From Anger to Action: Inside the Global Movements for Social Justice, Peace, and a Sustainable Planet
Co-author Harriet Lamb interviewed for Colloquium
From Anger to Action tells the stories of the citizens’ movements charting new paths to tackle the big global challenges that lie behind the political upheavals of our times. Drawing on candid insights from citizens, activists, and innovators, and their own experiences as leaders of internationally recognized advocacy organizations, the authors give an insider account of the battle for change and how it can be won — as well as trenchant criticism of where traditional civil society has lost its way and needs renewal.
In this exclusive interview, co-author Harriet Lamb discusses the nature of modern protest, her own vast experience and so much more.
Colloquium: From Anger to Action opens with a wonderful summation of the summer protests of 2020. Did you consider it essential to capture those historic moments in the book?
Lamb: Absolutely. The #BlackLivesMatter protests sweeping the world in summer 2020, in the midst of COVID 19, encapsulated so much that we were exploring in the book. We had of course already included the movement as a powerful example of people organising against violence but the response to the killing of George Floyd was undoubtedly an historic turning point.
Colloquium: A recurring theme in your book is your concern at the re-emergence of the far right across Europe in recent years. How frustrating has it been to pay witness to this? Have you employed any strategies to come to terms with it on a personal level?
Lamb: The rise of populism and the far-right in Europe but also from the USA and Brazil to the Philippines, underscores the book’s focus on how progressive social movements must adapt and change — and up our game. For years there was a sense of gradual liberal social democratic progress, with leaps forward on issues such as LGBTI rights. But all the while we were ignoring the dangerous rise of inequalities and the dark underbelly of anger that some politicians have stirred. It is deeply worrying. My co-author Ben Jackson and I could only come to terms with this and the multiple crises we describe — of rising inequalities, rising conflict and more people displaced, and the climate crisis — by redoubling our own small efforts to build change — including by writing about social movements which are pushing back. We have both been so inspired by all those battling against the odds that this book seemed a good way to celebrate them and put the spotlight on the key role of social movements which is often underreported and overlooked.
Colloquium: In the chapter on your landmark 1994 court case against the government, you mention having “no Google” to help you back then. How has the growth of the internet and, by extension, social media changed the way you campaign? Do you think it has made campaigning easier or more of a challenge for you overall?
Lamb: We describe in the book the rise of digital first social movements such as 38 Degrees or Avaaz who have so brilliantly used social media to reach and mobilise people, scoring big campaign wins, and the hashtag movements like #MeToo or #BlackLivesMatter. On the other hand of course, right wing populists have been even more successful at using social media to stoke hatred and spread mis-information, including through sophisticated micro-targeting. Social movements are definitely trailing behind. But the danger is when organisations fall in love with digital and are too quick to forget the importance of organising at the grassroots, of meetings in cold Town Halls with key supporters, or running market stalls to talk with people directly — and that needs to continue.
Colloquium: In a particularly moving section of the book, you tell the story of Fairtrade coffee farmers killed due to climate change in mid-noughties. How do you assess the fifteen years since? Climate change is clearly now higher on the popular agenda, but has enough been done?
Lamb: Not nearly enough has been done. We seem to just about be waking up and putting on the coffee — when we should be out the door and well away. The climate movements are powerhouses with phenomenal reach and have notched up major shifts but governments and businesses are still not responding with the pace and ambition needed. That’s why the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow this November are make or break — we have to get climate justice done.
Colloquium: The remarkable Greta Thunberg is profiled in your book. Why do you think she elicits such seemingly unjustified disdain and derision from some people?
Lamb: I think it is fake, all part of pushing back against her very powerful and successful message from people who don’t want our comfortable lives to change. I always remember Michelle Obama saying that the lower critics go, the higher we have to go. So we have to rise above abusers who can hide online and keep underlining the values of kindness and respect. It only underscores why we have to nurture those local, neighbourly movements for change that foster compassion.
Colloquium: Louisa Waugh’s testimony on the appalling conditions in European refugee camps is a genuinely upsetting — but necessary — part of the book. How much hope do you hold that genuine compassion for displaced people can become more widespread? What do you believe citizens can (or should do to turn the tide of xenophobia and hostility we currently see?
Lamb: Most people are naturally kind when they meet someone in need but their instincts are undermined when people, especially in government, hype up the negative rhetoric. The book’s co-author Ben Jackson who is currently leading a coalition campaign #TogetherWithRefugees, uniting all those who want to turn the tide.
