wize Subscription, please [click here].
If you appreciate our work and would like to learn about the ways in which you can support us, please [click here].
“If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”
- Zora Neale Hurston