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Activism industry

The activism industry is composed of organizations and individuals who make a living from activism, involvement in action to bring about change. The number of organizations who employ people to perform this work is sufficiently large that Activism is now a job classification.

Many organizations whose primary activity is activism are defined as being nonprofit organizations. Some are non-governmental organizations. Most activism businesses do no manufacturing of goods.

The specific activism of persuading politicians and creating laws is called lobbying. Many industries have staff assigned to do lobbying. A U.S. organization which is officially created only to do lobbying is called a political action committee.

Fields in the activism industry include:

Anarchism
Animal rights organizations
Anti-globalization movement
Capitalism
Civil rights movement
Demonstrations
Ecology activism
Ecology movement
Environmental movement
Environmental organizations
Green movement
Organizations based upon Green economics
Gun rights
Human rights organizations
Labor movement organizations
Libertarianism
Senior Citizens
Peace movement

Freedom and capitalist activism

In free societies which are based on
capitalism, money is involved in activism employment. Volunteer activists have other means of support and their time investment may result in tax benefits. Freedom is needed so individuals can choose what purposes to support with their own money and time.

In societies whose individuals are not free, individuals can be forced to support things of which they might not approve. In the context of activism being a support of change, such force has resulted in distortion of methods which are used in activism.

Restrictions by governments can create what are state-controlled activism industries (just as some states control other industries), grant monopolies to organizations, or divert government resources to influence change.

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