Organizing
- Collective action
- Engaging in direct action targeting those with power
- Led by people most affected
- Win concrete improvements in people’s lives and challenge power structures
Social Movement
Contentious activity sustained over a long period of time will leads transformative change. A social movement needs to grow a permanent base
Organizing as … a Science
Examples and definitions
- 10 in 60
- Power Analysis
- Tactics
Book
- Organizing for Social Change, Kim Bobo
Greenpeace was born in a direct action
Greenpeace started in Canada in 1970 as a combined anti-nuke pro-environmental organization.
Its style and focus were set by a single initial rabble-rousing act of civil disobedience, the voyage of the Phyllis Cormack to Amchitka, Alaska to interfere with nuclear weapons testing.
First Meetings
Early meetings for the organization that became Greenpeace were held first held in 1970 in the Shaughnessy (BC, Canada) home of Robert Hunter and Bobbi Hunter, and later in the “quiet home" [of Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe] on Courtenay Street [in Vancouver, BC]. The initial motivation was to resist nuclear weapons testing in Amchitka, Alaska.
Jim Bohlen introduced the the idea of “passive resistance” … his wife Marie Bohlen suggested sailing to Amitchitka to get in the way…
The Stowes organize a Joan Baez concert in Vancouver in October 1970, funds are raised for the "action"...
Voyage of the 1st 'Greenpeace'
The Phyllis Cormack is first chartered, renamed the Greenpeace. There mission: prevent the blast (and the expected tsunami), and so save the seal pups.
Sets off for from Vancouver for Amchitka!
- They do not make it. It's complicated: Nixon delayed the blast, so the ship pulled in to a US port (without clearing customs). Accosted by the US Coast Guard.
- Bomb goes off anyway
- No tsunami
- Seal pups OK
Still, on return, huge demonstration of support
Pre-pivot perceptions of Greenpeace activists
A small cohort of young white guys with beards taking up a dangerous mission to save marine mammals in some faraway part of the world ...
Reality:
A small cohort of young white guys taking up a dangerous mission inspired and funded by women activists … often their wives
- Dorothy Stowe, original co-founder
- Marie Bohlen, original co-founder, suggests chartering a boat
- Joan Baez, gives a benefit concert that provided the initial funding
- etc.
Behind every powerful social movement you will find powerful women
Like Greenpeace, the U.S. Freedom Rights movement was inspired and lead by women such as Septima Clark and Ella Baker.
Clark and Baker focused on the difficult and uncelebrated work — referred to as “spade work” — of social organizing, while well known luminaries such as Martin Luther King Jr. garnered the spotlight with the more dangerous and glamorous public speeches and marches.
Learn more about Ella Baker:
Evolution of mission in the 70’s and 80’s
French Nuclear Tests and the New Zealand bombing of Rainbow Warrior by French agents
Whales, the second "mind bomb" -- Japanese and Russian whalers targeted
Still focussed on small groups of activists, dramatic (newsworthy) missions highlighting specific travesties — the selection of “whales” was … symbolic …
Why does Greenpeace engage in Direct Action?
“It changes the perception and contextual framing of your cause. By being confrontational you force those in power/opposition, those who did not know about your movement and those that support your view to engage with your message and demands. Because in most cases direct action is disruptive, it is a newsworthy event. The news coverage allows you to amplify your message and show how serious you feel about your issue."
Types of Direct Actions used by Greenpeace
- Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA)
- Photo Op (to use in campaigns)
- Direct Communication
- Investigations/Exposés
- Protests
Direct Action approaches often overlap each other. For example an NVDA is also a photo op, a protest can also be an NVDA, and investigations gather information and photos that can be used in direct communication.
Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA)
- One of the most politically impactful kinds of direct action
- Putting your body on the line
- You're at the most risk, but action is morally compelling/challenging
- Nonviolent direct action is NOT not violent
A Greenpeace activist has used a lockbox to handcuff themself to heavy machinery to prevent it from further bulldozing a rainforest in Indonesia.
Greenpeace activists steer small watercraft under nuclear waste being dumped into the ocean. The pictures of this direct action created a great deal of moral outrage.
This action brought so much attention to the issue that Greenpeace actually got nuclear waste dumping in the ocean prohibited.
In Portland, Oregon, thirteen activists hung off of St. Johns Bridge to block a Shell icebreaker from heading up to the Arctic to drill for oil.
They stayed there for five days and gathered an enormous amount of international pressure on the Shell Corporation. People from Portland and around the world watched their protest and supported them.
Learn more about the protest in Portland, Oregon:
Direct Communication
- Sending a message to a particular person or group of people that you have been unable to reach before
- Used when all other ways to communicate have failed
Procter and Gamble is a huge consumer of palm oil, which is one of the top drivers of rainforest destruction in Indonesia.
Greenpeace had been pressuring Procter and Gamble to stop buying rainforest deforestation linked palm oil. They provided Procter and Gamble with scientific information, presented alternatives, and wrote to shareholders. They did all the polite things they're supposed to do.
Finally Greenpeace sent them a message they couldn't ignore. Activists wrapped the Procter and Gamble building with large banners connecting the P&G shampoo Head &. Shoulders to rainforest destruction and tiger survival. Soon afterwards, they were contacted by the CEO of Procter and Gamble for a meeting.
During a hearing in the U,S, Senate about drilling in the Arctic, Greenpeace activists came in and held banners that directly asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to stop Arctic drilling.
Photo Op
- The picture needs to tell a story
- Direct action gets the photo that is then used in your campaigns.
In response to newly elected President Trump's racist and anti-environmental policies, Greenpeace activists hung a "Resist" banner from a crane near the White House.
The image was photographed by a journalist and generated incredible amounts of attention as it appeared on the front page of newspapers all over the world.
During an important international climate meeting in Brazil, Greenpeace climbers scaled the famous Christ the Redeemer statue and hung a banner advocating for the future of the planet. It brought global attention to the meeting, the attendees and climate policy.
Investigations/Exposés
- Scientific expeditions
- Product research
- Taking photos and documenting
- Analyzing data
Can overlap with direct action: Sometimes you have to put your body in harm's way or you have to break rules in order to get information.
Can overlap with direct communication: You gather information and photos for direct communication with climate issue stakeholders.
Protests
- Individual or mass mobilization
- Nonviolent for the protesters, but NOT nonviolent overall
- Accessible for most people
- Shows how important issue is by showing people’s willingness to stand up
Celebrity and activist Jane Fonda partnered with Greenpeace to launch "Fire Drill Fridays," a weekly protest in Washington DC to demand Congress pass the Green New Deal.
The initial phase goal was to bring attention to the issue through protest and the participation of high-profile celebrities like Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix, Gloria Steinem and others.
In this photo Jane Fonda and activists occupy the floor of the Hart Senate Office Building as an act of civil disobedience during the eleventh Fire Drill Friday. Jane Fonda was arrested five times during this series of protests.
Greenpeace also supports other causes that are doing protest and civil disobedience work. Greenpeace asked how they could help the activist that organized the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
They said they needed help training their members, especially younger members, on how to participate in a nonviolent protest. So Greenpeace instructed Standing Rock protesters on how not to react (with violence) when anti-protesters and authorities act violently against them.
Protest can also be a nonviolent direct action. Here Greenpeace "kayaktivists" paddle out to block another Shell oil drilling rig from leaving its dock in Seattle.
This shows how accessible protest can be as an incredibly diverse set of people show up on water and land to block this ship. People of any age including kids and the "Raging Grannies" who participated in a small boat.
Learn more about the protest in Seattle, Washington: