Activists start striking. It's embarrassing (8)
I believe the answer is:
abashing
'embarrassing' is the definition.
('abash' can be a synonym of 'embarrass')
'activists start striking' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'striking' could be 'bash' (bash is a kind of striking) and 'bash' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'it's' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abashing that I've seen before include "humiliating" , "Causing to feel self-conscious" , "embarrassing" , "disconcerting" .)