Let’s face it – resistance work is enormously difficult, fraught with the challenge of overcoming an overwhelming threat in the dominant culture. And despite the passion and commitment of activists, our work is too often not as effective as it needs to be, to save the living world. We’re losing.
Resistance work has gotten smarter, though. There seems to be a greater emphasis on taking a strategic approach to our work, and we see more activist groups reflecting on their values and vision, taking stock of their strategic context, and leveraging that strategic orientation to craft campaigns to realize their strategic goals.
At the same time, Community organizing and campaign planning could use a bit of spring cleaning, and might benefit from what we believe is a more complete approach. Before we offer our approach to organizing campaigns we acknowledge that we stand on the shoulders of organizers who helped us learn about effective resistance organizing. We tip our hat to organizers who have, and do, essential work resisting the destruction of the living world. We’re looking at you, Deep Green Resistance, Vince Emanuele, and others we’ll mention.
Having said that, here’s our ‘big but’. We often talk about “Community Organizing vs. Mobilizing”, but we’re not going there, really. Why? Because writers who discuss organizing and mobilizing generally focus on objectives such as labor union work, political work, or similar concerns that aren’t what we in CPR are committed to as a primary focus.
As Builders & Leaders of Radical Communities, our purposes and practices differ from the aims of many other practitioners. So, our model of leveraging Community power differs somewhat, although we shamelessly borrow from them all as needed. In short, we acknowledge the best practices of these aims, add to them as needed, and reframe them.
We note that models of organizing or mobilizing often resemble lists of things to do, watch out for, and so on. While years of wisdom and experience drive the construction of these lists, we humbly offer a model that has a simple but effective rationale to help you see what needs to be done to most effectively leverage Community Power.
Since we don’t mean here to include all the components of resistance strategies, let’s assume your organization has already come to grips with its purpose/mission/vision, environmental scan, and strategic priorities and choices. These constructs should leave you, not surprisingly, with your strategy. What needs to happen now is to make the strategy happen. That is the role of campaign work.
Campaigns: The Building Blocks of Strategy
If you follow the mainstream views on campaign work, you’ll likely see campaigns described as “Work in an organized & active way toward a particular goal.” This approach leaves too much to the imagination, and too little to help material work.
Consider this:
Campaigns break down strategies into coherent, complementary initiatives that characterize conceptual and action paths, prompted by a common strategic direction.
Campaigns are how strategies get done. They complement each other, they make sense given your desired strategic direction, and they suggest the actions needed to move your strategy forward.
Campaign planning is also perhaps your best opportunity to exercise creativity, wisdom and insight in the Strategic Planning process. You might also benefit from looking at the strategic work of other resistance movements to generate a list of campaign ‘types’ you might borrow from. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to produce a useful set of campaign types to suit your strategy, although they will of course need to be tailored to your circumstances.
Here’s a short list of campaign types we’ve gleaned from our experiences and research. For a fuller spectrum of campaigns and a description of the pros and cons of the various types, we recommend DGR’s Taxonomy of Action (https://deepgreenresistance.net/nl/resistance/action-taxonomy/taxonomy-of-action/).
- Public Relations / Media Outreach
- Funding Recruitment
- Direct Action Sabotage
How do you know which type(s) of campaign(s) to plan? Of course, those decisions depend in great measure on your strategy. This is what we might call contextual, or strategy-driven factors.
We all know campaign work needs to be strategic, in the sense that the campaigns materially articulate the strategy and help move the resistance forward in the direction consistent with the vision.
However, we would do well to also pay attention to the ‘psychological’ aspects of campaign work. Comrades, fellow activists and resistance warriors are passionate and generally committed, but they are also people, and the more we focus on the ‘people’ aspects of campaigning, the more successful we are likely to be.
We suggest the campaign choices you make depend on the ‘people’ functions you need from a campaign, to complement the strategy-driven factors. Let’s look at how to construct a campaign using these considerations.
The EDS Model
The Communities that Protect and Resist Campaign Model (the EDS Model) asserts that an effective strategy consists of campaigns that address three intrinsic factors (in addition to strategy-drive ones). These factors serve critical campaign functions:
You might have noticed that Energize, Direct and Sustain collectively describe the motivation construct from the psychology world. Good call! Yes, we’re borrowing from a common definition, but with good reason, don’t you think? Campaigns should collectively serve to energize comrades, direct their efforts, and sustain commitment over the long haul. This is what we see as missing from discussions of Community organizing in general and campaign work in particular.
