Be Proof Through the Night.
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Part 12: Total Advocacy The purpose of this part is not to turn you into a full time political activist. The goal is to familiarize you with information that will increase the success of your advocacy. Even if you only put in two hours a month on advocacy, you will do it more easily and more successfully if you study this part of the course. This page has six topics: A Broader, More Powerful Understanding of Advocacy In Part 6 of this course, you learned some easy ways to do advocacy. The focus was on contacting your representatives. In that section, advocacy was defined simply as "supporting a certain position on an issue or bill" and "letting your representatives know what you want them to do." In reality, advocacy is much broader. Advocacy is any effort to influence anyone to take action. Mostly you are trying to influence the people who make decisions. There are many different decision-makers who affect your life. People who run corporations and businesses are decision makers. You might write a letter asking them to be more environmental. People in the executive branch of government decide how to carry out the orders of the legislature. So you can write them about how they implement the new rules or laws. Your friends who vote are making a decision, so you can use advocacy methods to influence them. Also your neighbors make decisions about your community. (Do they litter? Do they blast music?) -- So advocacy can be thought of in very broad terms. Key Principles of Advocacy Know your place. It's not your responsibility to change the whole world. It's your responsibility to speak your mind on something that, first, you feel strongly about and, second, you understand. You are often communicating with people who devote their whole lives to politics. They may know a lot more than you. They may be more powerful than you. So unless you have great expertise or lots of power, it's important to be respectful. Also, unless you care deeply about one issue, you don't want to get caught up in politics. Define the Stakeholders, the Decision-Makers and the Influencers. Stakeholders are the people and organizations who are affected by an issue or decision. Decision-makers have the authority to make the decisions. Influencers can have a large impact on the decision-makers. By defining who's who, you are much more likely to choose the best goals and actions. If you think about it, there are usually many kinds of stakeholders. Some will probably be in favor of your cause, and some will oppose it. Be clear on the goals before you think about methods. It's quite common for people to quickly move to action before they thought about their goals. Think of poverty and hunger for example. If your goal is to end hunger, you may decide that government food stamps programs are enough. But doesn't your goal really include helping people to help themselves? If you define your goal carefully, you are likely to go in a much different direction: for instance asking the government to create job training, or to do things that aid the creation of new businesses, or literacy and basic skills, etc. Find out the relevant history. Find out what has been tried before: What has been tried and has failed in your community, so that you have this problem? What has worked well in other places, that you can copy? Speak in a way that will be heard. Be assertive without being aggressive. You have to make your message clear and compelling. You also have to make sure that people will take you seriously. Sometimes this means attaching consequences to inaction. For instance, if you are writing a company about a defective product, you might say that you will email fifty of your friends if you do not get action. Keep your promises. In the above example, if you say you're going to ask 50 friends not to buy a defective product--or to vote against someone in the next election, follow through and do it. If possible, make sure that someone learns that you followed through. When possible, be creative or edgy. This helps you to be heard by more people. If you can be entertaining or funny without muddying your message or damaging your credibility, your message will have a greater impact. Try for solutions that yield mutual benefit. Try for win-win situations. Often this takes some new perspective or creativity. For example, there is the conflict between people who want to cut down forests for paper and people who want to preserve forests for the sake of the birds and other animals. A win-win solution might be to cut down patches of forest and immediately replant, so that the animals can more to the uncut portions. Treat people, even enemies, with respect. Most people are not evil. People who disagree with your politics are probably not evil. Respect means not attacking, but respect also means that you seriously listen to and consider their point of view. If your enemy actually is malevolent, it still might be wise to treat them with respect: you don't want them to retaliate. Understand what structural change is. Imagine you are in a boat that springs a leak. One way to stay afloat is to keep bailing water. Another way is to plug the leak. Bailing is not a structural change, but plugging the leak changes the structure of the boat. Structural changes are usually more permanent solutions, and so they are usually preferred. Programs that give people food are not structurally sound, but programs that give people jobs and skills, usually change the structure of the situation. Understand that almost every action has multiple effects. One of the most common and repeated mistakes that people make is to forget that an action usually has multiple effects. The legislation that you may think you want can have: positive or negative effects on jobs (on businesses and workers)--and this can affect the tax base; it can have positive or negative effects on the environment; it can create a political precedent; it could have a positive or negative impact on people's health and mental health; it may make it harder for another problem to be paid for; it can have a positive or negative effect on the career of the politicians who support it; it can possibly be "paid" for by a compromise that costs too much; it can have a small impact on the culture, too. So in thinking about goals, you must consider all the possible impacts. At the same time, your advocacy usually costs someone time and money: If you get deeply involved, it will cost you time and money; it will add to the work load of the representatives. It may affect your family relationships, and how people perceive you. So, again, there are multiple impacts. Good advocacy is when the positive impacts outweigh the negative impacts. Be systematic. Plan. The first part of being systematic is to ask yourself the seven questions below. The questions will help you think systematically. And if you feel inspired to do some major action, you can use the planning worksheet at the end of this page.
Businesses Letters to decision-makers, boycotts, shareholder resolutions, create a web site about the business. Media
Letters
to the editor, op-eds, emails
asking for a certain kind of coverage (such as ad analysis) Citizens and the
public
Signs,
bumper stickers, slogans on T-shirts /
network to friends by email, PTTN chain reaction,
Officials Letters, emails, small contributions, vote, fill out questionnaires, visits to the legislator or official, help on a campaign, making a donation, forming a PAC to make large donations, getting on the PAC committee of an organization you belong to (such as a union or professional group.) Other actions:
Petition /
Civil disobedience /
March / Hunger strike
/ Symbolic actions / Become a candidate 1. All advocacy
groups are not created equal. Some are well-organized and
effective, and others are dedicated to the wrong approach, or they are
merely taking actions to justify their salaries. Do your homework,
and don't sign on with an organization just because it was the first you
heard about. Also, don't form coalitions with just anybody.
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