Colloquium: I absolutely love the “Stop Del Monte Dumping on Banana Workers” 1997 campaign photo stunt you describe in the book. Is that the favourite such protest you’ve done? How do you arrive at such an idea, and how do you know when you’ve hit upon the right photo op?
Lamb: It was quite funny dumping a tonne of banana skins on Del Monte’s headquarters, next to all the shiny company cars. But for me, it was topped by driving a Challenger Tank up to the Midland Bank AGM at the Barbican in protest at their financing of arms sales to Indonesia (this was before 9/11 — I doubt you could do that now!). That was sparked by seeing the tank parked outside someone’s house in South London — and it just seemed too good an opportunity to miss. With hindsight, they were both cracking ideas but with both stunts, at the time I was nervous, given how much could have gone badly wrong! And you never know which photo op the papers will run — it all depends on the other news that day.
Colloquium: Could you pick one person, of all those extraordinary individuals you’ve spoken to and profile in the book, who has inspired you most?
Lamb: Absolutely impossible. And of course social change needs people leading in such a myriad of ways. But I have the most profound respect for the inspirational Abir Haj Ibrahim and her colleagues in Moberadoon, the network of people trying to build peace in Syria. They are swimming against such brutal tides — and yet always remain calm and brimming with tough hope.
Colloquium: I really like your assertion that ‘every one of us has the capacity to hope and to see the pathways ahead’. What advice would you give to people who are just starting out on their campaigning journey?
Lamb: If you are unsure, just join a local group already doing something positive — perhaps they are lobbying to let a piece of parkland grow wild; or are persuading a shop to stock Fairtrade and organic goods; or are supporting refugees locally. It’s acting with others that gives you energy. It can be such fun and you are bound to make new friends along the way. PS: Do look up the coalition campaign, www.letsgozero.org that Ashden is running to help all UK schools reach zero carbon by 2030. It’s a great campaign to whet your appetite!
Colloquium: Are there any specific stories you wanted to include in the book but couldn’t, for whatever reason?
Lamb: You bet — there was a huge pile of carefully crafted stories that got ruthlessly cut out! Ben and I are passionate about our topic so it’s always tough deciding which stories best encapsulate our themes and we had a few arguments on this. In particular we wanted to include more stories about indigenous communities taking action or about the farmers movements in India. But maybe that will have to be the next book…
Colloquium: Your book ends on a message of hope, as you look ahead to the future of social movements. Why are you so confident that we stand on the cusp of a new era of people-powered movements?
Lamb: We see people trying so many emerging new strategies to tackling problems. These have been boosted by COVID 19 which has underlined for people the importance of local, compassionate societies. I am so grateful at this time to be leading Ashden where we spotlight climate champions from around the world, and in particular those who are seeking to create the ‘living alternative’, showing how a just and fair transition to a low carbon future could work. We see people’s movements as like the electric delivery bikes that will soon replace white vans on our streets: the front wheel is our values, holding us straight over all the potholes and bumps in the road; one back wheel represents those who protest and the other back wheel is those showing the way forward; all three together can indeed power forward. As Greta Thunberg says, hope doesn’t come from words, hope comes precisely from such actions.
Colloquium: What do you think the future holds for you, campaigning-wise? Are there any causes you’re hoping to get more involved in in future?
Lamb: I want to focus on the connections between issues. For example at Ashden we longlisted The Welcoming in Edinburgh for an Ashden Award as they support refugees to tackle the climate crisis; while last year we awarded UNDP Yemen who are supporting women just 20 kms from the conflict’s frontline to run their own company selling energy from solar panels. These initiatives are the future, addressing more than one issue in such positive ways. If we are to overcome the complex challenges we face, it’s only by making the links and working together. In the book we use the image of a murmuration of starlings: each tiny bird is vulnerable but by coming together in huge, fluid formations, they create a powerful group. We draw inspiration and hope from this phenomenon for civil society made up as it is by millions of individuals who, in coming together, create something spectacular — and beautiful.
From Anger to Action: Inside the Global Movements for Social Justice, Peace, and a Sustainable Planet by Ben Jackson and Harriet Lamb (Rowman & Littlefield, July 2021) is available now in paperback and eBook.
Find out more on rowman.com.
