Community organizer Fabricio Rodriguez has mastered the art of direct action—creating often joyous, often music-filled, often fun protests around truly serious issues that affect people’s everyday lives: Living wages, immigration reform, school justice. In his TEDxPhiladelphia talk last year Rodriguez argues that good old fashioned protest is the best way to shake those in power—even though it is the most unwelcome of civic actions.

“They never tell you about this form of civic engagement and they certainly never tell you to participate in it,” Rodriguez says. “That’s kind of funny because it is the most powerful way to make real change.”