I Am An Activist - Tribute to Anita Roddick

I am a big fan and sometimes apologist for Anita Roddick. I am also an activist.

I have grown up with Anita’s strong voice and heart, strong actions, in my life. She is like an inspiring, very sympatico Aunty, always there, always putting the fire in my belly.

The day she died was a day I remember well. It was a shock that hit me in the guts. I had no idea Anita was even sick. I happened to be joining with Sarah James, a fellow activist, to begin a new initiative. We dedicated our meeting to her memory.

I dedicate large chunks of what I know and am to Anita.

I only met her once. She came to talk at a Business School I was teaching at in Australia. I hate allocated seating and, like my young daughter, usually sit right at the front if I can. I know it’s rude, I know it’s not fair. But as a kid, the older I got, the more I knew what I wanted to know. The more passionate I was about finding out about it. If (and I mean if) I went to class, I sat at the front. I worked hard. I listened.

So when Anita came to talk, I sat right next to her… where no-one else dared sit.

I wanted to see her hands. That’s what really mattered at the time. I thought I could see inside her soul and find out if she was true, and real and worthy of my sometimes teenage adoration, if I could only see her hands. At the risk of sounding like a tosser, I have to say - they were beautiful. They were the hands of a worker, but still somewhat refined. They had balance. I’m not saying she was perfect, or a saint by any means. She made tough decisions, was perceived to be in control of stuff that was way outside her control, but she did her best. She got under people’s skin, one way or another. The way she fanned her own fire sparked countless 1000s more to ignite. She made things happen. Good things.

When she died, I realised I would not be working with her - as I had planned . We moved to Brighton in 2005, birthplace of Body Shop store No. 1 and close to Anita.’s new base and mother. A place for activists. When friends asked “why are you moving back to the UK, to Brighton. What will you do?” I said casually, “Oh, I think I’m going to be working with Anita Roddick. Now she’s out of The Body Shop, I think she’ld be great fun to work with. She’s got doing loads of good stuff and someone’s bound to introduce us to each other. It’s destiny.” I was only partly tongue in cheek. Stranger things have happened, and she did live just down the road - and we do have friends in common.

Alas, it was not to be. In one sense. In another, we are all working together - towards similar goals, wherever we are. Social justice, sustainability of life on earth, human and animal rights. The work needs doing, so we unite to do it. With or without Anita, her spiritual forebears or descendants. We are one point in the continuum, all linked going through time and space. We are not alone. There is bamboo.

Here are some tributes given during the I Am An Activist event on 23 October 2007, when “thousands of thinkers, artists, activists, and other heroic saboteurs of the status quo gathered to celebrate the remarkable life and legacy of Dame Anita Roddick.”

“[Anita was] the human equivalent of a flag, a claxon, a torch, a flare, an alarm clock. … Uncompromising, inspiring and visionary, an active world citizen, but still funny, sexy, and overflowing.”

Alan Rickman, actor and activist

“Beethoven said, ‘If it comes from the heart, it goes to the heart.’ That quote speaks volumes about my mum. I believe it is the reason my mum touched so many people. Whether you agreed with her or not, or whether you liked her or not, the one thing that is really non-negotiable, the one thing that is not up for discussion, is that all she did as a parent or as an activist, it really all did come from the heart.”

Justine Roddick

My mother treated life like each day was her last, and this gave her the permission for incredible bravery. … Tonight I am personally pledging that I Am An Activist, and within that, I also will have a lot of fun, and I also will be silly. I will not be polite and I will never, ever, ask for permission.

Sam Roddick

“Many have the resources Anita had, but few have the moral fortitude to use those resources to achieve the only truly important goal of social and environmental sustainability.”

Herman Wallace, member of the Angola 3 Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola

“She was, in my opinion, one of the world’s greatest communicators.”

Adrian Bellamy, Chairman of The Body Shop

“Watch and listen to figures from Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Reprieve, The Body Shop, as well as family and close friends, as they laugh and cry and ultimately take to the streets to launch a new movement in activism inspired by the one and only Anita Roddick.”

DVD of the I Am An Activist event available here at, what was, Anita’s blog.

Reposted from the community blog at Authentic Blogging’s online network. All activists welcome to join.

I think, you think, we create (better) together

“We’re here to make a positive difference through blogging - and other social media - for ourselves, for our organisations, for others.”