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Arguing your case when the world seems to disagree, or when those in power don't understand, can be thankless task. Peter Tatchell, veteran human rights campaigner, has some helpful hints. In this article he lists nine tips to campaigning and calls on his own experience of direct action, which has included advocating Aboriginal rights, opposing capital punishment and fighting for gay and lesbian rights. Peter spoke at NCVO's Campaigning Conference in January and the article was adapted from his speech there. "My campaigning for human rights is inspired by people like Mahatma Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and, to some extent, Malcolm X. I have adapted their ideas and methods - and invented a few of my own. These inspirational, heroic campaigners give me hope that change can happen, even against the odds. They advocated what were, at first, unpopular minority causes. They were outsiders who took on the establishment from the political margins. Eventually, through long, persistent effort, they and the mass movements they led helped secure huge advances in human freedom and social justice. Many of the issues I have espoused over the last 40-plus years were also initially dismissed as marginal and often demonised; including my advocacy in the 1960s of Aboriginal rights in my homeland of Australia, my opposition to capital punishment and the war in Vietnam, and my early campaigns for women's and queer liberation. During my four decades of activism, I have found that it often takes a great deal of perseverance, determination and patience to win a campaign. For the full article please click here |
