The problem with activism/campaigning and getting the everyday person involved...!

Firstly I would like to point out that I am neither activist or campaigner and am far from an expert on these matters, but I am however well educated outside the system and reasonably well informed and believe the view I’m about to share with you is shared by many others like myself, would be campaigners who are prevented from becoming so due to the following reasons.

The biggest problem in this area is simply due to the protesters admirable single minded dedication to there cause, this ends up in every rally being a mish mash of causes which an everyday person like myself cannot understand and therefore support without doing a months worth of research into the subject.

Let me give just one example of many I have looked at over the recent month. I recently watched some [1] video of the right to protest march at Trafalgar square and 10 downing street, what struck me was the fact that most of the banners I saw did not mention this they were in fact in support of other causes this in itself dilutes the real cause is the eyes of the everyday person if the marchers had banners clearly stating that it was a protest for the freedom of speech and assembly etc. IMO there would have been many more people that would have joined the march enroute. The closest mention was of S.O.C.P.A which until a month ago I did not have a clue as to what it was.

The one yearly protest that has achieved some sort of unification and information and clarity is the yearly climate camp and is a stunning example of how all protests should be handled. Imagine a unified week long protest in parliament square or even Trafalgar square all in a unified cause without the hundreds of other banners there, how many of your everyday man do you think that would attract then.

My reasoning behind this first conclusion is simple every campaigner and activist has 2 audiences the govt. and the public, what most seem to forget in there dedication to there cause is the public. We the public are your recruiting ground we also unlike the govt. are listening so talk to us in words we understand and you may find a hell of a lot more of us there. Remember the power is in the people’s hands you just need to convince them to get up and use it.

And on a final point there is no more important cause than the right to freedom of speech , freedom of assembly and protest as without these rights no other campaign can or will be heard as it will all be lost in the violence of our current police state.

[1] Video of freedom of speech rally -  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389393.html