Organizing To Win
By Liz Benneian,
lizcdn@yahoo.com, 905-562-3819
At some point in time many citizens get angry about a local issue. Perhaps a developer wants to develop a local woodland, a company wants to build an incinerator or a cherished local heritage tree is threatened with destruction and so citizens band together to try and stop whatever evil is about to take place but most people will never have fought these kinds of battles before and they won’t know how to do it effectively.
Unfortunately, they don’t teach effective advocacy in school and too often these local battles are won or lost by groups that fade away once the original issue has resolved and new groups, fighting new issues, don’t get the benefit of everything the previous groups have learned.
Oakvillegreen Conservation Association decided we needed to change that. Following our successful campaign to stop Halton Region from spending $800 million to build a polluting incinerator, Oakvillegreen created Organize To Win seminars that we give to grassroots community groups around the province who are fighting various environmental battles in their own communities.
Oakvillegreen had the benefit of some great mentorship from community organizers and justice campaigners and we have learned a lot through them and through our own careful strategizing and after-the-fact analysis of our wins and losses. What we have come to understand is that to successfully mount a campaign, no matter what you are fighting for or against, you must do certain things if you want to be effective. There are two main things you need to know to win these battles: organizing is the key to success and decisions are almost always made on the basis of self-interest.
Purpose of Advocacy Groups and a few Hard Truths
Advocacy organizations give voice to citizens whose views are too often absent from the backrooms of power where bureaucrats and politicians make decisions that will have profound impacts on people’s lives. For instance, in municipal planning, staff and politicians decide what growth will occur, where it will occur, how it will occur, when it will occur. They have lots of input from developers as these people are always in and out of their offices but virtually no contact with citizens. The second purpose is to advocate for policies, legislation and initiatives that will help the advocacy group achieve its goals.
If you want to be an advocacy group, you cannot become a charity. Charitable status is hard to get, costs money and limits your ability to advocate to 10% of your activities.
If you want to be an advocacy group you must self-fund from membership fees and fundraisers. Taking money from funders also compromises your ability to advocate effectively. The good news is advocacy work doesn’t cost much money — just time and commitment.
Getting Organized: Creating A Group from the Ground Up
Understanding How Decisions Are Made
People want to believe that people in positions of power are trying to do what’s best and are making decisions based on the full and accurate information and on what’s best for the community. That is almost never the case. If it was the world would be a very different place.
Decisions are almost always made on the basis of self-interest. They are made because they will get the decision maker the most votes, or more campaign contributions or a more favourable position in the hierarchy.
But too often advocacy groups don’t understand that. Despite all the evidence to the contrary they think: “what we are saying is so sensible that if we can just explain our position to the decision makers they will immediately do things differently”. This never succeeds. I have seen this play out time and time again in battles over preserving natural spaces, ending the use of cosmetic pesticides and stopping incinerators from being built. Logical arguments fail. What works is wielding power.
Organized citizens have the power of the vote. They can make things an election issue. They can bring a lot of negative publicity to decision makers who are not acting in the public interest. Conversely, they can bring a lot of support and positive publicity to those decision makers who do the right thing.
The key things to remember are:
Understanding Power
Power is not a dirty word, it’s the key to winning battles. The six sources of power are:
a). Money
b). Authority, which can include holding a certain position, social standing, community standing, credentials etc.;
c). Information;
d). Organized people
e). Moral Conviction.
f). Doing Good Works
Usually politicians have the first three. The path to power for community organizations is to organize a large number of people, gather and disseminate information and using that to challenge the authority of decision-makers. Key is to get decisions made and resources allocated for the good of the community rather than to serve the self interest of decision makers and their friends.
To gain authority with citizens: provide them with good information; listen to them not just talk at them; let them see you in action.
A key way to gain power with decision-makers is to assume it. Act like you have authority. Speak with conviction. Remind people you are speaking on behalf of voters. Refuse to be intimidated. Stick to your convictions. Do your homework. Be consistent in what you say and do and don’ back down.
Focus on your primary target: who do you want to reach that has the power to make the decision that determines the fate of our issue. Make a specific demand.
Identify secondary targets: those who have influence on the primary target and use them to influence the primary target.
Never forget these battles are about power – who has it and how they use it. Your job is to get and hold power. Don’t be afraid of this. If politicians have all the power it’s called a dictatorship. If bureaucracies run everything on behalf of a small elite it’s called an oligarchy. If power rests in the hands of the people it’s called a democracy.
