From the Latin actus, the term act is linked to that of action, such as the ability to carry out a certain task. In any case, in the colloquial sense, the word has several uses and applications.
In a play, an act is each of the parts into which an artistic work can be divided. For example: “In the first act of the piece, the main character tells the reason for his pain. ”
The term of act is also used to refer to a public, political or formal celebration: “At an event held in the capital, the president confirmed that he will stand as a candidate in search of reelection. ”
On the religious level there is the concept of an act of faith, which refers to hope or concentration of mind in a feeling: “Jorge made an act of faith by walking more than sixty kilometers to reach the cathedral and ask for health from his wife. ”
In the field of justice, a legal act is a voluntary and conscious action whose purpose is to establish, modify or extinguish rights among legal persons. In this way, it involves a modification of the state of affairs through the legal system.
Following justice, an administrative act is the legal act that promotes a public administration. An act of conciliation, on the other hand, is the appearance of the parties in disagreement before a judge, with the aim of excusing a dispute.
We can also say that an act was a Roman linear measure that was about 36 meters long. A square act was the Roman surface measure that had 30 minimum acts.
The importance of activism
There is a related concept with which we are defining that is known as activism and refers to the action that aims to generate a change of a social or political nature, manifesting itself within an ethical or ideological stance. Today we tend to continually hear about animal activism, but do we know the real importance of this?
Due to various acts that our species has been carrying out over time, it has been necessary for many people, aware of the seriousness of their consequences, to rise up to fight for the rights of other species.
Some of the most important activist movements are carried out by supporters of Veganism around the world; who fight to abolish the consumption of meat and other animal derivatives. They propose a world where all living beings have the right to live in freedom and are not raised for consumption; a world where the consumption of meat, milk, eggs, wool and other animal derivatives do not exist and people live ethically and respectfully with life.
In the acts carried out by the activists, the disclosure of new values that are imposed before those that corrupt the social balance is usually present. The message is usually extremely clear, for example in a protest against circuses or zoos, many activists lock themselves in cages in a public space to generate empathy in passers-by and demonstrate that no living being can be happy being deprived of their freedom and, above all, that the human being has no right to “take over” other lives, both for their entertainment and to supply some of their basic needs such as food or clothing.
Finally, it should be noted that there are other variants of the concept, although in general they are all linked to the concept of action, operation or maneuver.
