The CAS Department here at Penn State runs a study abroad program in Rome. In fact, this year's iteration of the program recently finished bringing our own blogger Mia, among others, back to State College. I was also fortunate to be a part of this program in 2008 and it has left me with a residual interest in all things Rome, which is my best explanation for blogging this.
It appears that the Group of Eight (G8) protests have hit a new low, or high depending on your prospective (I say low), with the advent of the "strip mob." The strippers (mobbers? protestors?) decided to take their clothes off on the Spanish Steps while chanting (not quite singing) Nelly's "It's Getting Hot in Here" in order to argue for more aggressive climate policies from the G8. For the gawkers among us, you can get a video from CNN's iReport page. It is painfully safe for work; unless your place of employment has a ban on heinous yellow underwear.
All of this disturbs me a bit because the initial problem that the anti-globalization movement had when its protests were first covered by global media in Seattle was with being portrayed as a farce. The legitimacy of the movement's concerns were washed aside in coverage of the violent or spectacular aspects of the protests. It seems that this group has embraced that absurdity. I am not sure if the problem here is the apparent frivolity of this particular protest or the media's fixation on it as representative of the alternative voices at the G8 in Rome (and, in fairness, their voice is barely alternative as the G8 announced more aggressive warming targets today).
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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8 comments:
I must say, your labels have been superb this week....
Hi Mark,
I was at the steps, stripping down. We engaged in an action which we thought to be positive, fun but also mocking Berlusconi. Our voice is not meant to be alternative - our voice is to stop catastrophic climate change. Some in the group reject the G8's legitimacy, I frankly don't care too much because a stable future is my utmost concern.
I don't feel the action was absurd. We highlighted Berlusconi's recent forays into the realm of nudity whilst calling for the G8 to commit to two degrees. We're glad they agree with us on this now, we will just have to pressurise them into action and not just words from now on.
Cameron, thank you for your response. I am surprised and a bit flattered to see that our blog is being read widely enough to fetch your interest. I also appreciate your willingness to share your perspective here.
Although I think some of your objections to my description of the protest are reasonable, I still retain some skepticism about the value of your group's medium of protest.
Choosing to strip on the steps is clever in that it both references discomfort caused by global warming and the recent release of nude photos of Berlusconi, however, I am not sure that it sends a clear message. Most of the reporting, including my blogging, focuses more on the novel method of protest than the actual content of the protest. Additionally, from watching the iReport video, it does not appear that the protest included a whole lot of policy content. Is this concerning for you in your question to realize change? Does this perception (or sort of reporting) serve your purposes? I guess I am asking if you are concerned that this sort of protest might make it too easy for the media to write-off the important message you have to share by offering a newsworthy element, stripping, that can be reported separate of that message? I am particularly concerned because the anti-globalization movement has been written-off by the media (especially American media) for years, I think, to our detriment.
Hi Mark,
I'm afraid I'm not part of the anti-globalization movement, so I can't really answer your comments there. Our organisation, Avaaz, is committed to working with the establishment to get results. I could certainly be convinced of the merits of anti-globalization, but I'm not sure we have time for a system change concerning climate change - time is running out fast.
True, our stunt was policy light, but does every stunt have to be policy heavy? It is sometimes just as important to spread the message that we find the current attitude to global warming unnacceptable, and the more people that hear about that the better - then there's some chance that more people will take interest and find a way to join our movement. I also believe in positive action, for years the environmental movement has been hamstrung by mad-cap negativity by people in wooly jumpers (A crass generalisation, I know, but one that a lot of people seem to believe in - check out http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Climate-change-protesters-occupy-Italian.5442403.jp#4209009)
Here is something a little bit more policy heavy, but still very positive and fun, which our group made possible at the G8.
http://davos.wsj.com/photo/023xcoee2caRJ?q=Global+Warming
I'm sure you can appreciate the significance of getting the world's leaders to Copenhagen (we made 4, one for Brown, Obama, Singh and Hu Jintao). The Obama team loved them so much they took the Obama one and shall be delivering it to him, so I'm told. (Although there will be no media coverage for that). If world leaders do agree to go to Copenhagen, then we can count ourselves partly responsible for that outcome.
