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Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 1
Campaigning and Advocacy: An Introduction
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 2
What is campaigning? What is advocacy?
Campaigns are actions we take to support a change we want to see in the world.
Advocacy is building support for an idea or plan or a change we want to see in the world.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 4
The first questions on your mind may be:
Should journalists engage in campaigning and advocacy?
Would campaigning affect journalists’ independence and their credibility?
Does campaigning and advocacy violate journalist ethics?
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 5
Journalists certainly need to strike a balance when they campaign and advocate for certain causes. Investigative journalists may be staking their credibility, and sometimes even their security, when they expose stories of public interest. Engaging in campaigns and advocacy may open them up to criticism and accusations of bias.
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However, there will come a time for all journalists when they might need to campaign or advocate for a certain cause or an idea or decision that needs to be taken.
Here are some examples.
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Journalists may advocate for better working conditions for themselves and their colleagues.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 8
Journalists may advocate for better working conditions for themselves and their colleagues.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 9
Journalists are constantly struggling for protection from rights violations. Solidarity campaigns may be critical to their protection.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 10
Journalists may create content to campaign and advocate for change on stories they have investigated and exposed, for example around governmental corruption, judicial misconduct, corporate abuses and much, much more.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 11
“Journalists are activists.”• Maria Ressa, Journalist and
Co-founder of of Rappler
• Ressa was arrested in 2019 by Filipino authorities for “cyberlibel” and found guilty in 2020.
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Campaigning for individuals and
organisations
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Weighing the risks
• Like with journalists, individuals and organisations must
weigh their own risks before embarking on the campaign.
• If you are a human rights organisation working on
documentation, you may find that a public campaign may
impact on the perception of the independence of your
research. If you can’t fully articulate the messages that are
needed for the campaign, or if they’re too political, consider
lending your resources to campaigners who are not under
the same pressure.
• Understand that in many cases, if you campaign properly,
you will make people angry, and you will come under attack.
Misinformation and disinformation will be used against you.
Make sure you’re prepared!
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The question of voice and identity
Before you begin, remember that the identity of the individual
and organisation running a campaign is crucial.
Consider the issue of ownership and voice.
Are you someone directly affected?
Are you an ally standing in solidarity? If so, make that clear, and
make sure you are not speaking for others.
Are your demands rooted in the demands of those affected?
Do people directly affected have the opportunity to shape the
course of the campaign and make their voices heard?
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 15
Be conscious of the power dynamics within a campaign.
Examining where ownership and the voice of the campaign is
coming from is particularly important in campaigning around
human rights violations. A campaign can be empowering and
a huge source of comfort for people who have survived human
rights abuses, for example, giving them a platform to share
their story and change behaviours. But it can also be a source
of stress, and aggravate trauma, if they feel powerless. This can
be the case especially after the campaign finds success, gaining
attention and resources and therefore power.
There is no easy way to manage these dynamics, but make
sure you are considering them in your campaign. A feminist
approach - which would involve rooting your campaign in
people’s experiences, asking them directly what their needs and
their demands are, and basing your work around that - would
be a good starting point.
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In most cases, those directly affected, or the “owners of the cause”, will also give the campaign its power and its emotional weight.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 17
The families of the disappeared in Lebanon’s civil war campaign to pass a law for their “right to know”.
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Every campaign should have a strategy with the following elements.
• Vision: What will the world look like when I have
achieved my goal?
• Theory of Change: How do we get our target to go
from point A to B?
• Tactics: What are the tactics that will help me
achieve my theory of change?
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 21
Set your vision.
• What will the world look like when I have achieved my vision?
• Write in a simple, and specific statement. A strong vision statement will
help guide you and your friends when you have disagreements, and
will help you keep your focus.
• It is okay, and encouraged, to be ambitious. Don’t set your vision to
be a step of the journey, but the destination. For example, if you want
an end to child marriage in Aden, make that the vision - not a public
commitment from a Minister. Those may be crucial steps, but don’t
necessarily deliver the change you want to see.
• It may help to make your vision statement geographically specific,
particularly if you have limited resources.
• While it’s important to be ambitious, it’s equally important to choose
something possible.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 22
Examples of vision statements.
• The criminalisation of honour crimes in Yemen.
• The abolishment of the Kafala System in Lebanon.
• A ban on plastic bags in Jordan.
• Alaa Abdelfattah released from prison in Egypt.
• Notice in the last statement, that the vision statement is not to free all
political prisoners in Egypt. Although it is good to be ambitious, it is
important to also be realistic.
• In the case of Lebanon, we can’t “end racism”, but we can remove a
racist system in the law.
