Slide presentation cover. Text reads How to influence a political ‘frenemy’: Lessons from 350 Canada's Climate Welcome. Image is a close up of a solar panel wrapped in a big red bow with a cardboard tag that reads 'To Prime Minister: Justin Trudeau'.

How to Influence a Political “Frenemy”: Lessons from 350 Canada’s Climate Welcome

350.org Canada’s “Climate Welcome” protest pressured Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take bold climate action despite uncertainties, shifting the public narrative and creating government pressure.

Introduction

Here are reflections shared from a debrief by 350.org Canada – Lessons from 350 Canada’s Climate Welcome. The 350 Canada’s Climate Welcome took place in 2015 to welcome the incoming Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to take climate action.

This debrief included Cam Fenton, Aurore Fauret and Daniel Hunter and is shared as part of the Organising Story-telling Lab, a collection of different case studies and stories of organising and movements from across the globe collated and presented by 350.org.

The story telling lab weaves lessons from a range of stories and perspectives, including people close to the ground and nationally.

Each case draws out lessons from the people involved and concludes with broader generalisations. Whilst these case studies are focused on 350 and the climate movement the lessons learned and reflections are applicable to any campaign.

See the original debrief available as slides on the 350.org Organising Story-telling lab. The Commons has made minor formatting edits to the original such as adding headings and quotes.

Context

a slide from a presentation with the text 'Fren-e-my, an opponent disguised as a friend'. There is an icon of a smiley face giving a half smile.
Fren – e – my
an opponent disguised as a friend

Canada suffered for over 11 years under right-wing Prime Minister Harper. Harper championed exploitation of the tar sands and a myriad of other globe-destroying projects. He was expected to be ousted in October elections.

Other political candidates were better on the environment but that was a low-bar. Expectations amongst the public (and environmentalists) were very low.

During elections 350 bird-dogged candidates, pushing them to make promises on climate change. But after the elections?

How could Canada 350 pressure the new Prime Minister (PM) – whoever it turned out to be – knowing they’d be greeted as a breath of fresh air after Harper?

350 Canada’s response

Seventeen days after the election, they planned a “Climate Welcome” – a pledge to show up, no matter who was elected, and risk arrest to call for bold climate action, specifically, a freeze on tar sands expansion.

This was a bold move. Typically after elections activists are quiet, unless involved in government negotiations. This was a different approach: announce bold actions ahead of time.

For four days in-a-row they would offer gifts to the PM at 24 Sussex, the PM’s official residence. The plan was to wait for him to come out and accept the gifts. That was potentially arrestable since the action is essentially a sit-in.

350 planned to culminate with a large coalition march. But the coalition pulled out over concerns

  • Why target our new Prime Minister?
  • Don’t we want him on our side?
  • Given allies’ concern, what to do?

The plan gets challenged

As soon as the plan was announced (in fact, even before), people pushed back. “I am shocked and dismayed that civil disobedience is in your thinking. That is not effective. It is destructive.” Others called it “shrill,” “tone deaf” and “too soon.”

Things didn’t get better even when the liberal party, Justin Trudeau won. Minister Trudeau had no meaningful climate change plan – but he had none of the bluster and anti-environmental tough-talk as Harper. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

So why did 350 Canada decide to go ahead with the plan?

It was a pretty big gamble, one of the biggest I’ve ever taken in my organizing life. We bet that the election, happening 42 days before this month’s Paris climate talks, would create a political pressure cooker – one that we could take advantage of to make the case for civil disobedience. – Cam Fenton

I was unsure how this action would play out because we had to strike a new tone. With Harper, people had such a low-bar of expectation – we never expected Harper to do anything good. That was challenging because a lot of people, because of that, were used to acting on one-setting: 100% against or for. – Aurore Fauret

The climate movement needs to re-examine not only our relationship to the government, but the public’s perception of that relationship. We can’t be the apologists for this new government, nor can we be its harshest critics. Instead, we need to force the government to pick a side between people and polluters. – Cam Fenton

So how did the action go?

Nov 5th-8th 2015 they carried out their plan. Let’s look at some lessons from their action design.

Each day they offered different gifts.

A slide from a presentation. Text reads 'Each day they offered different gifts. Day 1 to Day 4 with a photo for each day of gifts from 350.org to Primer Minister Harper. Day 1 Scientific reports on climate change Day 2 Declarations and petitions Day 3 Water threatened by pipelines Day 4 Solar panels

  • Day 1 Scientific reports on climate change
  • Day 2 Declarations and petitions
  • Day 3 Water threatened by pipelines
  • Day 4 Solar panels

Each day Trudeau responded the same way – RETURN TO SENDER. Trudeau declined all the gifts.

The group offered dozens of scientific reports and treaties. Then over 1 million messages from petitions. Then 50+ water samples from waterways at risk across the country. Trudeau even rejected five real solar panels!

On three occasions, the assistant of the Prime Minister met with them. On the last day, the Prime Minister’s Office simply declined to accept the solar panels.

Press increasingly covered the action, such as this national press story.

Unable to get a response from the new Prime Minister – people took out phones and called directly. No direct response was forthcoming.

Some Lessons from their Action

Grow your movement each day

The organisers intentionally designed 4 days of action and planned to escalate each day. They were helped that nobody was arrested, despite sitting-in throughout the day.

This helped result in the action growing from 38 people on day 1 to over 200 people on day 4! Using escalating days of repetitive action created momentum and legitimacy.

Use an object of personal significance

Day 3 – water – was emotional. Each night folks gathered for training sessions, where they built a sense of safety and intimacy. This culminated with people sharing deeply and emotionally about their connection with water.

