Do people have any opinions on the efficacy of this kind of activism and what increasingly is the monetisation of ex-JW activities , which seem to have created something of an industry all of its own .
As far as I know, there isn't much research or studies about if/what activism strategies work or doesn't work efficiently. As the long-term, experienced activist that I am, however, I can speak based on my own experience and the ones that I have followed.
First, there are many people who are more into disorderly conduct and attention seeking than activism. Sometimes activism gets a bad rap because of the many so-called activists that are full of nonsense and all they want is attention or create chaos.
To me, my personal rule of activism is very simple: what do I want to accomplish with it? Activism is about bringing positive change, for the benefit of some kind of oppressed class. By "benefit" I can mean awareness, education, actions, reform, or any kind of change.
Activism is not just showing up somewhere and creating some kind of chaos or looking for negative ways of getting attention. There is planning, logistics, and most importantly, strategy as to what is the right way, the right message, and the right people to bother.
When it comes to the level of aggressiveness, it is something that should not be taken lightly. When it comes to a collective, I also look at the real, personal reasons for others to get involved. Many times I find a rather large number of people who just want to march, yell and get attention, and sometimes can't even articulate what they are fighting for.
When it comes to consistency and sustainability, that's where you really see the efficacy and level of commitment of the activist(s). Real activism is not about just the "demonstration". There is a lot of follow up, dialog to start, negotiating to do, campaigns to start, that is, if there is real commitment to change, which is what real activism is about.
So, to answer your inquiry, in my educated opinion, what needs to be followed is how was that planned, where do the activist(s) come from in terms of why are they doing that, how did they decided that what they are doing is the best strategy, but most importantly is what happens after. What do they aim to do? What do they want the JWs or the WT to do or know? Even if it's just making the point that the WT is covering up for sexual abuse of children, and they want people to know, that's a great thing. But then what?
The answers to those questions can give you a clue of the kind of real or fake activism that it can be, as well as how effective it is/can be (or even if being effective is what those people are really aiming for).