• Attacks on medical facilities in Yemen are ceased.
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A useful tool to help you develop your theory of change is a “power map”.
• Who is the ultimate decision-maker that will help
you meet your vision? Place them in the cetnre.
• Who influences that decision-maker? And then
who influences this influencer? And then who
influences the influencer who influences the
decision-maker?
• It doesn’t need to be people. It can be institutions,
the media, money, particular interests, such as
passing a business deal, or even considerations of
public image.
• Draw about 3 or 4 nodes in the power map. You
may think you already have the power relations
clear in your mind, but do the map anyway! It’s an
excellent brainstorming tool.
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• Sometimes, the decision-maker at the centre of the
power map may be unmoved by public pressure.
This could be dictators, or particularly powerful
states or individuals, whose interests aren’t harmed
by campaigns. That’s why it’s important to figure
out who influences them and see how you can get
them to play a part.
• It is okay to target “good guys”, for example the UN
or international development agencies. Sometimes
they’re the only ones who can influence the party
that you would like to influence.
• The power map will also help you think about your
target and what they care about. This is important
to creating influence.
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An example of a power map: The Abolishment of Kafala in Lebanon
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Write your theory of change (TOC) in one sentence. You can use one of the formats below.
“In order to achieve… we will…”
“In order to get X to make this decision, we will do Y”
“If we do X, we will do Z”
Timing is key to your TOC. A newly appointed
decision-maker, for example a minister, could really
help shape your TOC.
Oftentimes a theory of change will rely on “mobilising
public opinion” or “shaming and exposing”.
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Examples of theory of change statements.
• In order to stop attacks on medical facilities in
Yemen, we will pressure the UK government to stop
arms sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Once you have a theory of change statement, it
becomes easier to brainstorm tactics. How do we
pressure the UK? Is it a visual demonstration outside
parliament? A lawsuit? Running an ad shaming a
certain minister? It will also help you think of the
allies you need. Who can help you pressure the
government? Are there established, well-respected
UK NGOs who can support you?
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• If we lobby the Lebanese Minister of Labour
personally, we will abolish the Kafala System.
• Again, this helps you think about tactics. Always
ask yourself, what does my target care about?
Golf? Let’s take out a billboard right outside his
golf course!
• In order to get a ban on plastic bags in Jordan,
we will run a positive social media and media
campaign targeting the new Minister of
Environment.
• You can start thinking about your approach.
Maybe you don’t have to go “negative” here, but
portray the Minister as a potential “environmental
champion”.
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Some things to consider with your theory of change...
When do you go international? Sometimes, when
you’ve exhausted all of your options to change an
issue domestically, particularly on issues of human
rights if you live somewhere with a non-democratic
government, you might want to seek solidarity and
pressure from outside your country. Do not take this
decision lightly. Sometimes, getting support from
international organisations or governments can help
you elevate your cause.
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Sometimes, particularly in wars where violence
and human rights abuses are rife, you don’t have
a choice. However, allies who may seek to support
you may dilute your demands or alter your message
or use the power they have gained by association
from you to act in a way that does not represent
your cause. State actors often use international
connections to discredit activists for having “foreign
agendas”. International networks are very powerful
for campaigns - but make sure you’ve weighed the
pros and cons before seeking support.
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• Do not underestimate solidarity! Campaigners
and activists may sometimes feel helpless about
creating change, and see solidarity statements as
empty or ineffective. However people impacted
by a cause may find some relief in knowing they
are being seen and heard. Frustration and pain
by those facing repression or other human rights
violations may be reduced by knowing they are
not alone.
• Sometimes, when thinking about you TOC, you
may find you need more than a campaign - you
need a movement. Fighting for the abolishment
of an engrained racist system that has existed for
decades for example, may take years and years
and require a consistent and patient “movement”
rather than a campaign. Movement-building is
difficult, painstaking work - but a powerful way to
create change.
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Tactics
! Tip: Check out the film guide in this week’s
session. The documentary “How to Survive a
Plague” has tons and tons of tactics from US
activist group Act Up.
There are hundreds of campaign tactics… It all
depends on your TOC.
For example, if your TOC is that if you shame and
expose a target they will make a change, your main
tactic would be an investigation.
If you want to get a human rights defender from
prison, you might nominatethem for awards and
get public statements from prominent actors for her
release.
This is the really fun part of your campaigning. Bring
in your friends and ask them to brainstorm with you.
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• Open letters
• Visual action
• Demonstration
• Petition
• Letter-writing campaign
• Explainer video
• Storytelling
• Statistics
• Reports
• A legal case
• Strike
• Opinion piece
• Advertisement in newspaper or billboard
Ideas of tactics - but don’t limit yourself!
