Does Vandalist Activism Work?

By  FORREST ZENG ‘26

Exeter produces smart rebels.

This school produces people who shake up markets and nations. That’s no hyperbole. 

And we do it well. So when we see climate activists throwing whatever liquids they can find at priceless pieces of art, or gluing themselves to roadways in an attempt to draw attention to themselves, there’s a lesson to be learned.

And it’s that vandalist activism doesn’t work.

From women’s suffrage to civil rights, to Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party of late, political movements are the core of how the American people influence the way the nation is run. 

But there are a handful of things that make them successful. And while American politics is incredibly complex, the success of any movement boils down to three things:

1. Resources

In his magnum opus “Capitalism and Freedom,” free-market economist Milton Friedman attempted to support his view that a monetary-based capitalist economy was a necessary factor for free political advocacy and democracy. One of his most important points rested on the principle that political movements NEED resources. 

Friedman wrote that for any movement to succeed, it would need immense resources. Resources to create posters, organize rallies, and spread the message as far and in as many ways as possible. Such resources, Friedman thought, could only be distributed in a capitalist economy, as opposed to a socialist one, where funds were controlled by a naturally anti-advocacy government. 

Though whether Friedman was right about capitalism is up for debate, he was right about resources. For anything to happen, you need money.

2. Legitimacy

Money isn’t too hard to come by, though. And many activist vandals don’t have a money problem. What they do have is a legitimacy problem.

Legitimacy refers to how well the general, voting public views a political movement. The civil rights movement, for example, was incredibly legitimate amongst nearly all Americans—especially because of the influential and peace-seeking ideas of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. 

A movement that uses violent and unpopular vandalism, however, in the views of the public, has no legitimacy. The act of defacing art is, to say the least, frowned upon. Vandalist activism only dissuades potential supporters from supporting what is an important cause. 

3. Institutionalization

Having established resources and legitimacy, for a political movement to make an impact, it needs to be institutionalized within the American political system. Elected officials need to be active members of these political movements. There is no better example, again, than the civil rights or women’s suffrage movement.

At this point, activist vandals are nowhere close to becoming voting members of Congress. To the vast majority of the political public, activist vandals are associating an important cause with mockery. 

As future leaders, we need to make our voices on crucial issues such as climate change heard. But at the end of the day, however justified it might seem, violence isn’t the way to go.