hvec activism workshop : social movements and the roles of activists 1© a ricketts 2012

HVEC activism workshop : social movements and the roles of activists

1© A Ricketts 2012

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Action groups, social movements, environment centres?

The term can refer to the individual organisations that make up a movement but mostly it refers to the wider organic movement toward a particular ideal

© A Ricketts 2012 3

The life and life cycle of social movements Social movements are like other living

things, the movement and the people in and around it go through cycles of change

these include:eight stages of a successful social

movementthe four roles of activism,

(Moyer 2001)


Some terminology

Social Movements are collective actions in which the populace is alerted, educated and mobilised…

sometimes over years and decades to challenge the powerholders

Powerholders are the elite group of people in whose hands decision making power has been concentrated, they are usually governments and corporations


The life cycle of a social movement

Author Bill Moyer presents a theoretical map of the eight stages of a successful social movement

It is right to be skeptical of theoretical models but I applied this model to an historic analysis of the NSW Old growth campaign and it is uncanny how closely NEFA’s lifecycle corresponded to Moyer’s description



The eight stages of social movements

1. Normal times

2. Prove the failure of official institutions 3. Ripening

conditions

4. Take-off

5. Perceptions of failure

6. Majority public opinion

7. Success

8 Continuing

the struggle

Moyer’s MAP model of

social movements(adapted)

Stage 1: Normal Times Conditions exist that violate widely held

values in the community (ancient forests being destroyed)

However, the majority is unaware of the nature or frequency of such events

The majority feels comfortable with official explanations

(Moyer 2001 p43)


Stage 2: Prove the failure of existing institutions

Activists must demonstrate that a problem exists (logging continues despite ‘moratorium’)

Conduct research to gather more evidence

Utilise available opportunities (political, legal, media) to highlight and publicise the issue

(Moyer 2001, p p48)


Stage 3: Ripening conditions This may be a slow moving process Growing numbers of people are

discontent with the status quo People stop relying on established

organisations to effect change (TWS) New small autonomous local action

groups begin to form (anyone you know?)

(Moyer 2001, p 51)


Stage 4: Take off

New social movements burst into the public spotlight

Usually propelled by a shocking or graphic trigger event (Franklin dam was an example of this for the Hydro issue)

Followed by a non-violent action campaign (marches rallies, blockades)

(Moyer 2001, p 54)


Stage 5: Perceptions of failure Hopes of an early victory are frustrated

as the powerholders dig in and resist change

Many activists despair, burn out or become internally divisive

Ironically the movement is usually progressing to stage 6, but activists are too close to the action to see it

(Moyer 2001, p 59)


Stage 6: Majority public opinion The beginning of a long term grassroots struggle

with the powerholders

The movement wins the backing of a larger proportion of the public

The movement moves utilises all available means to educate and the public, tactics often change

(Moyer 2001, p64)


Subcycles within the cycle At times movements need to temporarily

return to other stages Not all aspects of a campaign are at the

same point at the same time Usually even after a major victory there

remains new campaigns to be fought afresh


Subcycles and Tassie forests The subcycles aspect is very import for

SWST type campaigns, because there have been prior cycles of partial success (SW wilderness, RFA) and the work of modern movements is to expose the fact that ‘moratoriums have not stopped old growth logging.


Stage 7: success

The movement reaches a new plateau (another subcycle of success perhaps)

Public opinion turns the tide against the powerholders

Powerholders scramble to realign themsleves (e.g. whaling)

Significant goals are achieved (usually not all goals)

(Moyer 2001, p75)


Stage 8: continuing the struggle The success attained in stage 7 is not the

end of the struggle The particular campaign was only a part of

the wider struggle for a sustainable participatory democracy

The movement and the individuals have an opportunity to refocus and renew

New groups may focus on unfinished business

(Moyer 2001, p 80)© A Ricketts 2012 17

Where is the Tassie forest campaign up to? It is clearly beyond stages 1-3 generally

but there is unfinished business There have been very significant gains

made in the past, there is broad public awareness and broad public support yet there is frustration that old growth logging continues