Understanding How Social Change Happens
(See the barometer of social change chart)
Going to War
* Campaigns take longer than you think. A key to winning is persistence.
* Remember that you never win by fighting the process alone. You have to fight the process but you also have to fight on the larger, big picture issues that engage the public. What this means in practice is that you have to attend all the Town organized meetings on an issue, send in your comments, make delegations etc. But you also have to organize separate meetings and find other ways to communicate with politicians and the public.
* Every battle is a battle for public opinion. Whenever you are addressing councils/committees remember you are addressing a much larger audience of VOTERS and fellow citizens and you are appealing to them. Getting voters onside in noticeable numbers is what spurs politicians to action.
* It is very important to limit the number of people who can speak on behalf of your group. You are not limiting your members’ ability to speak – any member can speak freely at any time — just not on behalf of the group. Limiting who can speak on behalf of the group ensures the right message is being delivered in the right way. It also limits the group’s liability.
* If you are speaking on behalf of the group, stay on point: don’t get lead off-track by a reporter’s questions.
* Always be clear about what you’re opposing. Say what you want to happen. Keep to the bigger picture issues. There may be a million details you could argue about but that won’t help you win. Winning is the goal. Stick to the higher order principles for instance instead of arguing about this word or that in a report talk about the critical importance of having a healthy environment if we want healthy children.
* Attack the issue and appeal to the person. Remember that you are seeking help/redress from the decision-makers. It doesn’t do you any good to vilify them. There can be exceptions to this, for instance when the goal is to remove someone from office, but those campaigns must be carefully planned and need to stick to issues and facts and not get personal. So, go hard on the issue – do everything you can to show why it harmful/unhealthy/costly/not the best of the many choices etc. but appeal to decision-makers to make the wise choice. And remember to take the high road no matter how personally you are attacked by your opponents or how rudely they behave. You must always stick to the facts and common sense appeals and stay calm and logical in the face of shouting, insults and attempts to change the subject. Keep bringing the discussion back to the critical issue/facts.
* Creating catch phrases and slogans can be very useful as can renaming things. For instance renaming the North Oakville East Trail plan the “Cadillac trails plan” or renaming “the new energy from waste plant an “old 20th Century solution to a 21st Century problem” and a polluting incinerator that will burn valuable resources”.
* Rally people over the things they care about whether it’s the environment, health or the economy. Many environmental battles have been won over financial concerns. Many environmental battles have been won over human health issues. Tailor your emphasis to the group you are talking to. If it’s those whose primary concern is for the environment then emphasize those aspects, it its business leaders and their concern is primarily economic, link it to that.
* Keep your membership engaged. Have them conduct a poll, make buttons, distribute lawn signs, take photographs, staff a picket line or information booth.
* Do your research. Don’t ever assume the public or the politicians already have the information they need. Don’t ever assume politicians have read what you sent them or read what’s in the staff report. They are deluged with reports. That’s why it’s critically important to meet with them or make delegations to committees and Council because they see you and hear you and the information has a better chance of sticking with them.
* Learning how to make effective Powerpoint presentations is critically important. Little text. Pictures can be worth a thousand words.
* Best practice examples from other areas should be cited. Every politician wants to believe they are doing what is best for their community. If you can show another community is doing it better, you may spur them to action.
* Pay attention to politicians’ reactions to know if you’re getting somewhere.
* Never forget that you know more about these issues than politicians do. You are the experts compared to the politicians.
* Staff may know more than you do in some areas but you have a better sense of the overall big picture and you represent taxpayers who are paying their salary and who they are suppose to serve. Don't let them intimidate you.
* Never try to out-experts the real experts and high-priced help brought in by the developers/incinerator/companies/pesticide industry etc. Ignore them. Stick to your best arguments and examples. Remind your audience you speak for local people. Refuse to be intimidated by them.
* Don't ever let anyone call you a special interest group. Unlike the developers who stand to make a profit, you gain nothing personal if you are successful other than whatever benefits may accrue to the community as a whole. You are NOT a special interest group. You are voters and taxpayers from your community who represent a group of voters and taxpayers from your community and never let them forget it. Every time they challenge you in public answer them back as forcefully as possible.
* To get help, good advice and good information connect with other environmental groups with winning records. Talk to experts in environmental organizations.
* Always challenge the argument that development money is needed by the municipality. Development never pays for itself. Developers make their money and leave, with the municipality left responsible for maintaining roads and other costly infrastructure and maintaining services for citizens. Development drives costs up, permanently, for a municipality, especially if the development is mostly residential.
* Meet with politicians and staff. Besides your bigger agenda, always go in with some simple request that they can likely say yes to, or ask them for some small bit of help they're likely to give. This helps to establish a relationship where they know you as people and they've said yes to you about something. It makes it easier for them to say yes the next time.
* Concentrate your efforts where it will do the most good. Don’t waste time trying to sway those you know won’t be moved. Spend your effort on those who might be swayed. It’s the fence sitters, the undecided and those who are most thoughtful in their decision-making who you can hope to move. Analyze your local politicians. What do they care about? What do they fear?
* Campaigns succeed or fail depending on the amount of action you take. That means meeting with decision makers, phoning/emailing them, speaking up at public meetings etc. TV coverage, stories in the paper, advertising, posters, email among group members, etc. are only precursors and facilitators to action; not, action itself.
* Get to know the media. Go meet the local newspaper editor. Get to know the reporters. Make appointments to go see them in person. Feed them information. Feed national columnists. Take people who can be helpful out for coffee or for lunch. Absolutely protect whoever is helpful to you and support them whenever you can.
* Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t compromise. Take a stand based on sound decision-making and stick to it. You may have a fall back position, but never let the other side know what it is. If you stick to your guns, you might win everything you are asking for and if you eventually have to compromise, at least the compromise is much more likely to incorporate your ideas than if you give in early. Make sure all your people are singing from the same song sheet.
* Don’t spend time whining. The key to winning is spending time strategizing about what tactics might work, picking the best ones, trying them, analyzing whether they were effective or not and then acting again. This cycle of strategizing/acting/analyzing-/strategizing/acting etc. is what will make you effective. Too often groups are paralyzed into inaction. You learn by doing. You can’t just talk you must act.
* Be proud of yourselves. What you are doing is absolutely essential to the proper functioning of a democratic society. Without active citizens our world would be a much less just and humane place.
* Celebrate your victories. Too often we get so caught up in the battle, so worn out by the fight that we forget to stop and be grateful for the win. Yes, there is always another battle over the horizon but victories MUST be celebrated. It’s good for the soul, good for morale and will keep your members ready to engage again.
What Doesn’t Work:
* Petitions mean almost nothing to politicians. They can be useful to get a group started and motivated and to generate mailing lists but a petition is a tactic or activity and not an effective strategy. Note: you can USE a petition as a tool, statement etc but on its own it’s not influential and you run the risk that those signing the petition THINK they’ve taken action on the issue.
* Lobbying bureaucrats. You have to go after decision-makers.
* Arguing/talking among yourselves.
* Becoming part of the system – not that members of your group shouldn’t sit on town committees etc. but usually such committees are set up to limit public influence not encourage it.
* Media coverage. We overestimate the value media plays in the success of our issues. When we get a submission printed, yes it makes us feel good and widens public awareness BUT it rarely changes the direction of a vote. Press can help build and support the strength of an organization but they can’t win the issue.
Using The Media
* Letters to the editor must be short and to the point
* Learn to write press releases
* Use the lager media like Toronto Star, Globe TV Stations
* Invite them to events,
* Supply them with pictures.
Press Release:
May 22, 2009
Coalition calls for moratorium on school closures to protect greenspace
A coalition of citizens groups from around Halton Region is calling on the Halton District School Board to put an immediate moratorium on all plans to sell off school lands until community and stakeholder consultations take place.
“What’s at risk for the communities is valuable public greenspace,” says ??? ??? of ??????. “In Burlington alone, school closures and the sell off of land around them has cost our community 40 acres of valuable parkland and playing fields. In older areas, this greenspace may be the only parkland the area had. The sale of school sites is gutting our communities,” he said.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Filmmaker explores community solutions for climate change and peak oil
Pat Murphy, co-writer and co-producer of the documentary The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, will be in Oakville on Tuesday, November 10 to discuss community strategies for addressing Global Warming and Peak Oil. The event will be held in the Trafalgar Room at Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Road at 7:30 p.m. Murphy, the executive director of Community Solutions, a nonprofit organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio, devoted to small community living, is also the author of Plan C a book that focuses on how individual action can have a major impact on preserving resources and cutting down greenhouse gas emissions.