Here's part 2 of my reading reflections for my Social Movements class. This week, I focused on the Divest Campaign since the assigned readings were about the environment. Here's part 1 in case you missed it:
Texts:
Bantjes, Rod. Social Movements in a Global Context: Canadian Perspectives. Toronto: Canadian Scholars', 2007. Print.
Della, Porta Donatella, and Mario Diani. Social Movements: An Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Print.
A little over a year
ago, Suncor Energy was charged with spilling more than 26,000 litres of
drilling mud into the Atlantic Ocean from an oil platform off Newfoundland and
Labrador in 2011 (Financial Post 2012). Bantjes makes reference to firms who
try to camouflage their environmentally destructive practices with misleading
advertising (258). This is seen in the controversial ad in 2010, where Suncor
compares tailings to yogurt. The ad which employed tactics known as green
washing was criticized for downplaying the toxicity of tailings.
Transnational
networks are critical to a campaign’s success. Della Porta & Diani also
provide insight necessary for looking at campaigns such as Divest using a
transnational lens. They explain the emergence of new networks of relationships
of trust among movement actors, operating within complex social environments (94).
The rampant use of technology among university students makes it easier for
communication and coordination to take place between Divest activists in the Global
North and South. Supporters of the Divest campaign organize under a collective purpose
which prompts them to act collectively, irrespective of geographical location. The
campaign is active in over 300 campuses in the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK,
India, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands. However, not a single
school with an endowment exceeding $1 billion has agreed to divest. Harvard recently
hired a VP Sustainability in response to the campaign, although it has refused
to divest its $30.7 billion endowment fund (the largest university endowment in
the US).
Della Porta &
Diani explain that informal communication networks, interaction and mutual
support are an essential replacement for the scarcity of organizational
resources. Being identified as part of a movement “means being able to count on
help and solidarity from activists” (94). UVic’s Divest campaign, which is very
similar to other Divest campaigns in higher education institutions in North
America, uses informal communication networks such as text messaging, blogs,
and Facebook to mobilize. In addition, UVic’s divest campaign works with
limited financial resources, and as such, the solidarity of supporters and
fellow activists is crucial.
College campuses
have been fertile ground for widespread social and political change. The Divest
campaign has been called the biggest student movement in the US in years, unfortunately
this is not the case in Canada. Divest campaigns in Canada lack the perception
of authority and legitimacy seen in its American counterparts. As a result, it is
unable to influence target actors and spark widespread change. To date, no
Canadian university has agreed to divest.
