Road Raging - Top Tips for Wrecking Roadbuilding
Chapter 2: Your campaign - some first steps
The first step in the
process between sitting at home fuming about an outrageous new development,
and actually stopping it, is finding other like-minded people and getting
organised.
Starting up a Group from Scratch
Groups like the Friends of Twyford
Down and Save Our Solsbury grew from a couple of people deciding to actively
oppose road schemes. If you decide to set up a group to initiate opposition to
a scheme, here are a few ideas for getting started. Firstly, get in touch with
other local groups with similar interests - your local Earth First! (EF!),
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FoE), Council for Protection of Rural
England (CPRE) group or cycling campaign - and see if there is any concern in
these circles too. Get in touch with ALARM UK (see Chapter 16) to see if there
are any activists or groups in your area. Write letters to the local papers
and see who responds, then get in touch with them.
When you feel as if you have enough people to kick things off (remember,
you'll only need a few) then consider setting up your first meeting. Book a
hall, or hold the meeting in someone's house, and make sure as many people
who've expressed interest can come along. Organise refreshments. Advertise in
sympathetic places that a group is being set up to oppose the development
you're fighting, and that a first meeting is being held. Do not invite the
press.
The first meeting should be open, inclusive and inspiring! You could begin
by getting to know one another and letting off steam about the development. If
there are lots of people it might be an idea to do this in small groups of 4
or 5. Be at pains not to let a few people dominate the whole meeting. If
people decide to respect one another as equals, encouraging active involvement
from everyone in decision making and action, then both the campaign and the
people in it will grow and blossom.
The task of this first meeting could be to choose the group's name. Once a
group of people is set up, there are a few essentials to sort out without
which your group won't really exist.
Money, Bank Accounts and Treasurer
A bank account is essential, both
to allow you to process donations, and to avoid people in the campaign having
to keep dipping into their own pockets. Set up an account with an ethically
aware organisation, for instance the Co-op bank or an independent building
society. Have at least two trustworthy signatories who are also not in trouble
with outstanding financial court cases or debts.
One of these signatories should take the role of Treasurer. This is a role
best suited to someone with book- keeping skills, time to spare, and who is
easy to get hold of. The signatories will be the only people who'll have their
names directly linked to the campaign and for this reason perhaps they should
be people who are unlikely to be involved in arrestable direct action.
Treasurers should never be pressured into handing out cash on demand but
should be able to refer demands back to the meeting. Right from the start the
Treasurer should keep scrupulous records of income and expenditure so they are
accountable to the campaign. However, never keep records or receipts of
anything incriminating.
Points of Contact - Postal Address, Telephone and E-mail
You must have
a postal address, as people will soon want to send you requests for
information and donations etc. Consider setting up a Post Office Private Box
(PO Box) as soon as possible rather than using a private home address, for
security reasons. However the Post Office will disclose the names and
addresses to which the PO Box is registered on request. Safer still is the BM
Box confidential mail forwarding service, privately provided by British
Monomarks (see Chapter 16). A BM Box gives your address complete security -
except from the police! A third and easier alternative is to have a "care of"
address in a sympathetic local radical bookshop or similar.
A telephone contact point is also essential. In the first instance you may
want to use individual private phone lines. Several numbers will share the
burden. Alternatively the campaign could pay to have a second line installed
in someone's house with an answer machine with a message on it.
If a member of your group has access to a computer and a modem you may wish
to set up an e-mail address (See Chapter 4 "the internet" section).
Group Structure
British anti-road direct action campaigns have always
deliberately avoided formal hierarchical structures such as, committees,
leaders and named positions. Hierarchies are stifling and do not bring out the
best in people. From a practical point of view, hierarchical structures can
easily be nobbled by the victimisation of its leaders.
Although non-hierarchical structures require hard work, patience and
tolerance to work, they are worth it as they are definitely the most welcoming
and inclusive way to enable everyone to maximise their contribution to the
campaign. With this way of working, individuals will be able to vary their
involvement according to their personal skills, energy and interests at any
time, unrestricted by the straitjacket of formal structure. People will
probably be happier too! It would be optimistic to pretend that informal
hierarchies, based on experience or dominant personalities, will not develop.
Try to minimise this, and ensure that these hierarchies don't become
entrenched.
Establishing small but open working groups to tackle specific issues -
research, legal support, fundraising - allows efficiency and specialisation
without hierarchy. Having no leaders does not mean that individuals do not
take the initiative or responsibility. It means that people have to be
self-motivated.
The campaign will develop its own unique identity. Preserve this, and guard
against being used by other groups or individuals with their own agendas.
Hierarchical national organisations (even sympathetic and helpful ones) and
political parties (including local politicians) may try to use your campaign
to further their own ends, if you let them. Work with them, but on your own
terms.
The system which brings about untold social and environmental ruin relies
on people respecting and obeying hierarchy. Don't mimic the system - fight it!
