George Monbiot: The Earth is in a death spiral. It will take radical action to save us.

Some causes involve conflicting interests between groups. In these causes, society generally makes a compromise. An different compromise that is better for your group may be a fine goal.

But when there is an absolute goal, for instance defending human rights or survival, it is a mistake to ask people to aim campaigns at "politically realistic" lesser steps that won't be adequate to achieve the goal.

The free software movement, to give users control over their computing, is also of this kind. Each step in the right direction is good, but it won't be over until users' freedom is fully respected.