ST201906

CAMPAIGNING

campaignmorelikelytosucceed.With 100 million

peopleusingFacebook,youcangaina wholelotof

supportonline.

EVERYDAYPOLITICS

Beingpoliticalonlinedoesn’talwaysmeanrunning

a campaignorsocialmediasiteyourself.Those

thingstakeupa lotoftimeandnoteveryonecan

dedicatehoursa weektocampaigning.

Keepinmindthateverydayactionscanbe

powerfulandpoliticaltoo.Simply‘following’social

mediaaccountsthatresonatewithyou,‘liking’

poststhatsharea messageyouthinkisimportant

orbloggingaboutanissueclosetoyourheartare

powerfulandinnovativewaystomakewaves

online.Whenyou‘like’someone’spost,it boosts

itsreach.Byclickinga buttonyouarespreadinga

politicalmessage.Youarepartofchange.

It’salsoimportanttoleanonyourfriendstomake

changestoo.Maybeyouarepartofa bookclub,

PTA,sportsclub,residents’associationoranother

smallgroup?Youcanpitchyourcampaignideato

thosearoundyouandtogetheryoucansharethe

timeburdeninherentincampaigningtoensure

you’remorelikelytosucceed.Perhapsyoucanwork

togetherwithyourchildren,parents,oreven

grandparentstomakethechangeyouwanttosee?

Thebeautyofonlinecampaigningisthatit can

encompassseveralgenerations.Wecanamplifythe

voicesofothersaswellasourselves– justlookatthe

multi-racial,multi-generationalnatureofclimate

changeprotestingthisspring.

Intheend,youarekeytomakingchangesonline.

Youcanlaunchyourowncampaign,setup

powerfulsocialmediaaccountsthatspread

importantmessagesoractasoneofthemany

crucialpeoplewhosupportandhelpgalvanisethe

effortsofothers.Whateveryourcommitmentsmay

be,alwaysrememberthatyouhavethepowerto

speakupandtoamplifythevoicesofothers,online.

Andmostimportantly,it’snotallaboutwinning,

thereareotherimportantaccomplishmentsyouwill

achievealongtheway.Whereveryoumaybeinthe

world,youhavepower.Andthat’sreally

exciting.Theinternetholdsthefutureofpolitics

andeveryonehasa pivotalroletoplayinshapingit.

Laura’snewbookSpeakUp!(RedShed)isa big-

sisterlyempowermentguideforyoungwomen.

“THERE’S A SYMPHONY OF

FEMALE VOICES SUPPORTING

ONLINE CAMPAIGNS”

PHOTOGRAPHY:

SHUTTERSTOCK

Government finally to ending tampon tax. By

utilising the internet, we all succeeded.

The internet offers us so much power. When I

started to tweet about the tampon tax, my petition’s

signatures doubled in their thousands overnight.

Suddenly people were direct messaging me from

across the globe, asking if they could start their own

tampon tax petitions in their country. Now we have

active sister tampon tax petitions in every continent

and many have won, including those in India,

Colombia and Canada. Similarly, the #MeToo

movement proves that when we speak up about an

issue together online, we can change the narratives

that dominate the real world. Following the tsunami

of sexual harassment complains made against

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017,

actress Alyssa Milano tweeted “if all women who

have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me

too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the

magnitude of the problem”. She sparked 12 million

Facebook statuses all quoting #MeToo and the

world began to view sexual harassment with the

seriousness it deserves.

MORE POWER TO YOUR ELBOW

You can make changes in many spheres, from

environmental issues to mental health, keeping your

local library open to ensuring your train station is

disability-friendly. By using just a few known-to-all

platformswellyoucanmakeallkindsofwaves:

PetitionsIfyoursneedslotsofsignaturesfrom

anyoneintheworldtosucceed,goforchange.org

(which I used for the tampon tax campaign)

because 200 million people worldwide use the site.

The Government also has its own petition site

(petition.parliament.uk), which is really good

becauseonceyoureach10,000signatures,

parliamenthastodebateyourissue.However,

change.org has better organisation tools, including

allowingyoutoemailsignersandconnectwith

socialmediaplatforms,whiletheGovernment’s

websitedoesn’t.Campaignersworkingforchange.

orgare also there to support you when you

experience a hiccup (you almost certainly will).

Twitter Some 261 million people have Twitter and

46% of these people use the platform daily. That’s a

whole lot of connectivity you can benefit from.

Twitter is best for spreading messages, gaining

signatures and connecting with other campaigners.

Facebook Creating a Facebook group for your

campaign allows signers to join a community of

campaigners all working towards the same goal. It

makes sure your campaigners are invested in what

you are trying to change, which in turn makes your