Translated by Chief Yellow Lark -1887
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds
Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me
I come to you as one of your many children
I am small and weak
I need your strength and wisdom
May I walk in beauty
Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset .
Make my hands respect the things you have made.
And my ears sharp to your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children.
The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock
Make me strong--------!
Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy....myself
Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes,
So that when life fades as the fading sunset,
May my spirit come to you without shame.
Our Vision
Native American Activist's Guide
Method # 1
How to Conduct an Effective Grassroots Lobbying Effort
There are five initial steps that must be taken to effectively lobby on your community's issue:
(For Native Americans in Canada, that would be the DIAND director or the provincial premiers, or district politicians. )
* Letters to the Prime Minister's office will usually be referred or sent to the M.P. for Aboriginal Affairs, or DIAND, who, as of this writing is Robert Nault, M.P., so, it is better to deal directly with the minister appointed by the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs directly, or the provincial premiers and their ministers.
(Remember that the Canadian government has initiated a long-term program designed to assimilate the First Nations Peoples, so, the agenda one follows must keep that fact in mind. If the activist spokespersons evenmentions sovereignty or self government, the government response will be very blunted, so, the mandate must be based on local issues and it must be very specific and clearly defined.)
(Actually, that number can very, but, this is a political movement, so, you need the involvement of as many voters as you can attract, but less than 25 makes the effort more difficult.)
(There is nothing that will restrict your movement more negatively than to have uniformed or misinformed members. The leadership must educate all the activists involved in case they are called-upon to explain their issues.)
You now have an army of 100 people in the Premiers's or M.P.'s district. Always remember that politicians are only interested in their job, and they keep their job through the votes of citizens, so, the leverage First Nations Peoples can exert will always be more effective if it involved the use of votes.
You need names of voters who support your cause to persuade the government that you are not just bluffing. These registered voters will be the leverage you need to convince the government in question that his support of your cause can assure votes to go his way.
Step 1. Each of the 25 activistshould ask their three volunteers to call the premier or M.P.'soffice to express their feelings on the particular issue. Activists should not use a written script as this will reveal that their calls are part of a coordinated effort.
Callers should simply ask, in their own words, for the politician to please consider their view and stress that they feel strongly about it. In addition, unless it is not true, the callers should mention that they are a registered voter and never miss an election. They should give their name and address and ask the politician's staff member to keep them posted on the politician's activities on the issue.
It is most important that your activists contact their premier and M.P.'s district offices. The vast majority of calls to provincial offices are made by individuals requesting assistance (assistance with visas, employment, and other issues or problems and the like). Unlike Federal offices, the provincial offices seldom receive calls or letters from people expressing opinions. Thus, your calls will have greater impact if they are directed to the district offices.
Step 2. Your activists should use the information gathered on the interests of the particular member of parliamentto benefit their position. For example, if the political member is most affected by property rights interests, get the endorsement from leaders of the principal property rights groups in his/her district for your position. Always use the premier's or M.P.'s interests to further your own.
Step 3. Within three weeks of massive phone calling, you should arrange a meeting with the Member of Parliament at his/her district office. No more than twelve of the activists should attend the meeting as more may be intimidating. It is important to be sensitive to the Member's position during the meeting and each activist should be prepared to present their views without repeating what others have said and without threats. You are trying to win someone over, not change their mind.
Step 4. Follow-up your meeting with a letter signed by all attending the meeting thanking the Member for his/her time. You may also wish to send Letters-to-the-Editor of local newspapers thanking the premier or M.P. for their time. Make sure to send copies of those letters -- both as written and as published -- to the Member of Parliament.
Step 5. The Member of Parliament should be asked by the meeting attendees to attend a meeting on their terms. Within three weeks after your meeting, invite the Congressman to speak to your activists on the particular issue. Turn-out is crucial. Your activists should have well-thought-out questions ready to ask the Member -- questions that reinforce your position. If possible, make sure the media attends the meeting. This will put additional pressure on the premier/M.P. to adopt your position.
Step 6. Again, follow-up the meeting with a "Thank You" letter and Letters-to-the-Editor.
Step 7. Conduct a second round of phone calling, following the same procedure as before, as the decision on your issue nears.
Remember that your First Nation Activist Group must have one main spokesperson for the group. This person must be aggressive, articulate, educated and possess a thorough understanding of all aspects of the agenda of the group. * This is important for the politicians must have a person or identity that they can identify with for the group.
Of course! By having one main spokesperson, there is no chance of any contradictions or misunderstandings in getting your cause or issues across to the government.
The government will be looking for weaknesses. It will seize upon any discrepancies or uncertainties put for by the group, as such, it is imperative that the mandate is written, studied in depth, and thoroughly understood by anyone involved in the person to person interactions between the parties involved.
Any First Nations activist group must be organized and coordinated by a council. This council must establish the mandates to be followed, the methods to be used, and the long term agenda.
If the council chooses to lobby the government as part of it's efforts, then, it must appoint a special spokesperson, along with support staff that will formulate the plan, and submit it for approval to the council before it is implemented.
Techniques & Methods
The Internet is a powerful tool that allows us to expand our networks by identifying and communicating with like-minded people anywhere in the world. It enables us to disseminate information widely, cheaply, and instantaneously. Although you'll need some special skills to build and maintain a Web site, email is easily mastered even if you have little or no technical expertise. If you can read and write and your computer has a modem, you can be a Virtual Activist!
With its blinking graphics, streaming video, and interactive capabilities, the Web gets a lot more attention than plain old text-based email. But don't let e-mail's simplicity fool you. For activists and nonprofit organizations engaged in advocacy, email is the tool of choice.
In this example, we will teach you how to use email and the Web as effective, inexpensive, and efficient tools for organizing, outreach, and advocacy.
There are currently more than 600 million people using the Internet, and that number is expected to continue to grow. Advocacy organizations working to influence public policy will increasingly need to incorporate the Internet into their outreach and organizing efforts.
Technology is a tool that can be used strategically to enhance grassroots organizing and outreach efforts related to political campaigns and public policy issues. It is most effective as a supplement to -- not a substitute for -- traditional organizing and outreach techniques. So don't stop organizing rallies, house parties and press conferences, keep making those phone calls, and continue building your membership through direct mail and/or telemarketing.
What do you need to get started with Internet advocacy:.You'll need a computer, of course, but don't worry if it doesn't have all the latest bells and whistles. Internet access and email software are all you really need. Even a Web site isn't absolutely necessary, although having one is certainly a good idea.
Suppose your organization wants to publicize a recent legislative breakthrough that drastically affects a current campaign on which your organization is working. Choosing from traditional organizing and outreach techniques, you may choose to hold a press conference or issue a press release to alert the media. You may also want to write an article for your organization's quarterly newsletter and prepare a list of talking points to distribute to staff members and volunteers who will be contacting the media.
But you can also use the Internet, your Web site, email lists and news groups in your advocacy campaign. For example, email would be a faster and cheaper way to mobilize volunteers. And posting information to your Web site will allow you to reach more potential supporters at no additional cost. Before we discuss the use of email and Web-based tools in detail, let's look at these tools in perspective.
It is important to understand the difference between active and passive techniques for communicating electronically. The Internet is a global network of computers that communicate with each other over another network -- the telecommunications system. Computers use the Internet to "talk" to each other in much the same way people use the telephone network to talk to each other.
Although many people think of the Web as the Internet, the Web is actually just one part of it. Web sites are simply documents that are housed on a specific computer. When you visit a particular Web your computer is using the telephone network to communicate electronically with the computer where the document named is located.
Email is more like a telephone call. When you send an email message to your sister, the network of computers that make up the Internet carries your electronic "words" from your computer to your sister's computer in much the same way that the network of telephone wires carries your voice from your telephone to your sister's telephone.
Email is much more widely used than the Web, and is a far more effective tool for outreach. When you send email, whether it is a private message to one individual or an electronic newsletter to a list with hundreds of subscribers, you are "pushing" information to other Internet users. Your message gets delivered to the in-boxes of everyone you send it to. You can't be certain that everyone who receives it will read it, of course, but in a later lesson we will discuss strategies to increase the likelihood that your message will be read and acted upon.
In contrast, when you create a Web site, you are placing a document on one computer and giving it a unique "address." People who know the address can visit it, but the actual document stays on that one computer.
e
Now that it's clearer how active and passive tools work differently, can you name some of the active tools that an advocacy group could use on a particular campaign? And how might the more passive Web tools be used?
Email is by far the most effective online advocacy tool because it is active, immediate, and widely used. But the effectiveness of email outreach can often be enhanced when email and Web-based tools are used together. For example, the Program Committee for the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference (CPF 2001) distributed an email Call for Proposals that stated:
Proposals should be submitted no later than January 5, 2001, via the CFP2001 website at http://www.cfp2001.org.
Note that the alert includes a hyperlink to the CFP 2001 Web site. A hyperlink is text that contains a link to another document that is displayed when the reader clicks on it. This is a technique that is used frequently by activists and advocacy organizations to integrate email and Web- based advocacy tools.
You can even embed hyperlinks into your email. Just type in the full web address (URL), including
the http://. Most common email programs, such as Eudora Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and even Hotmail,
recognize text starting with http:// as hyperlinks, and will automatically encode them for you
After typing in the above text, programs such as Eudora, Outlook, and Netscape Messenger will automatically underline and change the color of the web address to blue. These changes to the text notifiesyou that the text will be "clickable" for the recipients.
Can you think of some ways that your organization could make use of "clickable" email, and link email messages and Web-based tools? You'll find plenty of examples in Part 2A .
When should you use the Internet as part of your organizing and advocacy work? When you need an immediate response, want to contact a lot of people as quickly as possible, and don't have a lot of money to spend on printing and postage. Virtually all of the written materials that your organization produces can be adapted for electronic distribution via email, the Web, or both. If you're not already using email as part of your advocacy work, here are some tips to help you get started.
· Collect email addresses from your members, supporters and volunteers, the media, your contacts in legislative offices, your funders and anyone else you communicate with regularly. Include a space for email addresses in your membership sign-up forms, newsletter subscription forms, and fundraising reply cards.
· If your organization publishes a newsletter, offer your members the option of receiving it electronically. Encourage them to switch by reminding them that your organization will save money.
· Train your staff, board and volunteers to regularly collect email addresses from colleagues, friends and supporters and feed those into the email newsletter list. Nominate one month as "Email Collection Month" and do an all-out push to increase your lists.
· If your organization has a Web site where visitors can sign up to volunteer, to subscribe to a newsletter or action alert, or to donate money, be sure to ask for an email address as well as other contact information.
· If your organization has a table at a conference, rally, or other event, include space for an email address on your sign-up sheet.
· If you distribute press releases to the media, start sending them by email instead of fax. (Also, be sure to add online media outlets to your distribution list.)
· Use email to communicate with staff consultants in legislative offices. (But not with lawmakers, for reasons we'll explain later.)
· Establish and promote an email action alert list, using the tools we discuss in this Virtual Activist training.
Although our focus in this lesson is on email activism, once you get started you'll discover that there are many other ways in which technology can enhance your organization's communications. Many people prefer to receive information electronically because it reduces the amount of paper they accumulate\
Suppose you wanted to design an Internet outreach effort to supplement your traditional techniques. To get the word out, your organization has planned a press conference and written a press release. You have plans to write an article for your newsletter, and you are actively preparing a list of talking points for staff and volunteers to use in communicating with the media. What Internet tools can you use to enhance the effectiveness of your effort? You can publish a copy of your press release on your Web site, distribute an email version of your newsletter, and/or post an electronic copy of the newsletter on your Web site.
Think of email advocacy as an extension of your grassroots organizing efforts. Email action alerts are typically used for strategic purposes in conjunction with issue campaigns that have clearly defined goals. Let's take a look at a real action alert that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a national nonprofit constitutional liberties advocacy organization, sent out:
Subject: ACLU Action List: Defend the Rights of People with Disabilities!
Defend the Rights of People with Disabilities: Ironically enough, on the ten- year anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the House of Representatives is considering legislation proposed by Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) that would circumvent the goal and meaning of the ADA.
Entitled the "ADA Notification Act" (HR 3590), this legislation would sanction individuals who did not first notify a business of an ADA violation and then wait three months before filing a lawsuit. Supporters of this bill claim that it would ensure that businesses are given adequate notice, ignoring the fact that the ADA has been in effect for ten years.
The U.S. Justice department provides ample information and training for businesses to make sure that they are in compliance, including a toll-free ADAinformation line that handles more than 100,000 calls a year. There is no need for to provide businesses more time to discriminate against people with disabilities.
Take Action! You can read more about this legislation and send a FREE FAX to your Representative from our action alert at: http://www.aclu.org/action/ada106.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ACLU Freedom Network Web Page: http://www.aclu.org
America Online: keyword ACLU
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ACLU Newsfeed
American Civil Liberties Union National Office
125 Broad Street
New York, New York 10004
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In sending out this message, the ACLU achieved its goal of reaching out to gear up opposition to the ADA Notification Act. The action alert also served the secondary purpose of publicizing the ACLU's website and contact information.
Let's see how another organization uses email action alerts. This alert comes from CARAL (California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League):
Subject: CARAL email action list
Dear Friends,
As the November election quickly approaches, it becomes more and more urgent for CARAL to reach as many pro-choice individuals as possible with information about key reproductive rights information.
We need your help!