Let’s explore each component.
Energize
Even committed activists sometimes need to be motivated to pursue a campaign and devote substantial time and energy to it. You may find you need to energize comrades internal to the collective, as well as larger groups in the Community and/or surrounding environs – perhaps even regional or national ‘audiences.
Much of the energy for campaign work springs from strong leadership on the part of the organization or Community, whether from elders or organizers. We urge organizers to enhance your leadership skills, as they are critical to ensure the Community is willing to struggle for their shared aspirations. For what it’s worth, we in CPR offer a three-course sequence designed for resistance leaders.
At the same time, organizers can and should tap into the emotional reservoir people have regarding the living world.
Campaigns work when people feel emotionally driven to protect someone, whether it be a natural community, river, a specific species, or a struggle against oppression. If you can highlight a particular landbase, species, plant or individual, the more commitment you can generate from activists and potential allies.
You can’t fight for what you don’t love, and you can’t love what you don’t know.
One particularly effective tactic for generating emotional attachment is to leverage visual means. Planners need to craft a compelling emotional appeal for folks to get involved. Whether it is a picture of a threatened bird species or of a massacred landscape, some kind of visual image can draw people in and give them the “hook” to want to help defend the life you are working to save. Pictures are nice, but video is even better, if you have the resources.
For radical environmentalists and social justice activists, it’s important to focus deeper than just the imminent danger or outrage your campaign addresses. Ensure those you’re communicating to understand the root issue at hand. Drive home (again and again if necessary) the point that the dominant culture / system must be dismantled. You want to invoke not just love for the living, but rage against the forces you’re resisting. At the same time, help others understand they are not alone in their love and rage – normalize these feelings, and focus them on where they most belong – love for the living, rage against the strategic targets and what they represent.
Complement your visuals with narratives when you can. Write an essay that tells the story of the issue and drives the emotional appeal by clarifying “why should I get involved”. People need to understand why this issue is important and just as important, how they can help. Keeping people informed by telling an emotionally engaging story is essential in keeping key activists involved and willing to engage in the struggle.
People can’t get excited about issues they aren’t aware of. Get the word out. Where appropriate, petitions, fundraisers, social media, and other means help garner support for the campaign (and more generally, the issue).
Actively engage in public speaking, debates, seminars and the like to get your message across in a way that taps into the emotional component of the campaign. Attend conferences, town halls, and other meetings, too. Crash them as necessary. Host salons and educational meetings. Convene cultural events and use the opportunities to get the message out.
Write (articles, posts, etc.)!
“One can lack any of the qualities of an organizer – with one exception – & still be effective & successful. That exception is the art of communication. It does not matter what you know about anything if you cannot communicate to your people. In that event, you are not even a failure. You’re just not there.”
Saul Alinsky
Communication is a fundamental aspect of leadership and organizing. Are you uncomfortable with public speaking or writing? My sense is that our discomfort pales in comparison to the pain being borne by the ravaged land. So, give it a shot. And you know the only way to get better, right? Practice.
Si Kahn, Community Organizer, offers pithy tips for organizing in his book, Creative Community Organizing. Here are some offerings for this section, followed by a pithy comment of our own here and there:
“As a creative community organizer, you are always trying to figure out people’s common self-interest, the glue that binds….” [You’ll likely want to refer again and again to your compelling vision for your Community.]
“It is generally useful, as a part of any creative community organizing campaign, to advocate for a positive as well as to oppose a negative.” [This is what effective visions do. If you don’t have one, you need to work with comrades to develop yours.]
You need to believe that human beings… can somehow find some common connection. To do that, leave your stereotypes at the door.” [We can do better than that: the common connection is Comradeship, and connection to the natural world. Communicate this as much as you can.]
Direct
Energy without direction is chaos. When we set campaigns in motion without clear direction, we waste our comrades’ time. Campaigns need to focus participants’ energy to be effective. We need to make sure efforts are directed toward campaign goals (and that they’re consistent with the values of the Community).
We also need to make sure everyone in the campaign is working toward the same end, although tasks might be complementary and not exactly the same.
Finally, we need to ensure participants know what to do, and how to do it. We musty train comrades and build their confidence in their ability to successfully take on resistance tasks (i.e., cultivate their efficacy).
