[P2P-F] Fwd: [Networkedlabour] a type of work that both men and women do in Kurdistan

Michel Bauwens michel at p2pfoundation.net
Sat Oct 18 22:42:09 CEST 2014 

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From: Jakob Rigi <rigij at ceu.hu>
Date: Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 1:29 AM
Subject: [Networkedlabour] a type of work that both men and women do in
Kurdistan
To: networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org


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>>> peter waterman <peterwaterman1936 at gmail.com> 10/17/14 6:21 PM >>>
Thought-provoking?

PeterW


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian K. Murphy <brian at radicalroad.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 10:08 PM
Subject: [WSF-Discuss] Direct action is useless without the masses
To:


 https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/daniel-slomka/direct-ac
tion-is-useless-without-masses
*Direct action is useless without the masses*
*Marches may not always bring visible results, but they are crucial for
political change. Direct action can't be the work of a small, devoted
group. A response to "When marches aren't news, and media stunts fail".*

Daniel Slomka 3 October 2014 | openDemocracy

Sami Çapulcu's "When marches aren't news, and media stunts fail" (22.8) is
an important article, presenting very well the sincere dilemmas of every
activist striving for social and political change. It is out of respect and
empathy with the writer that I write this response, focusing on their
methodological points.

It is not new for anyone that we live in the era of information.
Recognition of media and-to a growing extent--new media, is a central part
of the work of any government, business or NGO. Due to this many
organizations have become obsessed with "raising awareness". The main
problem with this is that at times raising awareness comes at the expense
of actually doing something.

The problem is serious. Thousands of people take to the streets, march,
protest, raise signs and shout, and at the end of the day go home satisfied
with a feeling of catharsis and of "having done something", but in fact,
nothing has changed. Awareness has been raised, maybe there has been some
media coverage, but the people reached are usually those who already care
anyway, and the government avoids addressing the problem.

If at the end of the day nothing changes, Sami asks, what use are these
protests anyway? Public awareness must be translated into public action,
and when there is no action, then visibility is pretty much worthless -
direct action is therefore the answer.

They write:

"Even if you think pressuring the government to improve our world is a good
allocation of movement resources (I don't) then history makes it clear that
you need the back-up of direct action. Governments profiting from a problem
rarely listen to their people unless there's an economic threat."


But direct action is itself dependent on public awareness. To take Sami's
example of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS): boycotting
is a legitimate way of trying to tackle social and political injustices,
but it is useless if it is not implemented on a massive scale.

If only a group of several dozens of devoted activists boycott certain
products, the financial impact that this boycott has is insignificant. Then
the direct action has no meaning.

Sami argues that protests don't translate into action or change. How do we
solve this? The root of the problem is in the message of the rally. At
pro-Palestine rallies, protesters' signs call for a "Free Palestine" and to
"Stop killing children".

What kind of direct action do these messages call for? What should people
do? No action can be extracted from such protest. Even if a person has good
will and wishes to join the cause, based on these messages there is no
"manual" of what such a person can do.

But it does not mean that the protests and rallies are useless. Protests,
marches and rallies are not the final product of civic participation - they
are a platform that provides public attention and awareness. The organizers
of such events must decide what goals they wish to achieve through this
platform. The protesters' messages need to be refined.

Let's imagine that instead of raising some dozens of signs saying "Free
Palestine", protesters gave out hundreds of thousands of leaflets with
concrete information about Israeli companies that violate Palestinian human
rights, with clear instructions of where their products can be found, and
how they can be recognized and avoided.

In this case, the impact of the protest would be much stronger. Ideally,
this direct action would not only be taken by several devoted individuals,
but by a much larger number. This kind of action can only be motivated
through greater public awareness.

To further understand how public awareness and direct action go together,
let's look at two other activist movements: the 269 movement, which aims to
reduce the consumption of animal products, and Greenpeace International.

At the heart of 269 is a very clear call for action: go vegan. There is no
way to miss this message. Since the call for action is so well designed, it
is easier for them to raise awareness, usually through an appeal to the
moral and emotional. Their campaigns depict pictures of adorable cows and
horrifying scenes of animal slaughter. These evoke different emotions in
order to raise awareness, then lever it towards a simple task: to stop
consuming animal products.

Greenpeace's challenge is different. Environmental issues are complex, and
their outcomes are rarely visible in the short term. Their
awareness-raising and call for action is complex. Just as raising a "Free
Palestine" sign does little for the cause, so it is with a tweet like "Stop
global warming".

How does Greenpeace solve the problem? It divides the overall problem into
particular, often local, units, and creates problem-oriented calls for
action, calling for public pressure on governments and firms on specific,
burning issues, with an emphasis on those that are "doable". The recent
successful campaign against the clearance of the Mahan forest in India in
favour of a coal mine is a good example.

Awareness and calls for action go hand in hand, and the most successful
campaigns combine the two. To inspire people to believe in a cause,
activists have to focus on doable goals, and give people clear instructions
of what actions are being called for. Direct action is necessary, but it
must be backed by a mechanism of raising public awareness. Mass
participation without a clear action behind it is no good, but neither is
extremely limited direct action.

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-- 

   1.
*Free ePub Book, Forthcoming. 2014. From Coldwar Communism to the Global
   Justice Movement: Itinerary of a Long-Distance Internationalist. Coming
   from Into-Ebooks. Information:peterwaterman1936 at gmail.com
   <peterwaterman1936 at gmail.com>.
   *
   2. *EBook, November 2012: Recovering Internationalism
   <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/recovering_internationalism/>.  [A
   compilation of papers from the new millenium. Now free in two download
   formats]*
   3. *EBook (co-editor), February 2013: World Social Forum: Critical
   Explorations http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/
   <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/>*
   4. *Interface Journal Special (co-editor), November 2012: For the Global
   Emancipation of Labour  <http://www.interfacejournal.net/current/>*
   5. *Blog: http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman.
   <http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman.>*
   6. *Interface Journal Special (Co-Editor) Social Movement
   Internationalisms. See Call for Papers <http://www.interfacejournal.net/>,
   (Deadline: May 1, 2014).*
   7. *Needed: a Global Labour Charter Movement (2005-Now!)
   <http://interfacejournal.nuim.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Interface-1-2-pp255-262-Waterman.pdf>Under,
   Against, Beyond: Labour and Social Movements Confront a Globalised,
   Informatised Capitalism
   <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/under-against-beyond/>(2011) Almost 1,000
   pages of Working Papers, free, from the 1980 <1980>'s-90's.*


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