The Sweatshop-Free campaign by People and Planet provided an illustration of the mode of communication student-led organisation case adopt for campaigning, the types of images they used and when a specific campaign initiative is considered accomplished. It also provided evidence on how campaigning is framed and the types of action campaigners undertake.
The Sweatshop-Free campaign was designed from an organisational campaign theme identified and adopted by the students through their network of members. The campaign was designed as a solidarity action with factory workers in Indonesia, and the objective was to secure a £1.8 million redundancy payment from Adidas. This campaign was considered accomplished when the workers were paid off. The campaign involved three interfaced actions namely; petitions to the organisation, public protest and the boycott of Sweatshirts produced by Adidas. These actions were however planned to happen after the democratic processes of identifying, sharing and presenting knowledge on the issue through their research and network with trade union groups in Indonesia. The knowledge about the campaign issue was obtained through communication with their local and international networks as well as published reports on the conflict issue (www.peopleandplanet.org). Although this was a single issue campaign, the process of identifying and framing knowledge on the issue did not differ
157 from bigger organisational campaigns such as the campaign targeting 27 global clothing brands linked to the Bangladesh factory collapse in 201315 in which campaigners were involved in identifying and framing the issue.
Student-led organisation case adopted a social justice frame in their representations of global poverty issues. Social justice frames are generated and multiplied through protest images described in visual methods “ways of seeing and knowing” that contributes to concept formation (Pink, 2013:4). Such protest images were considered to activate frames that initiate public deliberation and promote shared values campaigners used in constructing their knowledge. The use of protest images in place of photographs of desperation, misery and despair was also a way of questioning the dominant frame of compassion generated by INGO case, and disseminated on their websites. These images were also used to communicate and multiply similar frames for collective action, negotiating meanings as well as extending narratives that prompt the wider public to ask questions.
The broken Nike logo in figure 12 below, was observed in the People and Planet website and represented a typical form of communication used in their Corporate
Power Campaign themes designed and framed to challenge the unjust relationship
between multinationals and workers in developing countries. Figure 12: People and Planet use of images
Examples of the images used by student-led organisation case showed how protest actions such as public demonstration multiplied a social justice frame in communicating their message and in accomplishing their campaign objective. Figure 13 below also shows a peaceful but disruptive protest action. The image was posted and shared on their Facebook.
15The Clean Clothes Campaign sought improved conditions for workers in the clothing industry
158 Figure 13: People and Planet public action
www.peopleandplanet.org
Such “sit outs” or “occupy” actions aimed to attract maximum attention, provoke public debate and introduce a new narrative about the campaign issue. Although confrontational and disruptive, these actions were planned as part of a range of actions that included online petitions. More than huge rallies that required crowd control and elaborate security plans, such public demonstrations were easier to manage and effective in introducing new narratives in communicating their campaign message to the public. For broader issue campaigns such as climate change for example, the campaign was considered accomplished when policy makers or targeted organisation take specific policy measures to reduce investment in non-renewable energy.
The data also revealed that student-led organisation case gave equal attention to the local dimensions of global issues, as noted in their online campaigning about local issues in the UK. This was also noted in the response from C2 in Medsin: “We take on
issues in the UK like health inequality in the UK or government policy decision or UK organisations and how they interact with the international decision, climate change, population or issues that are important to us”.
The Fossil Free campaign by People and Planet was one of such actions that linked global warming to local issues. Apart from the types of action that student-led organisation campaigner took, what differed from the INGO case illustration was the way the campaign knowledge was constructed and framed, the network they developed with assumed beneficiaries, and the counterpublics that allowed their involvement in framing knowledge. In some ways, they also saw themselves as enabling or providing venues for including marginalised voices through the networks they build with social actors in the Global South. The argument about a defined campaign issue with measurable objectives also emerged in the interviews where
159 student-led organisations that saw campaigning as more effective in initiating public debates when designed with specific objectives.
The view of campaigning as pursuing predetermined goals was rejected by student-led organisation case that pointed to the democratic process in planning and framing their campaigns. When asked of their opinion on the view that campaigning pursued predetermined goals, the response from J2 a participant from People and Planet was: “I disagree with that. I think we point young people to the direction of the information
and knowledge, and they decide who what and how they are going to campaign.”
This interpretation of campaigning differed from INGO case that considered advocacy as an endeavour that is best undertaken by knowledgeable experts in the organisation. The illustrations provided practical examples that support the evidence on how the campaign issues are framed, the types of actions taken, and how campaign objectives were considered as accomplished in the student-led organisation case. Knowledge of the campaign was obtained through their local and international network, and the involvement of their membership in deciding specific campaign issues. The online petitions to policy makers were considered as part of a range of actions that included public protest and boycott that targeted specific organisations in accomplishing their campaign objective.
The Sweatshop-free campaign under the corporate power campaign theme showed that the process of framing and constructing knowledge for single and broader issue campaign was similar and involved the campaigners as stakeholders that use common frames in accomplishing a collective objective. The framing of the campaign issue included the voice of the assumed beneficiaries in the Global South whose perspectives and knowledge filtered into mainstream discourses through their digitally connected networks.