This suggests that it is currently stalled in perceptions of failure and struggling to convert public support into success



The eight stages of social movements

1. Normal times

2. Prove the failure of official institutions 3. Ripening

conditions

4. Take-off

5. Perceptions of failure

6. Majority public opinion

7. Success

8 Continuing the struggle

You areHere (probabaly)

Why does this life cycle matter? It is important to know when you are in

‘perception of failure’ because it’s a challenging stage and can affect how people behave (to your detriment)

Because its closer to success than most people think

Having a bigger picture helps your campaign planning


Now lets risk yet another theoretical model I am probabaly just as cautious of

‘theory’ as anyone, but these models are based on experience and they do have things to teach us

There are a number of familiar personality types that we find in campaign groups, they all have a role but they don’t always like each other



The four activist roles

Citizen

Rebel

Change agent

Reformer

All four roles must be All four roles must be played effectively in a played effectively in a

successful social movementsuccessful social movement(Moyer 2001)(Moyer 2001)

The importance of understanding the roles Often there is conflict between the different

roles, for instance the front line rebel and the reformer

Sometimes within whole movements different groups perform different roles (eg TWS and SWST)

Each role has a different significance depending on where the movement is up to in its life cycle

© A 12cketts 2012 23

Citizens

Citizens locate their actions squarely in society’s mainstream.

Sometimes these people may not realise that they have just crossed the line from passive citizenship to activism


“I’m only an average person but I

want this situation to change”

The Rebel

These are the people that build the conflict… they help focus society’s attention on the problem

Rebel individuals or organisations have a

wide range of tools for their work including: mass demonstrations, sit ins, blockades, stunts


The rebel

Negative rebels The rebel is a very useful role, especially

early in a movements life cycle or at trigger points (Iraq war)

Some individuals identify too strongly with this role and may not see when they should move to another role or worse…

Turn their rebellion against other role-players in the movement


Change agent

Change agents can be difficult to detect. Change agents are involved in

community education around issues Change agents are the people and

organisations that aim to change the entrenched attitudes of society


The reformer The reformer is a role often played by

professional organisations (TWS?) Reformers are often least in touch with the

grass roots and may risk being seduced by the powerholders (TWS)

Reformers are nonetheless very useful once movements reach a tertiary stage in their life cycle (the deal making stage)(except they like to take the credit for all that hard work of the frontline activists)


Do you have to be one of these roles? Remember these are roles not

personalities as such (but can be) Any one person or organisation may play

combinations of these roles at the same or different times

Some people are more oriented toward one role, others are more flexible

Ideally each person and organisation understands its own role and respects the role of others


The roles and the cycle

It was mentioned previously that the four roles have different significance at different stages of a movements life cycle. The citizen role is most involved in stages 1 and 2

The rebel role is most involved in stages 3 and 4 and to some extent stage 5

The change agent role comes to the fore in stages 5 and 6

The reformer is predominant in stages 7and 8


Making use of Moyer’s model It is easy to be skeptical about theoretical

models and for good reason Of course the map is not the territory You can use it to gain perspective, avoid

despair and to diagnose problems in your campaign


Conflict mapping

Having examined the idea that social movements and activists display some common aspects, we can move on to the idea of forward planning of campaigns

Conflict mapping is a powerful technique for gathering information and perspective and focussing these in the most strategic ways

32

Whats coming next…

In the next sessions we will have a go at doing some conflict mapping for the campaigns you are working on.

We will attempt:Allies and foes mapsPowerholders maps Campaign strategy maps


hvec activism workshop : social movements and the roles of activists 1© a ricketts 2012

Documents

new social movements

stages of social movements

successful social movement

terminology social movements

times movements

issue moyer

blockades moyer

work of modern movements