Campaign meetings
Campaign meetings are an essential tool for bringing
the campaign together for discussion and decision-making. Although they can be
tedious and frustrating they should never be abandoned. Running successful,
dynamic and positive meetings IS possible, although often hard work!
Firstly, decide on the purpose of the meeting. Regular weekly meetings are
good for deciding basic campaign expenditure, exchanging news, and brief
discussions, but aren't suitable for in-depth debates on a single issue, or
for detailed action planning. It's best to call a separate meeting to deal in
detail with planning or specific issues; alternatively, just get together the
people interested, and do it! Some campaigns have set up small working groups
to work on particular projects; these can then report back to a weekly
meeting.
The weekly meeting should have a fixed time and venue, to provide a steady
reference point. Weekday evenings are good times, starting the meeting late
enough to allow people who have been working to get there, but early enough so
that it finishes in good time. Meetings in camps are preferred by some
camp-dwellers, but finding a reliable, comfortable, weatherproof and well-lit
meeting space for enough people can be difficult. A meeting room in the
nearest town is better, but will often pose transport problems for those
living on camps. Providing reliable lifts from and back to camps on the
meeting night may be the answer. Ensure the arrangement is broadly acceptable
to everyone.
Running the Meeting
There are many ways to run a meeting, and the
campaign must find one that is accessible and inclusive. Start by sitting in a
circle large enough for everyone to see each other. There are two main ways
which are commonly used to run a meeting:
- The "talking stick" method - this involves a stick or other object, which
is passed between speakers, with only the stick-holder speaking. This
theoretically gives everyone equal control over the meeting. However, people
often chose to pass the stick to their friends or to people they know will
support them. It is also very easy for dominant people to hog the stick. This
method is therefore best used in co-operative meetings where there is little
polarisation of opinion.
- "Facilitation" - this involves somebody taking the role of facilitator or
chair. The facilitator should move through the agenda ensuring that points
are discussed by the meeting, not just by the most vociferous. Facilitators
could actively seek the opinions of new, quieter or shy people, but don't put
them on the spot. The facilitator must be as genuinely objective as possible;
a bad facilitator can completely ruin a meeting. The facilitator should avoid
putting forward their own views. If they want to seriously get involved in
the debate, they should relinquish the role for that period.
The facilitator should encourage new points, discourage reiteration in
discussion and aim towards concluding the discussion with an action point
(i.e. a task that someone agrees to take on). If lots of people have their
hands up, note them in order on a piece of paper so each gets their say in
turn. Remember that people whose hard work would otherwise go unrecognised
should be thanked by the meeting.
It is important to rotate the facilitator at each meeting - this does not
mean putting them in the middle of the circle and spinning them around, but
instead means encouraging everyone to have a go. Good facilitators tend to
keep facilitating meetings, but if you rotate the role, no individual will
dominate. Make sure that people from different parts of the campaign with
different perspectives have a go.
Agendas
A piece of paper and a pen should be circulated at the start
of the meeting so that all points for discussion can be formed into an agenda.
This agenda should then be prioritised by the meeting. Always include an "Any
Other Business" section at the end for forgotten items. It is a good idea to
write up the agenda on a large bit of paper and stick it on the wall so that
everyone (especially latecomers) can see what is going on. If something really
dramatic and important happens, (such as contracts being signed) be prepared
to abandon the agenda and talk about it for as long as necessary.
Minute Taking
A minute taker should note important decisions, action
points and the name of who's doing them. It is important that the work load
after the meeting is distributed evenly, amongst as many individuals as
possible. If the minutes of the previous meeting are read out at the start of
each meeting then you can see what has happened, what should have been done,
and how the campaign is developing.
Meeting Structure
Allow time before the meeting for gossip. Decide an
end time at the start and try to stick to it. It is useful to separate the
weekly meeting into sections, discussing finance and allocation of resources,
for instance, for a fixed time, then moving on to other matters. Some basic
structure helps everyone understand what's going on - starting the meeting
with a current situation report works well, and a short news and information
exchange, without discussion, can follow. After these relatively
straightforward matters, the meeting can proceed to discussion points. Find
your own simple structure that gets things done. If meetings last more than an
hour, take a break.
Decision-making
Decision-making is a tricky process. Most campaign
meetings have used a form of consensus. This means that everyone must agree a
proposal, or at least be prepared to accept it; if someone has a really strong
or principled objection, they can block the decision. This should create a
process whereby a solution is reached by argument without alienating or
dismissing anyone's strongly-held views.
Of course, there are problems, including the ability of one awkward
individual to dominate and block decisons. However, consensus remains the most
inclusive way of making decisions. Avoid voting if at all possible, especially
on contentious issues, as the minority losers of the vote are immediately
excluded. This may cause factions to form.
This book is now out of print. You might be able to get a copy from a UK
library by ordering on the inter-library loans scheme.
Road Alert!
EMAIL: info@roadalert.org.uk