Turning Thoughts into Action
Social media allows a platform for ordinary people to express
their opinions. Many go further and share the actions they have taken usually in
the social sector such as the Robin Hood Army or Roti Bank, Fixit, and Transparent
Hands
However, it is also true that shelves of university
libraries, and research centres are filled with amazing studies and reports and
inventions that rarely cross over into the world of policy makers or
manufacturers. A lot of intellectual activity becomes an end in itself.
In his paper, From Thought to Action, Jonathan Dancy asks
can theoretical reasoning lead to action? Or does it only create a set of
beliefs and intentions? Even if action is not the intended result of thoughtful reasoning,
at the very least it needs to be shared outside the inner circle with the aim
to inspire action.
Philosophy and art are expected to play a quieter role as
influencers, rarely expected to turn their observations into direct action. The
music and film industries, perhaps because they already have a public presence,
have played an important role in changing public opinion and urging action. Musicians
Bob Gelfdof and Bono, head a long list of musicians and actors have been recognized
for the work they have done to mobilize international action to address poverty,
famine, Aids, victims of war and the environment. In Pakistan, Shehzad Roy’s
Zindagi Trust has created model government schools. Musicians Salman Ahmed and Attaullah
Esa Khelvi were an important part of the Imran Khan phenomenon. Some actors joined politics to further the cause
of art such as Melina Mercuri, the Greek actress,who ,as minister of culture,
worked tirelessly for the return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece. Literature has shaped public perception, such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s personal experiences
in the Gulag Labour camp of USSR or Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, defining the horrors of war.
While there are many examples of how politics and social
conditions influenced art, there are fewer examples of visual artists
influencing politics and policy.
Jacques-Louis David became a powerful figure during the French
revolution, using his paintings to define the values of the revolution , joining
Robbespierre’s Jacobities and even
voting as a member of the National Convention, for the execution of Louis XVI.
Edi Rama. Prime minister of Albania was an artist before he
became a politician. He started his career in politics as mayor of Tirana, and
one of his decisions was to paint drab buildings in bright colours . He noticed
the mood and behavior of local people changed , less litter was thrown on
streets, and people began paying taxes. In Lyari, Kiran School also painted the facades
of a street with bright colours and they have remained well maintained.
In all societies, art and politics have had a close if often
oppositional relationship. From the Greek and Roman eras, artists were engaged
to document important political events, produce sculptures or portraits of the ruling
classes, or spread religious teachings through paintings and sculptures. More direct
propaganda art dictated moral values in the 19C or was commissioned to whip up
public emotion during the Russian and Chinese revolutions and the two world
wars.
The 60’s and 70s saw the birth of the art of resistance and
art activism. Happenings, public art events land art, and later graffiti brought
art out of the gallery into the public sphere. However, they remained responses
to politics, changing policy only to the extent of greater funding for
community arts. The real role of art in public spaces is perhaps in developing
communities, creating opportunities for emotional growth, respect for
diversity, and directing viewers or audiences to nuances that define individualism.
Alana Jelinek in her book, This is Not Art: Activism and
Other 'Not-Art', suggests that art is locked in its role of protest, and
raising awareness of issues ignoring the
“agency” of the artist, the ability to engage directly with society. Increasingly
art is equated with other types of academic disciplines such as sociology and
is now considered an integral part of the education system.
The “just do it” principle cannot, however apply to all art.
The process of assimilating art and acquiring the expertise to produce a work
of art of great value is a slow process. Expertise appears effortless, but behind
it lies hours of training of the mind. A
child is said to take an average of 1000 tries before he or she learns to walk.
One has to instill what the Japanese call Kaizen, the desire to improve, that
turns the novice into an expert. This of
course applies to expertise in any discipline, but art not being an exact
discipline is more “thought in action” rather than “thought before action”. It does
not have a prescribed pathway to expertise. Sometimes thinking itself is action
Community based arts that are more spontaneous and tolerant of different levels
of skill, occupy an art space that is very different from the art produced in a
studio, but is a significant interface between art and society.
Hannah Arendt believed acting in the public space is
essential to a fulfilled human existence, because we must “care for the world,”
which we inhabit and share with others.
Durriya Kazi
15 September, 2018
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