How can we ensure a strong sense of Direction for our campaigns? A commonsense starting place is the vision, as we mentioned earlier – ideally a vision not just for the Community but also for the campaign itself. Make it a practice to refer to your touchstone early and often, to make sure everyone is aligned with that touchstone. A benefit of this approach is that committed comrades will engage in work that moves you toward that vision in ways you did not even anticipate. Allow comrades to use their experience and creativity to further the realization of your campaign’s goals.
More than a vision, though, you need a strategy, long- and short-term. But you already have that. Make sure the strategy is shared as widely it can be, consistent with security culture. Ensure participants in the campaign understand how their work contributes to the strategy. This ‘line of sight’ should be made clear and revisited often.
Recruit wisely to the campaign ‘staff’ (cadre) and socialize them effectively into your organization’s culture.
Where possible, share your rationale regarding target selection. Help campaign participants understand the ‘why’ of the target(s) selected to engender commitment and open the door to greater conceptual and material contributions to the effort. Ditto with respect to the tactics you plan to use.
Cultivate Community Awareness of the Issues.
Successful Community…efforts are more likely to occur when the process includes…measuring and analyzing the needs and problems of the Community.
One effective way to do this is through Community-Based Research (Strand et al.).
- [These efforts] devote time & resources to understand problems & possible solutions.
Gathering information is one way to involve members and can in itself be a way to build Community.
- Members gain knowledge about the Community and forge stronger relationships with other members.
- The results of information gathering and analysis often provide direction for how to proceed with next steps.
Stay Focused.
“Without strategic analysis, resistance leaders will often not know what that ‘next step’ should be, for they have not thought carefully about the successive steps required to achieve victory…
The result of failures to plan strategically is often drastic: one’s strength is dissipated, one’s actions are ineffective, energy is wasted on minor issues, advantages are not utilized, and sacrifices are for naught.
“Once a sound strategic plan is in place, the … forces should not be distracted by minor moves…that may tempt them to depart from the grand strategy [in favor of] unimportant issues. As long as the basic analysis is judged to be sound, the task of the[resistance] is to press forward stage by stage.” Gene Sharp
Si Kahn again:
“Start the process of strategy development by imagining that instant just before victory. Then working backwards, do your best to figure out the steps that will lead to that moment.”
” The more complicated a strategy or tactic, the harder it is to carry out, & the less likely it will be successful. If you want 100s or 1000s to participate in a campaign, you need to ask the great majority of them to do one thing, and only one.”
- A clear plan, clearly communicated, with clear roles and responsibilities, has great value.
- Action Plans! Know how to create effective plans and how to execute them.
“Even in the internet age, personal relationships still count, especially when you’re asking people to do something. When recruiting volunteers, give them a specific list of campaign needs from which they can choose.”
You may find it difficult or distasteful to be directive, given our general rejection of the dominant culture and patriarchy. Don’t worry – you’re not selling out, you’re providing the means for participants in your campaign to find a place, to contribute their ideas and expertise, and to find solace and confidence in the potential for the campaign, and themselves, to succeed.
Sustain
Resistance work is isolating, draining, and never-ending. Campaign comrades need to be psychically nourished and supported to endure the rigors of campaign work and resistance in general. The best efforts to energize and direct your campaign will fade away in these circumstances unless you mindfully address the longer term.
Build your “resistance”: A strong group of activists, willing to put in the time and effort, is key to a successful campaign.
- Make sure they have meaningful work to do.
- Keep in constant touch with your activist base. Group emails, calls, meetings keep people connected, and help to organize and motivate them to continue to struggle.
Form a Core (Cadre). You need a focused, cohesive group that collectively is able to commit to on-the-ground work, planning and/or executing on important Protect and Resist tasks. Team development and team leadership skills are a real plus.
Guarantee early involvement & support from existing Indigenous Organizations.
- We are all on stolen land. Efforts to protect and defend the land should always involve indigenous groups wherever possible.
- We must hear their voice before making decisions, plotting a course, etc.
- We should invite their leadership in our strategies, campaigns and actions.
There are practical reasons, too:
- Established contacts / pre-existing relationships with indigenous groups provide channels of communication necessary for success in Leveraging power.
- Indigenous members and their leaders can legitimize attitudes toward a campaign & any other form of resistance.
- Indigenous groups may provide access to resources (people, facilities, knowledge, and ties to other organizations or Communities) necessary for the successful execution of resistance work.