• Mailing list updates
• Publish a book
• Nominate someone for an award
• Sharing stories under a hashtag
• Change profile pictures
• Photography series
• Company or organisational walkout
• A song / music video
• A moment of silence
• A competition for creative work
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What made the #BlueforSudan campaign powerful?
• It was a simple tactic - all people needed to do was
change their profile pic on social media
• But the tactic had a strong TOC behind it, which
was communicated powerfully to its audience,
in a straightforward way (think about how you
communicate your TOC!!): If you keep your eyes on
us, we won’t get massacred by our government
• It was visually powerful, people were scrolling
through their timelines and seeing blue
everywhere. Even celebrities got involved!
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 38
But just because it worked for Sudan doesn’t mean it will always work
In June 2020, a campaign tactic to support the Black
Lives Movement in the United States by changing
profile pictures to black squares, and posting the
hashtag #BlackoutTuesday, was criticised by activists
in the movement. In this case, the black squares
helped draw attention away from the constant
reporting of what was happening on the ground in
the protest movement.
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Lawsuits are a powerful tactic for change. In 2019,
the Syrian Archive, which works toward justice and
accountability in Syria, successfully sued a Belgian
for exporting chemicals that could be used in the
production of the deadly nerve agent Sarin to Syria.
This tactic helps discourage complicity with human
rights violations. It’s also a good example of teaming
up with others to pool resources together and
execute an ambitious piece of work.
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In Washington, campaigners from
Amnesty International put up a
fake street sign renaming the street
with the Saudi Arabian embassy
as “Khashoggi Street”. They were
protesting the killing of journalist
Jamal Khashoggi.
Yemeni Archive Campaign Guide | Campaigning and Advocacy 41
In Lebanon, journalists set up the
“Alternative Journalists Union”
to campaign for their rights,
particularly around freedom of
expression and their independence.
The Union often holds protests in
solidarity with colleagues
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What made the #MeToo movement so powerful?
• It was mostly organic - a lot of the best
campaign tactics are. Sometimes you can plan
something for months and months, invest heavy
resources, and still not get the same results as a
spontaneous hashtag
• It revealed a powerful message around the scale
of sexual violence and harassment -- by looking
at your feed, you could see that almost every
woman you know, and some men, are survivors
of this violence
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An example of a… not so powerful campaign. Why?
• This was a campaign to stop the violence in Syria
• This is why ownership and voice is so important.
The identity of these individuals in this campaign
presents them as powerless victims, waiting for a
response - however they are powerful heads of
UN agencies and even the entire United Nations
• The messaging isn’t clear - what is the campaign,
what are they demanding?
• Why are the images black and white?
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The campaign to stop UK Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia
• The image isn’t particularly powerful - but the
victory is. Organisations working together to sue
the UK government gained an impressive victory.
They made it illegal for the UK to sell arms to
Saudi Arabia because of war crimes committed
against civilians using these arms.
• This powerful tactic helped reduce arms sales to
Saudi Arabia, and helped draw attention to the
world’s complicity in the war on Yemen.
• It would have been even more powerful to
have Yemeni spokespeople at the forefront of
the news cycles on this, discussing the impact
on civilians and explaining why other countries
should follow suit.
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Action for Sama is a campaign built around a documentary - a powerful tactic
to mobilise action once people have understood a story. The documentary
tells the story of attacks on hospitals in Syria. At every screening she attends,
the director then calls on people to join the Action for Sama. The primary
call-to-action is a donation to medics working in Syria under the bombs to
continue their work.
Consider collaborating with artists telling stories related to their cause.
Perhaps you can collaborate on photo exhibitions, film screenings or concerts
to raise awareness of your cause.
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The documentary film Erased,__Ascent of the
Invisible, tells the story of forced disappearance in
Lebanon. At screenings of the film, the families of
Lebanon’s disappeared are invited to speak and build
support for their campaign for laws and action by the
government to meet families’ demands for the right
to know where their loved ones are.
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What do the organisers of powerful campaigns have in common?
• Create an open and accepting space for creativity.
If people worry about sharing their ideas because
they’ll be attacked and dismissed - they won’t!
Accept people’s ideas with enthusiasm - you can
save the conversation for what moves forward
and what doesn’t after, don’t spend too much
time discussing each individual idea.
• They ask for feedback. Campaigns and advocacy
depend so much on perception. Ask a diverse
group of people what they think about a tactic
before you release it. It will also help you prevent
a backlash, in case your tactic may inadvertently
contain something offensive or “tone-deaf”.