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how long does it take to win?Submitted by Graham on Wed May 6, 2009 Yesterday's news included some coverage of a ban on seal products voted in by the European Parliament. This is a campaign that we are familiar with, in part because each year a number of organizations that use our software launch campaigns around this issue at the start of the seal hunt. Our email volumes go up! This year, the Canadian Senator that sponsored a bill to outlaw the seal hunt received over 500,000 eamils of support. One of our clients in the UK generated over 100,000 emails to UK MEPs alone. The EU vote was truly remarkable for a few reasons. The first reason is simply that the campaign has been going on for over 30 years. So many organisations consider a long running campaign to be one that lasts several years. Imagine a campaign that has lasted more than a generation. How do you keep the momentum? How often dos the strategy change? How do campaigners keep themselves from getting discouraged? I remember this line from the movie about William Wilberforce, the British MP, and tireless campaigner against the slave trade in the late 18th century and early 19th century: "Every year at the opening of a new session of parliament, William Wilberforce introduces a bill to end the slave trade." This campaign in the UK started with the Quakers in the early 1780's and last more than 40 years until Parliament passed legislation abolishing the slave trade. I'm not sure that I have any unique insights into how these campaigns sustain themselves over such a long period. I only want to say that it is clear that they depend on the tireless dedication of people that are very passionate about the issue. The other thing that is interesting about this campaign is the potential impact of online activism, in addition to the media relations, direct lobbying, policy work, etc. Online campaigns rarely, if ever, exist in a vacuum. A question for you: What role did the Internet play in this long running campaign in recent years? |