Cameron, this is all very interesting and it brings up more questions for me, if you are willing to entertain them.
Based on your group's choice of medium for protest, I assumed that you had a more anti-establishment bent a la the Yes Men and other culture-jamming organizations. It appears this was mistaken of me. Your clarification is helpful and, if I understand you correctly, your group is attempting to change the perception of climate change protest by making it more enjoyable in addition to (and as part of) forwarding the cause. Are you also concerned with my conflation (and, I would suspect it is a conflation made by others - especially in the media) that assumes that avant garde methods of protests are correlated with avant garde (or anti-establishment) politics? I think that your explanation here helps to ameliorate that confusion, but does your group have other strategies for preventing this confusion in the media or among the public, or do you welcome it?
Also, are you at all concerned that this form of positive pressure, although certainly easier to stomach than some of the more stringent climate change protests, might not be strong enough to cause changes in thought and policy at the highest levels of government, or is that outside of your goals? I wonder if you see yourselves as working with protesters who have more extreme demands or against them? I ask this because you offer a critique past climate change protest strategy.
Finally, I find this conversation quite enlightening and quite a bit more convincing than the strip at the steps. So, the stripping worked in this case in that it drew my interest, and the interest of a few others, but I am wondering how your organization translates that interest into more serious conversations like this one. Are blog and news article comments your only strategy for that? Is engendering this sort of conversation with someone like me (who has zero pull in any establishment) even a goal for your organization?
Hi Mark,
Yes, I am concerned with your conflation. Personally, I am a quite a pragmatic, moderate person (or so I think). As I have mentioned, there are others in our group who are more anti-capitalist, anti-establishment e.t.c. That I would be concerned with the misperception that many have of organisations such as ours, cannot be said of them - they would, I imagine, welcome and encourage this perception. However, our organisation (Avaaz.org) which we work/volunteer for is more of the moderate variety and believes, generally, in consensus tactics to get results. We are actually a subsidiary of Avaaz, known as the 'Avaaz Action Factory Europe' (there is also one in Washington DC - www.actionfactories.org) and are probably more to the left/avant garde of things than Avaaz is.
...(oops!) continued
To see why I am concerned of such a misperception, in answer to your question, look no farther than this website of my home country, Scotland
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Climate-change-protesters-occupy-Italian.5442403.jp#0
What we can do about this, I don't know exactly, I believe we just have to carry on doing activism the way we have been, which is peaceful, non-violent (non-preachy too!) and ideally, fun (Although if the situation demands negativity, so be it). As to how the public perceives us, it's not something we have given much thought, considering your framework. We can't help being branded 'hippies' - I don't like it, some of us do. We won't lose sleep over it, because we know that for every action we do, we win more support to our cause.
I hope you checked out the postcards to Gordon Brown, that was the most substantial thing we have done to date in influencing the political debate. I think this sort of 'Action/Stunt' is right up there with Greenpeace blocking a train carrying a coal (although a lot less admirable) in terms of influencing policy. Extremists are often easy for the politicians to write off - in many European countries, the Green party is as popular as many Fascist parties - I believe we have to reach out to moderates in order to win them to our cause, or we risk being ignored by the mainstream.
In all honesty, we have not planned on translating our actions into more serious conversations - our primary aim is media attention, which we then hope will represent our message clearly and concisely (check out the action factories website and see Wunder Merkel - Super Obama, we reached a major news channel in the UK, where over 1 million people would have witnessed our stunt and our message, that was a victory).
Sorry that was a bit of a ramble, but I hope it makes things more clear. Thanks for the dialogue though, would be great to see some of the blog's deeper opinions on this issue.
Cameron Dron (male, undergraduate student from Glasgow University)
Just wanted to add my thanks to Cameron for enlightening us about the movement's activism!
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