Please COPY the message below, paste it into an email message, and send it to all your pro-choice friends, family and colleagues. Feel free to add or change anything to the message to personalize it. (Please be sure to list them in the "bcc" field when you are addressing your email message!)
And if you are not on the CARAL action alert list yourself, please use the handy link below to sign up today.
Thank you for your help protecting reproductive rights.
Yours for Choice
**************************************
Dear Friends,
As you know, protecting women's reproductive rights is very important to me. And with the upcoming elections, I believe that it's more important than ever for pro-choice individuals like us to be informed and able to take action.
I am a member of the CARAL email action alert list, and I want to ask you to join this list too. You will get email updates with essential information and quick, easy action items that you can take to protect and promote Choice.
All you have to do is click on this link: mailto:samplenonprofit.org?Subject=PutMeOnYourMailingList
Please do this today!
Thank you.
This is an excellent example of how email can be used strategically to build your organization's base of support. The message is short and simple: CARAL needs to reach more pro-choice voters before the election. The requested action is easy to accomplish: copy the message, paste it into an email message form, and send it to everyone you know who shares your pro-choice sentiments. CARAL also makes it as easy as possible for your friends and colleagues to subscribe to the action alert list by including a "mailto" hyperlink. We'll discuss "mailto" hyperlinks in more detail later.
Before the Internet was widely used, activists and advocacy organizations distributed action alerts by mail and fax. Preparing an email action alert is similar. But since email has the potential to reach a significantly larger audience, there are some special considerations. We prepared a simple checklist to help you determine if your action alert is ready to circulate in cyberspace:
· Will readers know who sent the action alert? It's important to clearly identify your organization as the source of the action alert. (If you're sending out an alert as an individual, you'll need to identify yourself.)
· Will readers know how to contact your organization? Always include your organization's email address, postal address, Web site address, phone number and fax number in action alerts. (Or your personal contact information if you're distributing an alert as an individual.) Although not essential, it is helpful to include the name, title and phone number of someone in your organization who can be contacted if readers have questions.
· Will readers want to open the message?The subject line can determine whether someone opens and reads your message, or deletes it unread. Make the subject line compelling or provocative -- and never send an action alert with a blank subject line.
· Will readers know if the action alert is timely? Always include the date that your action alert is distributed and the date by which action is requested. (And don't forget the year!) Outdated action alerts can circulate online for years, and many do because the preparer failed to include a date.
· Will readers understand why action is important? Include clear, concise background information and the key point(s) to communicate. Keep layout simple, use ascii text, avoid jargon, use short paragraphs, section headings, bullets and simple formatting to mark the start and end of the alert. Don't assume the reader will be familiar with the issue. Include hyperlink pointers to Web sites where additional background information can be found.
· Will readers know what action to take?Be specific about how the reader can help. Include the postal address or phone number if you are asking readers to write letters or make phone calls. Include a hyperlink pointer to online information to help readers locate their elected representatives.
· Are you sure of the facts?Electronic action alerts can literally go around the world in minutes. Since you won't know exactly who sees your alert, factual errors aren't easily corrected. Make sure the information is correct before you hit the "send" key. If you're drafting an alert in response to information provided to your organization, make sure it's from a trusted source, or can be verified by a trusted source, before sending it out. If you're forwarding information from another organization, contact the organization to verify that they sent it before forwarding it to others.
NOTE: Almost everyone has received an outdated or fake alert at one time or another, often from a well-meaning friend or colleague. Unless you are absolutely sure it's accurate, don't forward an alert. If you suspect an alert isn't real, check one of the sites that monitors Internet hoaxes, http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/default.htm , or http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBUrbanMyths.shtml .
· Are you building your base of support?Always include information on how readers can subscribe to or unsubscribe from your action alert list. It's also a good idea to include information on how to join your organization.
There are some excellent online resources that provide more detailed information about how to prepare an action alert. See "Writing Effective Action Alerts by OneNorthWest for a brief, 10-step guide, and "Designing Effective Action Alerts for the Internet" by Phil Agreof UCLA's Department of Information Sciences.
Prof. Agre is also the author of "Against Chain-Letter Petitions on the Internet,",which discusses the problems with email petitions and sign-on letters circulated by email. Email petitions and sign-on letters have proven to be problematic, and should be avoided.
When your action alert is ready, you'll be distributing it to the people who subscribed to your alert list. (We will review the tools that you can use to set up your action alert list later.) But your organization's subscriber list isn't your only option. There are thousands of email discussion lists and news groups on the Internet.