Create a mystery for the media (“what will happen?”)

Actions with a known result tend to be boring to media. They prefer reporting on mysteries. So it was with pleasant surprise that organisers learned that while media saw the other days as merely symbolic gestures, they truly wondered if the PM would accept the (real) solar panels. This created interest and helped drive the media narrative.

Led by indigenous people

With such high risks, tone mattered enormously. The group noted they were on traditional territories of the Algonquin Nation. Consistent with their good politics, each day started off being led by indigenous peoples. This was very growthful for many participants.

Other Things they did to Navigate their Frenemy

Wrap themselves in the words of their opponent

Against a wily opponent, they used his quotes against him  – “Climate change is an immediate and significant threat to our communities and our economy” Justin Trudeau – having that lead banner follow First Nations leadership. Hypocrisy can expose injustice.

Set clear demands for narrative

You may have noted they didn’t generically say “stop climate change.” That allows Trudeau to define the specifics. Instead, they set hard, measurable goals: stopping all tar sands expansion.

Hard action, soft tone

They joked this was the “politest” civil disobedience in history. Though the action was bold, everything else had a very polite tone – offering gifts, friendly and open attitude, and nothing but positivity.

That is helpful to remember: disruptive actions need not be harsh and screeching. They can meet the tone of the moment, e.g.:

  • Paris: the reverence of the shoes;
  • Brazil: sarcastic and funny (fracking magic).

Our choice of tone allows us to match (or challenge) mainstream society, even as our actions push the envelope.

The Action’s Impact

  • How did all this impact Trudeau?
  • So what was the political result of their action?
  • Did it turn people off as some worried?
  • Did it move Trudeau?
  • And how did they know?

Grassroots Power

People loved it – organisations are still nervous

A few NGO movements eventually endorsed the action but most kept their distance, organizing a large climate march later. But at the grassroots people responded. Many people – even some who urged not to do it – wrote to congratulate the successes of this action.

Media Narrative

Media’s questions sharpened considerably

Initially, media often accepted the new PM, lowering expectations (his advisor said: “[a] different team and a different tone, may be enough for now”). After the action, media asked tougher questions, especially “What was their plan for Paris?” It was no longer enough to blame the previous administration.

Politically

The PM created a new climate plan

The narrative and tone has shifted noticeably. The new PM has something to prove – as opposed to coasting for months on good will. An example of this shift: after pledging to wait 90 days after Paris, the government held a special meeting with their premiers ahead of the UN talks to create a plan. (More analysis by Cam.)

How did it make that impact?

“Many of us felt desperate after Harper, and in some ways the left got behind the new government,” Cam explained. “They believed now we can have access to politicians again!”

Doing civil disobedience may mean you’re not invited to many insider meetings. But access to politicians can, perhaps paradoxically, restrict your influence on them.

Once you have it, the government can always threaten to take away access unless you do what they want. That can make you bound to them. Groups can get addicted to that access and assume if they manage to keep it, it means influence even if they have to compromise or water down their message.

350 Canada saw it differently. They saw they had greater influence by changing the public narrative. Their action took hold of the narrative – creating a polarity between people – versus big polluters.

Politicians are like a balloon tied to a rock, Move the rock, not the balloon

One metaphor to understand this dynamic:

Politicians are like a balloon tied to a rock. If we swat at them, they may sway to the left or the right. But, tied down, they can only go so far. Instead of batting at them, we should move the rock: people’s activated social values. When we move the rock, it automatically pulls all the politicians towards us.

350 Canada pulled this off by creating an action that – once it happened – appealed to a wide swath of Canada. Its tone matched. And their symbols spoke to widely-shared values of society.

Instead of focussing on moving “the balloon,” they focused attention on “the rock” – society’s values. They targeted everyday people who needed to be quickly disabused of the idea that getting rid of Harper was enough.

In a really insightful article, Cam wrote, “The challenge was, and remains, that Trudeau being better doesn’t reset the damage done by a decade of Stephen Harper in power. Nor does being better on climate inoculate him from the influence of big oil, a lesson the climate movement in the United States learned the hard way in President Barack Obama’s first term.

(This dynamic is a reminder of the spectrum of allies. That is a way to analyze society – viewing society as split on its opinion on our issue. More here.)

Let’s Review: Lessons for Dealing with “Frenemy”

Wrap yourself in their words. Use their words against them, as Cam wrote: Perhaps most of all, we have to believe in the new prime minister’s own words that “a better Canada is always possible.” We have to believe in those words so much that we refuse to let this new prime minister fail them, whatever that takes.

Focus on the rock – not the balloon. Focus on society and where they are stuck, not merely politicians’ positions. Design actions to address where people are stuck.

Set clear demands for narrative. Don’t give broad demands. Your opponent then has more space to pretend to be on your side. Give concrete goals – ones that everyone can see with certainty if they are meeting or not.

Avoid all-or-nothing thinking. Post-Harper people were stuck in all-or-nothing thinking – avoid that and use nuance.

Embrace polarity. Polarity is risky and that’s why some people avoid it. But we need it to show who is really doing something and who is just a politician talking.

Raise political expectations. Politicians want you to think they have no power. They benefit from low expectations because it gives them lots of room to failInstead, activists must raise expectations a challenge to our cynicism!

Tone! Tone! Tone! There are a million ways to design actions. Pick a tone that fits your goals e.g.:

  • use multi-day actions to show movement growth;
  • use objects of personal significance; 
  • create a mystery for the media; 
  • take leadership from indigenous peoples.

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