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My Voice Counts! Campaigns for Youth's Reproductive and Sexual Health: Advocacy and Organizing Toolkit [PDF]
Chapter 4. Additional Considerations & Tips
Create a broad based coalition of vocal supporters. Extensive support and participation by members of the community clearly indicates the popularity and/or importance of the issue. Support one another when times are rough and remind everyone about the importance of ensuring the reproductive and sexual health of youth!
Be prepared for opposition. Acknowledge, in advance, that there will be objections to your efforts, and watch for these objections. Know both who is in the opposition and what objections they will raise. Read opposition materials; study the newspapers; watch or listen to talk shows. Learn about area organizations that will oppose your efforts. Check the Web sites of opposition organizations to see what materials they are disseminating on the issue. The opposition may misrepresent the goals and effects of progressive organizations, programs, and campaigns.
Explain the issue to the public. Many successes of the far right come from twisting the meaning of educational, public health, and public policy terms that are unfamiliar to the general public. Do not use far right descriptions when explaining why the proposed program or solution will help families, protect children, and address existing problems in the community. Use accurate, descriptive language. For example, the far right often talks about "condom distribution" or "contraceptive distribution." These terms are inaccurate since these programs do not distribute contraception willy-nilly to everybody, but rather make it available to those who request it. Hence, "condom availability" or "contraceptive availability" is more accurate and descriptive for such programs.
Defend your position. Prepare to answer criticisms with data, statistics, anecdotes, and examples. Ignoring opposition statements gives them a credibility they do not deserve and allows distortions to stand. Check opposition statements for truthfulness and refute inaccuracies, distortions, and misrepresentations. When terms are unclear ask for an explanation; when terms have been manipulated into a different meaning, demand an explanation. You can respond to opponents by writing a letter to the editor or an op-ed, by speaking out at meetings, calling in to radio talk shows, and/or offering your position as a follow-up interview to papers, television, or radio stations covering the issue.
Encourage open and civilized debate. Open discussion is essential to the democratic process and is the only way to address concerns of the public and the objections of the opposition. Investigate and participate in the forums through which communities, schools, local governments, and other public organizations address issues. Ensure that any public meetings you hold adhere to established rules for order. Ask members of the press to sign in and to show their credentials. Require speakers to sign up in advance and to give their name and address and other pertinent information. For example, if the meeting is on school based sex education, it is important for all attending to know whether each speaker attends the public school in question or has children in the school system. Set time limits and select a moderator who will control the forum, stopping personal attacks or diatribes. Some communities hold hearings for specific groups, such as parents, health care professionals, teachers, or students. Attending such hearings can be time-consuming. However, you can learn and share much in open discussion in such forums.
Don't be afraid of threats of lawsuits. Urge policy makers not to be intimidated when faced with demands that programs be abandoned or issues ignored. Threats of lawsuits are common when communities consider progressive programs, but few such threats are carried out successfully. You can hold a community meeting to generate open discussion, demonstrate broad based support, and respond to concerns raised by the opposition. If you receive personal threats, notify the appropriate authorities.
Follow the debate. Identify the different news outlets in your area and watch for coverage of your issue. Participate in the debate by contacting these outlets with news, objections, and clarifications. Sometimes opposition groups spread misinformation about programs and policies through leafleting and flyers. If this happens, respond with correct information through the media and community and religious groups.
Take the lead. Provide accurate information. Offer a framework for discussion, make the facts known, and give all in the community a chance to get involved. Set the tone of the debate by taking the lead.
How Do I Build a Coalition?
Reproductive and sexual health programs and policies affect nearly all people. Partnering with organizations that support you is a valuable way to generate and demonstrate wide support. (See the sample invitational letter under Additional Resources, for an example of a method for making contact with organizations.) The My Voice Counts! campaign is a great way to mobilize people who are or may be interested in sexual health issues, such as non-prescription status for emergency contraception; comprehensive sex education; increased funding for international family planning; and support for effective HIV prevention and treatment strategies and programs. Here are some tips for getting people involved.
Identify like-minded groups or organizations. Make a list of potentially supportive groups or organizations. These could include:
- Peer health educators
- Teachers' unions
- Gay/straight alliances
- Student and adult alliances for people of color
- College clubs and organizations, including sororities and fraternities
- HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention, and support groups
- Progressive political groups
- Civil liberties and human rights organizations
- Medical and public health organizations.
Approach groups with clear objectives and with specific requests. Speak with the leader of the group about your issue. Explain what you are trying to accomplish and talk about why the issue is relevant to the other organization. Ask to attend a meeting. Offer a clear idea of how the group can participate in your issue: by collecting petition signatures; working cooperatively to lobby particular legislators or committees; writing an op-ed; participating in strategic planning around the issue; holding a community forum; or contributing monetarily. The clearer you are in your request, the more willing the other organization may be to help.
Be flexible. Be open to changing your campaign to reflect the needs of the partner organization. For example, the partner may have a point that is relevant to its community or supporters that you haven't considered but that will make the overall campaign stronger, more diverse, or more powerful. Be open to changing aspects of the campaign to incorporate this point. After all, the purpose is to reach the broadest audience possible, and you want to make sure your action reflects the diversity of the people you are trying to reach!
At the same time, be wary of a potential partnership that would undermine the very issue you care so much about. For example, an organization that opposes teaching young people about contraception might be very strong in your community. To partner with this organization would make your coalition far stronger, but it would also destroy the very reason you had for building a coalition in the first place.
