Thanks to Tools for Change trainer and NOII Toronto organizer, Syed Hussan, for this guest blog post. Protests are an integral and necessary part of our social movements. They are the means to assert power, to take power, to pressure a target and to do get what our communities need. Doing them right is easy, and powerful. The basics Here are some things to consider: Why are you organizing the protest? How will you know you have succeeded? By being clear about what winning looks like … [Read more...]
New Ruckus Society How-to Guide on Strategic Direct Action
Check out this nice little brochure for people interested in designing creative direct actions. The booklet was developed by myself (Jessica Bell) and Joshua Kahn Russell, as well as Ruckus Society staff Sharon Lungo and Megan Swoboda. (And thank you to Cam Fenton for designing.) Instead of drilling into the nuts and bolts of executing an action, we decided to write a guide to help you dream up the 'what', meaning a direct action idea that is strategic, effective, doable, and … [Read more...]
Best practice petition-writing
Change.org is one of those advocacy organizations that specializes in gathering signatures online in order to secure victories for people and causes alike. The organization is very good at it what it does, and its success is being recognized. Non-profits can pay Change.org to gather signatures for them. That's how Change.org operates as a business. Anyone, however, can use Change.org's excellent online petition tool for free, and access their useful online resources, including: How an … [Read more...]
Executing Your Tactic
350.org action-planning guide 350 developed a very simple one-page nine-step guide to planning actions. It's quite useful when executing basic tactics. And here’s a list of possible roles and responsibilities you might want to include when planning a protest or other confrontational actions. … [Read more...]
Need help deciding what tactic is best for you?
This is a great handout that you can print out and use to help you and group think through what action or tactic might be useful for your campaign. It's a great tool for facilitators as well. Basically the tool asks you a series of questions to help you identify the components and consequences of your tactic, from messaging to building the capacity of your group. Most experienced campaigners know to think through these steps, but sometimes it's helpful to have a piece of paper and a set of … [Read more...]