When you post the same action alert to several discussion lists or news groups, it's called cross-posting. This can be a very effective way to expand the universe of Internet users who receive your alert. But be careful to target only appropriate lists. If you plan to cross-post your action alerts, you'll have to identify and subscribe to the lists and news groups ahead of time to become familiar with the topics they address.
How do you identify the news groups and discussion lists that might be appropriate places to cross-post your action alert? One way is to ask your own subscribers, as well as your friends and colleagues, for suggestions. Or you can locate appropriate lists by surfing other organizations' Web sites to see if they have lists focused on similar issues. For example, if your organization is concerned with welfare issues, you might try posting your alert to news groups that deal with poverty and homelessness. There are also search tools available for a more systematic approach. For email discussion lists try the Liszt directory of mailing lists at http://www.liszt.com . For news groups try http://www.dejanews.com/ . It's also possible to search the commercial list service Web sites, like Topica http://www.topica.com .
CAUTION: Take care to understand fully the topic and the "environment" of a news group. It's a bad idea under any circumstances to post your alert to a news group you haven't been reading, or an email list you aren't already subscribed to. You need to be familiar with the news group or list to make sure that your action alert is appropriate to post. Otherwise, it could be considered spam (an Internet term for unsolicited junk email) and result in complaints from other subscribers to the list owner, or to your ISP.
There may also be complaints if you post your email action alert to several lists with overlapping subscribers, since people might wind up with three or four copies of the same action alert. If you get a lot of complaints from people who receive multiple copies, reduce the number of lists and news groups that you cross-post to.
Along with distributing your own action alerts, you may want to forward alerts written and circulated by other activists or organizations. When you do, delete any unnecessary information, such as address lists in the header, and eliminate the quote marks that indicate the message has been forwarded. To avoid inserting new quote marks when you forward the message, copy and paste the text into a new email message form, or create a copy with the "Send Again" options rather than using the "Forward" option in your software.
The key to success in distributing email action alerts is as much in knowing what NOT to do as in knowing what to do. Here is a quick reference list of Do's and Don'ts for email action alerts:
DO:
DON'TS:
* NOTE At this time, email is not an effective way to communicate with most decision makers because few of them read it and they have no way of knowing whether the messages they receive are from constituents. It's more effective to phone or write a letter and either mail it or fax it.
Because of the borderless nature of the Internet, it can be a powerful tool for networking. Organizations with similar concerns can form coalitions and alliances that literally span the globe. The following sites are sponsored by coalitions that developed as a result of cyberspace networking.
Forming Cyberspace coalitions:
Example:Coalition for Networked Information http://www.cni.org/
Example: Global InternetLiberty Campaign http://www.gilc.org/
Example: People's Global Action http://www.agp.org/agp/index.html
Example: Internet Free Expression Alliance http://www.ifea.net/
Example: Internet Democracy Project http://www.internetdemocracyproject.org/
Intranets and electronic networks are common in workplaces. They enable a specific group of computer users to communicate online, but they are not part of the larger Internet. America Online is an example of a commercial intranet. If you subscribe to AOL, you have access to a variety of forums, discussion groups, and online services that are not accessible to the general public. Non-profit organizations and grassroots groups can also set up these types of networks.
Example: Institute for Global Communications Internet http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/index.html
See IDM Intranet FAQ
The hotword of the day is "community" -- everyone wants to build or be part of an online "community." Non-profits are their own community with common interests: fundraising, advocacy, membership, and others. Your membership is another community, and your organization is representing and addressing their interests. We have seen many ways (above) to reach out to your members. However, some organizations want to be a little more interactive.
There are two forms of interactivity: immediate, no archives, often referred to as chat or chat rooms, and nearly-immediate, sometimes archived for later reference and participation, often called Web forums, bulletin boards, or online conferences.
Example: E-groups (a commercial service--check their privacy policy!) http://www.egroups.com/
Chat is a form of communication which allows immediate interaction on the Internet. The earliest form was Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a text-based communications network. Now, there are newer Internet technologies which make it possible for a group of people to meet and converse online. With chat technology, all conversations take place in real time. That's why IRC has been used extensively for live coverage of world events, news, sports commentary, etc. For activists, it can be a useful tool for convening online meetings, debates, conferences, and town halls.
As a communication tool, chat is somewhere between a personal phone call and an announcement over the radio. Yahoo's Chat Help file has some useful tips for using chat appropriately.
