Thanks, I think this is really valuable, and really like the summary tables!
I have noticed that you mentioned here that social movement organisations (SMOs) on climate change are āpotentially not usefulā. However, in this post, you refer that protests on climate change and animal welfare could be particularly effective.
Is the contrast due to creating SMOs being different from supporting protests, or have you updated your views?
Hi Vascoāthanks for your kind feedbackāmuch appreciated!
Good catchāI think this is something Iāve updated a bit on recently (although my views are relatively unstable!). In short, I think that disruptive protest /ā protest-focused SMOs are less marginally useful in the UK relative to 3-4 years ago, due to now high concern from climate change in the UK. Thatās not to say I donāt think theyāre useful at all, but I think if the aim is āgeneral awareness raisingā then itās less useful than previously, or relative to other countries (e.g. East Europe). We see some evidence of this in our public opinion polling which found no changes in climate concern now but there was 3-4 years ago after similar disruptive protests.
However, I do think thereās some space for SMOs/āprotest movements to be more focused on specific policies, as we have seen recently with the likes of Stop Cambo/āStop Jackdaw or Just Stop Oil. This seems more useful in the UK and Western Europe where concern is high, but implementation of climate policies could still be improved.
Overall, Iām still unsure whether, given a magical button, I would incubate/ākickstart new additional climate SMOs based in the UK. I think a lot of it depends on their target, their strategies, the audience they want to mobilise, etc.
Thanks, I think this is really valuable, and really like the summary tables!
I have noticed that you mentioned here that social movement organisations (SMOs) on climate change are āpotentially not usefulā. However, in this post, you refer that protests on climate change and animal welfare could be particularly effective.
Is the contrast due to creating SMOs being different from supporting protests, or have you updated your views?
Hi Vascoāthanks for your kind feedbackāmuch appreciated!
Good catchāI think this is something Iāve updated a bit on recently (although my views are relatively unstable!). In short, I think that disruptive protest /ā protest-focused SMOs are less marginally useful in the UK relative to 3-4 years ago, due to now high concern from climate change in the UK. Thatās not to say I donāt think theyāre useful at all, but I think if the aim is āgeneral awareness raisingā then itās less useful than previously, or relative to other countries (e.g. East Europe). We see some evidence of this in our public opinion polling which found no changes in climate concern now but there was 3-4 years ago after similar disruptive protests.
However, I do think thereās some space for SMOs/āprotest movements to be more focused on specific policies, as we have seen recently with the likes of Stop Cambo/āStop Jackdaw or Just Stop Oil. This seems more useful in the UK and Western Europe where concern is high, but implementation of climate policies could still be improved.
Overall, Iām still unsure whether, given a magical button, I would incubate/ākickstart new additional climate SMOs based in the UK. I think a lot of it depends on their target, their strategies, the audience they want to mobilise, etc.
Thanks for the clarification!