Be open to ongoing coalition work. Another organization may be much more willing to help you if you and your organization will also help out with projects important to the other organization. Be open and offer to help. For example, you might advertise the other organization's events on your Web site, and help with events that meet your common goals. Everyone will profit and the coalition will be much more effective than when each agency works only on its own projects!
How Do I Stage a Rally or Picketing Event?
There is no reason to be afraid of making a little noise; everyone who is anyone in American history has done so. Political action, when done legally and without violence, can be fun, creative, and effective. It also gives people a sense of power they haven't known they had.
Considerations
- Know the law. While the right to assemble peaceably is protected under the Constitution of the United States, each state and local community has specific laws regarding organized assemblies in public spaces. Contact your local police to determine what these laws are. Then follow them. This normally involves, at a minimum, obtaining a permit that alerts the local police about your event and that sets the limits you must observe—such as limitations on noise, littering, etc.
- Remember that non-violence works. As many social movements have shown, non-violence is safe and highly effective. Mahatma Gandhi put Thoreau's theories of nonviolent civil disobedience to incredibly effective use in the 1940s, orchestrating an immense, nonviolent movement that earned India its freedom from British rule. In the 1960s, the NAACP and its allies used nonviolent methods to bring down segregation in the United States and to change for the better the future of all Americans.
- Identify a target. The target is the person who can fix the problem—someone who has the power to make the changes you seek. Your target might be a member of Congress, state legislative committee, principal or mayor, or an entire school board.
- Identify a location. The location might be the local or "district" office of your representative or senator in Congress or the state legislature, the school board's office, your school or the principal's office, or the state capitol. Ask yourself—what location is associated with the target? Also consider where people will be willing to come, what will look good in front of television cameras, and what will enhance the appearance of your group. For example, a small group of demonstrators appears much more impressive in a small space than in a large, open area.
- Analyze your target. It is important to determine who can influence the chosen target. Maybe she/he doesn't care about the opinions of young people, but does care about those of parents, teachers, or voters. Or perhaps, he/she dislikes bad press.
- Build a coalition. You need a core group of at least two to three others who will work with you. It is difficult to organize a protest, rally, or direct action all by yourself and even more difficult to get people to attend. When more people are involved in planning the action, the action will be better and more will attend.
The rally—At a rally, people gather to express their outrage at a problem and their support of a solution. It is important to keep the target in mind when picking the location for a rally—the location must show that you want the target to hear the message. For example, if you are holding a rally about the school board's refusal to allow condom availability in the school health center, it is important to have the rally at the school board's offices or at a meeting of the school board.
- You will need a permit for a rally held in any public space. For information on how to get a permit to hold a rally, contact your local police. If you want to hold a rally on school grounds, talk to your school principal and/or school superintendent for information about a permit. The permit will also place limits, such as noise and littering limits, on your rally. Obey all the rules that are set out for you.
- Identify a speaker and an emcee as well as someone to work with the press. The speaker should be someone who can communicate excitement to those at the rally and to anyone who might be watching. The emcee introduces the speaker or speakers and gets people to chanting. Speakers might include a peer educator, someone who's been harmed by abstinence-only education, a teacher, or an adult ally from a family planning clinic. Have no more than three speakers.
- Make signs that convey a clear message! For example,
SCHOOL BOARD LEAVES STUDENTS IN DARK!
or
INFORMATION + SERVICES = HEALTHY YOUNG PEOPLE
or
IGNORANCE IS NOT POWER!
or
FAMILY PLANNING SAVES LIVES!
You can undoubtedly think of better ones. Individual signs can carry different statements (but not more than three statements). Just make sure that all the signs convey the point of the rally.
- Develop chants! Have chants that get the message across and that are fun for people to say. The emcee or speakers can introduce the chants. There are many Web sites that list chants used for rallies of various kinds. Feel free to do some research.
Picketing—Picketing is an event for locations where you can't legally hold a rally, but still want to show up and let the target know what you think. Picketing has similarities to a rally and is usually smaller.
- Make signs that convey a clear message!
SCHOOL BOARD LEAVES STUDENTS IN DARK!
or
INFORMATION + SERVICES = HEALTHY YOUNG PEOPLE
or
IGNORANCE IS NOT POWER!
or
FAMILY PLANNING SAVES LIVES!
You can undoubtedly think of better ones. Individual signs can carry different statements (but not more than three statements). Just make sure that all the signs convey the point of the picketing.
- Check with your local police to see if your need a permit for picketing. If you need a permit, get it.
- Develop chants! Have chants that get the message across and that are fun for people to say. The leader can introduce the chants.
- Have props or visuals! Eye-catching props, like a giant condom, can make the picketing more interesting to the press or to people who walk by.
- Bring a bullhorn. Local laws govern amplification at protests, but it is usually okay to use a bullhorn to make your voice a little louder. Check with local police prior to your picketing event, to see if use of bullhorn is permitted. Then, you can use the bullhorn for short speeches, to energize people, or to keep a chant going.
- Be aware that picketing can be boring if it is the only thing you do. Remember, a major component of a successful protest is making participants feel like they are doing something worthwhile as well as exciting and fun!
Follow up—Evaluate to see if your protest was effective. Go back to your original goals—did your protest empower the people involved in it? Did it spread public awareness of your issue? Did it change a decision maker's mind? Don't forget to email Advocates and let us know how it went!
Source/Citation:
Azrak S et al. My Voice Counts! Campaigns for Youth's Reproductive and Sexual Health: Advocacy and Organizing Toolkit. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2005.
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