Example: TalkCity (also commercial, uses java software) http://www.talkcity.com/
Another collaborative tool, which is growing in popularity, is instant messaging. Instant messaging applications require users to select their friends, so activists can use them to identify colleagues they might want to be in contact with when both are online at the same time. In addition to sending instant text messages, some services make it possible for activists to send files and pictures instantly, and to conduct audio and/or video conferences. Users should be aware that not all instant messangingservices are inter-operable. For example, if you are using Yahoo's messanger, you will not be able to send instant messages to someone using AOL's instant messanger. Hopefully, this won't always be the case.
Examples of instant messaging services include Yahoo's Messenger, AOL's Instant Messenger, and ICQ (I Seek You). See how ICQ works at: http://www.icq.com/icqtour/quicktour.html
Example: Yahoo's Messanger http://messenger.yahoo.com/
Email is a simple yet powerful tool that your organization can use to communicate with your supporters. It is fast, effective and highly affordable. You may already be in the habit of sending individual, personally composed email messages as part of the normal course of daily business. This discussion is about email lists, the practice of collecting large numbers of email addresses and storing them in a software program so that you can send electronic "mass mailings" to your supporters.
We're going to begin by reviewing the features available in the email software you are already using to send and receive individual messages, the email list services that are available through commercial Web sites, and the mailing list software that you can install and use in-house if your organization maintains its own "server." (A "server" is a computer that is connected to the Internet and used to host one or more Web sites.) We will also be reviewing the different ways you can set up and use email lists to communicate with your members, supporters, volunteers, and the media.
The simplest way to create and use email lists is to do it in-house using your regular email software. The most common products you might use are Qualcomm's Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, or Netscape Mail. This option is a good choice if your list has no more than a couple of hundred subscribers at most.
There are two common ways you send email with Eudora, Outlook, and other consumer software products. One is a personal note, addressed to an individual or to a small group of people. When you send an individual message, you type the recipient's email address in the "To" field, and you might also type a second recipient's address in the "Cc" field.
The other way -- which is useful for email activism -- is to use the address book feature in your email software program. This is a very useful tool for individual activists and for organizations in which the staff has little technical expertise. All email software programs have a feature that lets you set up an address book, and most will let you store hundreds or even thousands of names in the address book. Many people use this function to store the individual email address of friends and acquaintances. But it is also possible to use this function to create a simple announcement-only mailing list, which you can then use to distribute messages to a large number of people.
For example, if your organization periodically sends out press releases, you can set up a personalized address book, labeled "Media," that includes a list of the email addresses of all the reporters you know who are interested in the issues your organization is working on. Using the address book feature makes it possible to send the press release to all of the reporters at once, rather than emailing the message individually to each reporter
If you plan to use your address book to create an email list, you will need to know how to send email without disclosing the recipients' addresses. So if you haven't already been introduced to the "Bcc" field, it's time to get acquainted. ("Bcc" is an acronym for "blind carbon copy." Along with "Cc" for "carbon copy" the term has its origins in the days when typists made copies of documents by placing carbon-coated paper between sheets of regular paper before typing.)
At the top of every email message, you'll (usually) see a header with these fields:
============================================================================
To:
From:
Subject:
Cc:
Bcc:
X-Attachment
============================================================================
NOTE: In some email software, "Bcc" is not included in the default setting of the header display. In some versions of AOL's software, for example, you will have to open the address book and select "Blind Copy." If you don't see it, check the "Help" file or the User Manual that came with the software, or contact the company's support service by phone or email.
To send a press release to your "Media" address book, type "Media" in the "Bcc" field of the message header and put your own email address in the "To" field. That way, all of the reporters will receive the message, but only your email address will be disclosed. (And you'll get a copy of whatever you send, since your address will be in the "To" field.)
CAUTION: ALWAYS use the "Bcc" field if you are creating an email list in your address book. If you type the address book's name in the "To" or "Cc" field, all of the addresses will appear in the "To" field when the message is sent! There are two problems with this. First, some people prefer not to disclose their email address, and if the list has a lot of addresses the header will be long. This is annoying to some people because they have to scroll through screens full of addresses before they see the message.
Do you like seeing something like the following when you open an email message?
