This summer, I was fortunate enough to attend a four-day leadership conference sponsored by Oxfam International and held at the University of Texas. The college students that gathered here flew cross-country on Oxfam’s dollar and formulated strategies to save the world in the relative comfort of a UT dorm (fully equipped with an outdoor pool).

Though we enjoyed having an extended weekend devoted solely to bettering ourselves and our world, we recognized the tremendous privilege that it represented. In fact, many of the policies that we advocated were clearly geared toward the middle-class or upper-class consumer.

Fair trade coffee, for example, asks people to pay a premium for the certainty that every person along the supply chain has earned a living wage. While getting a two dollar cup of Fair Trade brew is certainly preferable to mainstream coffee at an equivalent price, it can never be as economical as Folgers and will never be an option for many Americans.

For activists the question of class is an integral one. Does it take a certain economic comfort to participate? Should requirements of social responsibility vary with privilege? How do we reconcile the class differences between us and those we seek to help?

Commentary about the attendance of a Darfur rally last week got me thinking about these issues once again. Between education, access to media, time and financial security, it’s clear that the factors that enable me to advocate social justice also prevent others from taking the same steps. Although many activists are wary about discussing social class, it is critical to acknowledge that class differences influence who participates, the way people participate and the impact they have.

Concerns about class issues and social activism are not unique to American college students. Supriya RoyChowdhury, an Indian activist, discussed this tension in relation to India’s expanding middle class. The rise of professional, affluent activism in India has apparently led to cautious and less political movements. Affluent activism features “occasional organized voicing of liberal views, or at best using a part of one’s fortune to support welfare activities,” according to RoyChowdhury. “It does not, at any time, entail even the slightest rocking of the apple cart that balances one’s good fortune.”

To compensate for the effects of class status, activists must first identify the ways that they are personally being influenced. This recognition may alternately serve to moderate unrealistic positions or radicalize bland and ineffective policies.

As for those people being left out of current discourses, the key to greater inclusion is education through accessible avenues. If Ivy League universities and New York Times columnists are the only forums for discussion of a particular issue (as is largely true of Fair Trade and even Darfur), most of society will be left out of the debate. The mainstream media has a responsibility to publicize issues of global concern and activists can also do their part to educate the general population.

A lack of time and money will always hinder the political participation of certain segments of society. A lack of education, however, does not have to. We may not all be privileged enough to attend conferences in Texas or rallies in New York, but we can acknowledge that fact and help those without these benefits to have their say as well.

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