There are two major parts to conducting a strong social movement. The first is to have a common purpose or goal amongst participants. That is to say, as we briefly mentioned in class a few weeks ago, an example of a failed attempt at a social movement was the Occupy Movement. The major criticism we made of the movement was that the protesters had no common goal. They essentially were each fighting for something different. The same goes for the Women's March a couple months ago. Although it was well-intended, what ended happening was that men and women from an array of backgrounds and perspectives were all marching together and shouting or holding up posters which stood for varying, and in some casing contrasting ideas.
This important step also applies to social movements in MENA. Citizens of many countries poured into the streets and began protesting for things like democracy, governmental reform, economic reform, etc., which are all clear and evident goals, which is why many were successful in overthrowing their leaders. The issue in many countries, however, was that once these leaders were overthrown, the next step was not evident. That is when civil society comes into play. It is important that citizens have a clear image of what to set out for, otherwise they will be unsuccessful. The main challenge is that many of these societies do not have a strong civil society to begin with, and people fear the idea of going into the streets and speaking their minds because their freedom of speech and assembly is not protected. It is therefore very difficult to convince large numbers of people to make such large sacrifices and risk their lives in the name of progress and democracy.
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ReplyDeleteI really liked how you explicitly stated both parts of conducting a strong social movement. I think it is important to focus on this idea that citizens have successfully overthrown the government but its the next step that is somewhat unknown or lost. I think that organizations such as the UN and non governmental organizations need to educate these people on what the next step is in overthrowing their government successfully to make sure that they never have to deal with a strict government.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat disagree with the women's march example. The organization had a platform they put out with the intention of uniting. I think the broadness of the platform helped to get a variety of people to the march. There was dispute about the original platform because many thought it was white women centered, and they changed it to include more issues. One of the most important parts of a social movement is having as many people as possible, and the broad platform allowed for this to happen.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I agree with Camille. While the Women's March was not 100% cohesive, it would be nearly impossible to have every supporter shouting and calling for change on the exact same issue. The March did have a consensus on a specific color to wear/clothing (hats), march route, and start and ending times. The march gathered over twice as many people as the inauguration in Washington alone, let alone the other multiple locations around the world. Social movements require cohesiveness and a general consensus. While there is room for slight deviation, the instance of a deviation does not render the entire movement unsustainable and ineffective.
ReplyDeleteI think your use of the Women's March for an example is interesting. It has received a lot of criticism for its lack of cohesiveness. Along with that, it's lack of inclusion.
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