=======================================================================
From: "Jane Doe" <janedoe@hotmail.com>
To: James King <JKing@msn.com>, Alan Williams <awilliams@sirius.com>,
Dave Garrison <DG@aol.com>, "Jennifer Reilly" <Reilly@Reilly.com>,
"George Kelly" <Gkelly@pacbell.net>, "Thomas Jones" <tj54@aol.com>,
Gina Rogers <GinaR@uswest.com>, Dan Stevens <dans@yahoo.com>,
Vincent Davis <vince@att.net>, Ron Butler <ronbutler@dnai.com>,
"Marc Smith" <marc_smith@earthlink.net>, Tony Altura
<tonya@food.org>, "Jeffrey Carr" <carr867@aol.com>,
"Michael Milton" <mmilton@ucla.edu>,
Peter Boyd <pboyd@mindspring.com>, "Susan Smith" <ss@home.com>
===============================================================
In contrast, here's what you'll see when you use the "Bcc" field to distribute a long list of names:
===============================================================
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 09:07:38 -0700
To: audrie@netaction.org
From: Audrie Krause
Subject: NetAction Urges Consumer Protection For Software Buyers
===============================================================
Most Web email services, like YahooMail and HotMail, also offer address books as part of their free service. These can also be used to store large numbers of email addresses. If you use a Web email service, be sure to check if there is a limit to the number of email addresses that can be stored in the address book.
NOTE We use Edora It's easy to use, less vulnerable to virus attacks than Microsoft Outlook, and can be downloaded for free from Eudora's Web site .
Another important issue to deal with is backing up the email addresses that you have stored in your address book. A fatal crash of your computer's hard drive could wipe out months or years of collected addresses, so be sure to back up these names. If your organization has a network administrator, make arrangements to have this information backed up regularly. If not, copy the address book onto a floppy or zip disk regularly, or buy and use a commercial backup software product, such as Retrospect Express by Dantz. If you are using a Web email service, learn how to back up your data, also.
There are also some email list software products and services specifically for managing mailing lists. The two main types that you might use are Web-based Application Service Provider (ASP) services, and commercial list software for mail servers. These options are useful for lists with hundreds or thousands of names. Another alternative is eBasesoftware, which we discuss in Part 4 .
ASPs are commercial Internet companies that offer email list services over the Web, usually at no cost to the user. Application Service Providers that you might be familiar with are Topica,eGroups, and ListBot from Microsoft.
These services let you to set up an email list without having to install special list software, which we will discuss in the next section. The advantage of ASPs is that they automatically handle all the subscribing and unsubscribing for you. That means people will be able to join and leave the list without extra work on your part. This is particularly useful if you aren't going to individually review and approve every new subscriber.
ASPs may be a good choice for individual activists who want to set up email discussion lists, and for organizations in which a staff with limited technical expertise needs to manage multiple or large lists. You don't need much technical experience to manage lists that are set up through these services, you have more choices about how the list works, and you have access to technical support if you need it.
Another advantage of these services is that they automatically store all the messages on a Web site. (This is called an archive.) An archive is useful if you want to have a record of everything that has ever been posted to the list. You might want such a record so that new subscribers can read messages posted before they joined the list, or so that people can read the messages without having to subscribe to the list.
But there are also some important disadvantages to consider. Under the user agreements, if you use their services the ASPs will own your lists, any of your work that's posted to your lists, and the content of your list archive. This gives the ASP the right to do anything it wants with this information.
Also, because these services are free, the companies that offer them add a small advertisement header or footer to each message, similar to the ones you see if you get email from someone who uses YahooMailor HotMail for Internet service. While some people would rather not use a service with advertising, others consider it a reasonable price to pay for a free service. Here is an example of the type of advertisement you would see if you subscribed to an email list operated by Topica:
===============================================================
___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
===============================================================
Another downside of using one of these services is that you can't customize the list with your organization's domain name to indicate that the message was sent by your organization. *A domain name is what appears after the "www" on a Web site address. For example, "sierra.org" is the domain name of The Sierra Club.) Messages sent through an ASP list might have a header that looks like this:
=======================================================================
From: johndoe@yahoo.com
Subject: Support H.R. 2502!
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 20:09:32 EDT
BestServHost: lists.best.com
Sender: actionalert-errors@lists.best.com
Reply-To: johndoe@yahoo.com
To: actionalert@lists.best.com
===============================================================
When you customize the list name to match your organization's domain name, the message will have a header that identifies your organization by its domain name. So it might look something like this:
===============================================================
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 01:06:27 -0600 (MDT)
From: Audrie Krause
Subject: NetAction Notes No. 58
Sender: netaction-owner@netaction.org
Reply-To: audrie@netaction.org
===============================================================
If you are thinking of using a service like Topica,eGroups or ListBot, you'll need to weigh the advantages against the disadvantages. If you decide to go ahead, be sure to ask how you can keep a backup of your email subscriber list. Like the database of your members' addresses and phone numbers, your email subscriber list is a valuable asset.
Another way to set up a list is to install commercial list software on your organization's "server" computer. Some of these commercial products are free, and others have to be purchased. Commercial list software is not very user-friendly. So this is only a good option if your organization runs its own in-house mail server, has a dedicated high bandwidth Internet connection, and employs a network administrator.