Build a network of relationships (inside and outside the core members of the campaign, and perhaps the Community). Build and/or join coalitions of like-minded activists.
“…without a wider vision, community organizations will remain focused on the local. The challenge is to build an agenda that transcends local work and to find ways to connect with broader organizations and build alliances to work for fundamental social change.” De Filippis et al.
Highlight campaign successes, and get media involved where possible.
- Celebratory emails, victory parties, and anything else that keeps the group together and builds momentum is invaluable.
- Use social media often (daily?) to keep activists involved in the work.
Incorporate Humor into your campaign.
No joke – the ‘strategic’ use of humor can play several important roles in keeping spirits high in an otherwise stressful and demanding campaign. Gallagher and Navone (2019) provide an interesting take on how humor can be used in resistance efforts:
Humor Facilitates Outreach and Mobilization
Humor can attract more members; it becomes more fun to be involved, and it brings energy. It especially works to attract young people and students, although the increase in membership may be an unexpected side‐effect of the use of humor.
Humor Facilitates a Culture of Resistance
“[Humor] protected people’s self‐respect and gave the population some sort of control in an otherwise uncontrollable situation. The jokes also served to break down isolation and create a solidarity and group identity within the population. Because so many people shared the jokes, their very existence contradicted the Nazi propaganda that people who did not join them would stand alone…. “The jokes also provided an image of nation‐wide solidarity that vitally assisted the resistance effort.”
‘Each Joke is a Tiny Revolution’
George Orwell, quoted in Gallagher & Navone
Humor as a Healing Practice
Living under & resisting authoritarianism places immense stress on a population. Nonviolent movements can turn violent as a result. But humor can help keep the peace.
- Laughter can be a pressure-relief valve—releasing excess steam. Laughter relaxes an individual and shifts their tendencies away from violence.
Tension in conflict, even nonviolent conflict, can take its toll on those involved. Humor offers an effective mechanism through which nonviolent movements can assuage fears and achieve reconciliation for sustained peace.
Build needed organizational structures.
Don’t rely on the emotional inertia alone to keep campaigns going. Protracted resistance efforts in particular need organizational structures to maintain momentum and to consolidate gains, material assets, and ‘corporate memory’ from experienced activists and elders.
“Community organizing [sic] is premised on the assumption that building a relatively permanent structure with clear processes of delegation of power and roles facilitates longevity and democracy.”
De Filippis et al.
Si Kahn one more time:
“Laughter really is therapeutic, and hope does heal. Be cheerful in the face of adversity, and help others feel that way.”
“We can never truly predict what human beings working together can accomplish, and therefore we can never compromise with justice.”
“Be certain the people you work with understand the risks they’re taking, the things that could go wrong, the losses they might suffer, before they make the decision to act.”
End Note
Finally, let’s also remind ourselves that the EDS Model (or any rationalized approach to campaign / Community organizing) helps us better remember the things we need to incorporate into our campaigns. Even better, a model like this frees us to use our creativity to devise new ways and techniques of ‘organizing’. When we understand the EDS components, we can generate new and better ways of accomplishing each. And any time we can unleash the energy and creativity of organizers and comrades, our resistance work benefits.
* A fuller discussion of this topic is available in Leading Communities of Resistance, a course offered by CPR.
References
Max Wilbert & Dillon Thompson (2015). Presentation on Organizing, Deep Green Resistance Conference.
Deep Green Resistance. DGR Campaign Strategy (Unpublished Manuscript).
Kerry Strand, Sam Marullo, Nick Cutforth, Randy Stoecker, & Patrick Donohue (2003). Community-Based Research and Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass.
Si Kahn (2010). Creative Community Organizing: A Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists, and Quiet Lovers of Justice. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Maiken Jul Sorenson (24 Feb 2008). Humor as a Serious Strategy of Nonviolent Resistance to Oppression. Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0130.2008.00488.x
James DeFilippis, Robert Fisher, & Eric Shragge (2010). Contesting Community: The Limits and Potential of Local Organizing. (New Brunswik, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Adam Gallagher & Anthony Navone (2019). Not Just a Punchline: Humor and Nonviolent Action
How Comedy Can Provide Relief and Promote Resistance in Authoritarian Environments. United States Institute of Peace: https://www.usip.org/blog/2019/05/not-just-punchline-humor-and-nonviolent-action
Communities that Protect and Resist 