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Chapter 3.1 Start Your Activism for Animals
Being active for animal rights you need to know what you want to achieve, how to do it, a will to act and sufficient drive to keep going. You are being active to change society by persuading and motivating people to adjust their behaviour for the better, as you see it. "Campaigning can be as easy as writing to your local newspaper's letters page, or as elaborate as being at the centre of a busy group." Animal Aid (1)No matter what you do, whether you do much or little, by yourself or with others, you are making a contribution to the desired global end result. Many of the contributions for change in society come from largely unknown but dedicated people working out of sight. Evan a few activists can stimulate big social changes: a number of people chucking tea cases into Boston harbour are widely credited for leading the way to the independence of the United States from Britain. So how do you start being active for animal rights? It is said that people enjoy most what they are good at doing. So pick activities you enjoy, such as indoor or outdoor work, noisy public demonstrations or the quite publishing of articles, getting together with your mates or working alone. What ever you do, this section offers you some background and essential techniques for being active. Legality You do not have to do anything illegal to work for animal rights. Of course, there are always exceptions. One exception is an open rescue (see Animal Rescuer), but even this is built on legitimate foundations. A steady legal course of action, on the other hand, often produces better results in the long-term. The main thing you need for being active is a will to act and the drive to carry on. Winston Churchill said: Persevere to conquer! You Have a Right to Campaign In democratic countries we have the right to be involved in decisions that affect society and our lives. Whether you are a student, worker, bank manager, mother or pensioner, we can all campaign to make our voices heard. Each of us has the right to face the population and campaign to bring about changes we think are necessary. More specifically, we have the right to influence decision-makers, especially people in powerful positions. We have the right to try legally to make them all do what we think is best, whether we want change locally or globally, whether our action is high profile or low key.
How to Succeed Half the success of being active for animal rights is knowing what you want to achieve; the other half is knowing how to achieve it. Animal rights practical tactics are no different from tactics employed by campaigners in other endeavours. To make their demands heard, activists in other spheres employ techniques like picketing, lobbying and demonstrating, and today have some novel tools in their arsenal, like the Internet and its diverse tools. Do not stop at the end of this section when finding out how best to champion your cause. Seasoned campaigners say that there are tried and tested techniques for campaigning based on the experience of many good activists. Read what they have to say in books and on the Web. Seasoned campaigners also say there is no infallible guarantee of results! You must jump in somewhere, even if the way ahead is not always perfectly clear, and fight your corner. Where to Begin? Sometimes the most difficult part of taking action is choosing what to champion from the many possible issues. As a starting point, unless something has already fallen into your lap, you can categorise animal rights controversies in a number of ways and specialise in one that interests you. This limited and inevitably overlapping list for example:
These are just some fields of interest in animal rights and you can zero in on specific ideas, like animal abuse and its relationship with human abuse, cruelty-free shopping, vegetarian and vegan school food promotion. Still stumped for an objective to campaign for? Contact organisations that attract you and ask if they have an activity in your district or want to set up a project. Ten Essential Activism Tips Here are pointers for success that are common to most campaigns and every campaigner should know from the start. 1. What Is Your Activism? Your ultimate aim must be clear and precise. If you are not completely clear about your aim then you are not likely to achieve it. Write down your ultimate goal in less than a dozen or so words. Store it safely and study it now and then in light of your activities. If you do not do this then over time your original goal can change insidiously into something that seems the same yet in effect is really different and you will end up without proper direction. 2. Break Down Goals Into Manageable Chunks Break down your ultimate goal into small chunks you know you can attain. To shut down an animal abusing pet shop or aquarium (ultimate goal), your sub-goals could be: (1) Itemise how the shop may respond to your attack and how you will counter each response. (2) Complete a file of facts that supports your case. (3) Convince people in the neighbourhood about your cause. (4) Lobby your local political representative to support your case. Break down sub-goals into further sub-goals as necessary. Completing each sub-goal will give you a sense of achievement, keep the momentum going, be good for moral, boost your credibility and bring you closer to your ultimate goal. 3. Is It Outrageous? Outrage is what the media thrive on and what the public love to read. Issues that make you fume but for which nothing can be done, or for which everything possible is being done, are not outrages in this sense. An outrage should be something that nothing or little is being done about yet a great deal can be done about it. Make the focal point of your campaign an outrage and you will be more likely to succeed. People who hear about an outrage may turn into fellow activists or support you in some other way. 4. Do Sufficient Research You must convince people generally and policy makers in particular that your activism is important. So get as many relevant and accurate facts that you can about your issue from different perspectives: background, some quantitative figures, the major players, relevant legislation and government policy. Write it in a simple, concise form that people can understand easily; a single page may do. Issues often generate conflict between people because they get their facts wrong or are biased. The more you know, the more expert you will become and people will have confidence in you. Go for reputable, authoritative, primary sources, that is first hand evidence, not what someone says someone else has said. 5. Know Who You Must Influence Once you know exactly what you are going to be active about, work out who you need to influence and whose support you need to win. Influencing and winning over 'the public' is vague. Does your issue involve the people in your locality or region, an institution, a local or national authority, a senator or Member of Parliament - perhaps a combination? How are you going to reach them? (See the section Lobbying.) 6. Check Your Resources Start your practical activity with something within your reach. If you are in a group, do group members have complementary abilities and experience? Is anyone good at organising events, speaking in public, handling the media or have expertise in web design? (See Starting a Group.) Do not worry about money - good activism is not necessarily big budget, if any budget at all. 7. Alternative Viewpoints No matter how you see your issue, how do the people you must influence see it? Examine the forces, people and organisations at work for and against the change you want to bring about. See things from their points of view. You want to save a wood for its animal inhabitants and need to persuade your local authority not to bulldoze it. You might think the wood is important for frogs and owls, but the local authority see it as a resource for a recreation park and timber. So emphasise the issue in their terms. Is a complete wood also good for considerate dog walking and renewable wood felling? Your potential opponents will be more likely to listen to you. (But do not be fooled by people simply because they listen!) 8. Broaden Your Public Your activism is more likely to succeed the greater the number of people who support you. So emphasise the parts of your issue most people can identify with. You are acting against the building of a new abattoir. Most people tolerate killing animals for food but few willingly endure bad smells and water contamination. You should therefore concentrate more of your activism on the issue of odours and pollution rather than on animal welfare. Better to build on five per cent of the problem and get 95 per cent support from the people. 9. Join a Coalition Individual groups form a coalition when they join together to work towards the same goal. Your group, if you have one, may be able to do more than by working by itself. You can snap a single stick but you cannot break a bundle of sticks. Look for other groups and ask what they are doing. Introduce your group to them and give them an idea of the benefits your group can offer them. 10. No Satisfaction You might think when trying to impress animal rights on society that you need to work hard or have fun. Hard work and fun are important, but what you really need is a measure of satisfaction. Aim for a dose of satisfaction, which is a measure of having achieved something, at least weekly if possible. You can best get satisfaction by setting yourself small goals and achieving them, for instance completing a newsletter, bagging a new member, assembling all the bric-a-brac for a fundraising drive. These are solid stepping stones on the way to success that should raise your spirit and keep you going. 10 More Tips
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