GEOG 5380 Campaigning for Social Change Introduction Session

1. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY GEOG 5380 Campaigning for Social Change Introduction Session Dr Paul Chatterton

2. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 4c. Campaigning for social change • Researching: context, rationale, issues • Aims/goals, demands, targets, objectives • Action strategy: ideas and tactics • Resourcing and reaching out • Communications and engaging with the media • Sustaining and evaluating: organising and assessing risks and problems (Legal and security issues)

3. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY Campaign cycle Analysing the issue, researching Developing strategy, aims, goals, objectives Sustaining, Evaluation Implementation/action Planning, reaching out, resourcing communicating

4. From Minieri and Getsos, 2008)

5. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 1a. Researching your context • What are the main issues in this area and the main problems? • Identifying the right issues to work on (meetings, phone, conversations) • PEST analysis. What is the: • Political context (main political players, policy, potential change) • Economic context (what is it, will it change, how will affect you?) • Social context (public opinion, role of media, celebrities) • Technical context (scientific evidence, changing tech. developments) • Powermapping, landscaping, target analysis (who is out there, whose side are they on, who are allies/enemies, what and who is your target) • Where will you get good information from (capacity, sources, quality, bias, ethics, access, resourcing)

6. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 1b. Researching your context • Why are you doing this campaign? • To announce. To bring to light some scandal or shocking event • To reinforce. People can be aware of something, reinforcing is reminding them of something that they know already. • To punctuate. There might be an event that needs remembering, or to remind people that an issue has not gone away • To escalate: there might be a need to raise the stakes on an issue that is getting more pressing • To increase morale: a group might be ebbing low and needs a boast through taking action. • (Rukus Society)

7. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 1c. Researching your context • The problem and solution tree • Problems goes on trunk, consequences on leaves, causes on the roots • Then: • For problem, think of an alternative vision and stick over it • For each cause think of a solution and place over it. • For each consequence, think of a positive outcome and stick over it

8. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 1d. Researching your context What are the main PROBLEMS – and for each what is the solution

9. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 2a. Aims/goals, demands, targets, objectives • What is your overall AIM or GOAL: this is the overall vision which gives campaign a clear focus • What are your DEMANDS? and to who? (be precise, specific – can be more than one): this is the actual policies or programmes you want to change or influence. It is concrete, measurable and requires a yes/no answer. • What is your TARGET? Who can meet your demands (primary and secondary) • What are your OBJECTIVES (the steps you will take to get you to your aims/goals – need to be deliverable and evaluated)

10. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 2b. Aims/goals, demands, targets, objectives • Evaluating and assessing your aims/goals. • S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Are your aims/goals: • Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Realistic • Timely • Organisational assessment: Remember to assess your organisation’s capacity to meet its aims! (legitimacy, resources, prepardness) • Use a timeline to plan your campaign – but be flexible

11. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 3a. Action strategies • Actions should be appropriate to your organisation your ‘target’ and your ‘demand’ • Don’t act too early, and be prepared • Different types of strategies (Minieri and Getsos, 2008): • Direct action (100!) • Low level disruption (pickets, meetings etc) • Legislative (getting bills, policies passed or modified) • Advocacy (working on behalf of others to achieve change) • Alliance building (short or long term to meet certain goals) • Media and public education (using these to get change, not just publicity) • Legal structures (appeals, lawsuits, judicial reviews) • Remember: they can be combined

12. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 3b. Action strategies • Issues to consider for action planning: • Timing • Legal support and briefings, police liaison • Publicity on the day • Food and water • Communications and decision making • Transport (there and back) • Health and wellbeing

13. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 3c. Action strategies 100 ways to resist (from Trapese, 2007) Refusal of assembly to disperse. Sit down Bodily interjections. Bodily obstruction. Trespass. Airborne invasion. Occupations. Inviting arrest/imprisonment. Sit-in. Stand-in. Ride-in. Pray-in. Return of waste products. Heckling. Guerrilla theatre. Protest strip. Graffiti. Subvertising. Refusal to collaborate. Declining government awards/appointments. Boycott of elections Hunger strike. Ghosting Publicising individual’s activities. Social boycott. Ostracism. Denial of sexual relations. Excommunication. Boycott of meetings, events or lectures. Group silence. Walk-out. Picketing. Breaking social taboo. Harbouring fugitives. Sanctuary. People’s public hearings and courts. Consumers’ boycott. Withholding of rent. Refusal to pay tax. Refusal to pay debts or charges. Withdrawal of bank deposits. Blacking of goods by suppliers. Blacking of raw materials by workers. Demonstration strike. Go-slow. Work-to-rule. Bumper strike. Wildcat or lightning strike. Lock-up or stay-in strike. Reverse strike. Personal strike. General strike. Overloading facilities or services. Overloading administrative systems. Stalling by customers. Breaking bad laws on principle Publishing secret material. Disclosing secret identities. Tracking. Forgery of letters. Breaking official blockades. Refusal to recognise appointed officials. Non-cooperation with police. Removal of street signs, door numbers. Closure of roads. Infiltration of institutions with spies. Electronic picketing. Spoiling or contamination of goods. Monkey-wrenching. Liberating animals. Failure to pass on information. Deliberate inefficiency. Industrial sabotage. Non-retaliation. Entryism. Alternative radio / newspapers. Alternative schools Selective patronage. Alternative economies. Selective refusal of entry. Alternative community with independent sovereign government.

14. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 3e. Action strategies • Smart Meme: Points of intervention • Point of Production • Factory, Crop lands. The realm of Strikes, picket lines, crop-sits etc. • Point of Destruction • Resource extraction, Point of toxic discharge, road blockades, tree-sits etc. • Point of Consumption • Chain stores, supermarkets. Consumer boycotts and markets campaigns. • Point of Decision • Corporate HQ. Location of targeted decision maker. • Point of Potential • Future scenarios, actualizing alternatives, transforming an empty lot etc. • Point of Assumption • Challenging underlying beliefs/control mythologies and hijacking • spectacles and using popular culture

15. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 3f. Action strategies Alinsky’s Rules for tactics: Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.

16. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 4a. Resourcing and reaching out • What resources do you need? • People, money, contacts, fundraising, publicity, visibility, profile • Ways to get people involved: • • film screenings/concerts • DVDs/CDs/video • • fly posting/stickers/leaflets • media coverage • • banners in street/windows • community events • • Benefit gigs • public meetings • • educational workshops/talks • websites • • publicity stunts • street stalls • • email lists/SMS/texting • Merchandise

17. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 4b. Resourcing and reaching out How will you reach out? Hart’s Ladder of participation What is your criteria for participation/involvement? It should be transparent and vary according to level of involvement

18. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 5a. Media and communications • Need a clear campaign message – a few sentences that states problem, solution and implementation/ACTIONS • Know your audience, test and review message, have good messengers! • Its not ‘one size fits all’: Fit your message to different audiences: • Settlers: (21% of pop) Driven by security. Largely closed to change • Prospectors (44% of pop) Fashion conscious. Open to change but wont lead • Pioneers (35% of pop) Drivers of change. Don’t need affirmation of others. (Sun, Guardian, Mail readers – how would you target them differently?) • People aren’t rational and tend not to act on info or intellectual argument • Groups matter: attitudes and behaviour are as much social as individual.

19. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 5a. Media and communications • Most journalists are very busy so its good to communicate succintly • The 32 word press release: • For a campaign you know of or are involved in write a press release in only 32 words. Include: • What, why, where, when, how, who

20. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 5b. Media and communications • Be aware of media saturation: • In the UK, the average person is exposed to up to 4000 messages every day (2001) • but can recall only 1% of the advertising without prompting • Traveling to work: 150 • Supermarkets: 1600 • 80% of decisions made by shoppers in stores are subconscious • Be creative - assess what campaigns do and do not capture attention

21. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 5. Media and numbers • Activation points vary by issue. It’s a numbers game: • 1 soldiers’ moms needed to galvanize the public to start questioning Bush about the war • 9 Number of parents who successfully petitioned a school board in California,for abstinence-only education: • 10 Number of families that pressed for the 9/11 Commission: • 200 Number of chefs who came together with SeaWeb to turn sustainable seafood into a hot commodity: • 218 Number of members of Congress needed to move for stem-cell legislation: • 100,000s Number of immigrants throughout the United States calling out for immigration reform:. . . . .

22. 10 tips for sustainability communications www.futerra.co.uk

23. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 5. Media exercise • You work for a PR firm and have been contracted by a local group to write their PR strategy. The group is based in a village with high unemployment and it has just found out that an open cast coal mine will be built next to the village. • The aim of the group is to promote a green image and green activity for the village, in spite of the open cast coal mine. • Your task as a PR firm is to develop a media strategy for the group. • As part of your strategy, , develop ideas for the following: • A news feature aimed at the Mail newspaper readership • A news feature aimed at the Sun readership • A strategy for a local public event to promote the group

24. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 6a. Sustaining and evaluating campaigns • How will you organise your campaign as it evolves? • Meetings, records, files, facilitation, decision making, structure, flow, updates, training, review • Need for clear Roles and responsibilities, negotiation, focus of message • How to deal with hierarchies - conflict resolution and mediation

25. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 6b. Sustaining and evaluating • Alinsky’s take on the qualities of an organiser: • Curiosity • Irreverence • Imagination • Sense of humour • Vision of a better world • Organised personality • Well integrated schizoid! • Ego • Free and open mind

26. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 6c. Sustaining and evaluating • Legal and security issues – often overlooked • We will cover this in a later session But briefly… • Risk assessments for all actions/events • Dealing with repression • Personal safety and security • Surveillance • Know the law and your limits • Trust and working in affinity groups • Burnout and depression

27. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY 6d. Sustaining and evaluating • So what is success? • Inputs (resources) • Activities (what gets done) • Outputs (what happens as a result of your activities - measurable) • Outcomes (changes that result from outputs) • IMPACT (real change in people’s lives)!!!! • You need to be able to monitor and evaluate all these • Remember why you are doing this. To create change, not just generate activity/outputs

28. MA in Activism and Social Change SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY • QUESTIONS THROUGHOUT MODULE • How do you identify issues to campaign on? • how do we set our aims, objectives and make sure we achieve them • what are we trying to achieve in our campaigning • What tools do you use for campaigning? • What has been most and least successful aspects of your campaigning? • How do you reach out and got your message across successfully? • What is the biggest block to effective campaigning in your area? • Have you encountered any legal, ethical problems/dilemmas? • How have you approached fundraising and have you been successful? • What would a victory or success be? • Do you evaluate your work and if so how, and do you follow up on it? • How do we deal with failure/defeats/demoralisation? • How do we connect with other and often competing groups • and those of other political pursuasions who work on the same issues?