Three common software packages for handling email lists are:
All three offer free versions of their software package, though more advanced features require purchasing a license.
NOTE: Many groups recommend Majordomo list software if your organization has the hardware and technical expertise to operate it. Once the software has been installed and configured the way you want it -- which is the part that requires technical expertise -- anyone with basic computer skills can easily manage the list. Also, the process by which people subscribe or unsubscribe is simple enough that most people don't need help from the list manager.
If you use a Web-based list service or a commercial list software product, you'll have some decisions to make about how the list will operate. In the following section, we will be reviewing several techniques to set up and use email lists so they serve your organization's needs.
This configuration provides one-way communication from the list owner to the list subscribers. This configuration is good for distributing electronic newsletters, action alerts, and other information quickly, cheaply and easily to a large number of people. When you configure a list for announcements only, you need a password in order to post messages. Since you determine who knows the password, you determine who can post messages to the list. You can limit posting privileges to one individual, or several people in your organization.
If you set up your own list using the address book and "Bcc" features in your regular email software, you are in effect creating an announcement-only list. That's because you will be the only person with access to the list and the ability to post to it, and your address is the only address that recipients can reply to since the others won't be visible.
The main advantage of an announcement-only list is that the owner has complete control of the content and the frequency of postings. This makes it a good choice if you want to distribute electronic action alerts, press releases, or newsletters. The main disadvantage is that subscribers cannot just hit "reply" to comment to the whole list about something that was posted.
Creating a "mailto" hyperlink is very easy. All you have to do is type: mailto: followed (without any spaces) by the email address you want to link to. For practice, type a "mailto" using your own email address, then click on it to open a message form addressed to yourself. Type "testing" in the subject line, and "hello" in the message field, and send it off. The next time you check your email, you'll find a message from yourself with "testing" as the subject line.
Whether or not you use a "mailto" hyperlink, it is always a good idea to include the email address that readers can write to when you send out an action alert, press release, or other information to an email list.
A moderated email list allows for controlled two-way communication. Anyone who subscribes to a moderated list can post a message to the list, but the message is routed to the list owner, who gets to decide whether or not to post it. This gives the list owner nearly as much control over the content as the owner of an announcement-only list.
You can also set up a moderated discussion list by using the address book and "Bcc" features in your regular email software. You set it up exactly as you would an announcement-only list (using the "bcc" field). But when you send something out you include a brief note informing readers that their comments are welcome. Any replies are automatically directed to you since you sent the message. To distribute replies that you approve, simply copy and paste the reply text into a new email form and send out another email to the list you created with your address book and "Bcc" field.
The main advantage of a moderated list is that the moderator can make sure that comments from readers are relevant to the purpose of the list. The main disadvantage is that you'll have to read every reply you get from list subscribers in order to decide whether or not to post them. This can be time-consuming if the list is very active. Also, if you decide not to post someone's comment you may take some heat from the subscriber whose post is rejected. You can minimize such criticism by having a clearly articulated statement describing the purpose of the list.
An unmoderated list allows for open communication among all subscribers. Anyone who subscribes to an unmoderatedlist can post a message to the list for everyone else to see. This configuration gives your subscribers the most freedom to communicate. But it also gives you as the list owner the least amount of control over the content.
The main advantage of an unmoderated list is low maintenance for the list owner. If subscription is automatic, rather than by approval, you will be able to manage the list with minimal effort. The main disadvantage, of course, is that you'll have almost no control over the content. This list configuration is the most likely to be abused by subscribers -- and also by spammers -- since there is no way to stop someone from posting anything they want to the list.
You can exercise some control over an unmoderatedlist by requiring that all subscriptions be approved by the owner. This will allow you to screen out spammers, and also to remove a subscriber who becomes disruptive or impolite. With the exception of spammers, however, you should be cautious about removing subscribers because of concerns about the content of their posts. If the removal of a subscriber is perceived as censorship, it may generate more complaints than it resolves.
An open subscription list allows anyone who is interested to subscribe. You won't have to approve any new subscribers. If you are configuring an "announcement only" list or a "moderated" list, as described above, you may want an open subscription process to avoid having to approve each new subscriber. Since you will control everything that gets posted, you won't have to worry about spammers sending junk email to your list. If you are configuring an "unmoderated" list, and have an open subscription, you are very likely to get spammers subscribing and then spamming the list with junk email.
When you set up a list to require subscription approval, all subscription requests are forwarded to you, or whoever you've designated as the list owner. If you want to allow the subscription, you'll reply to the message with the list password. If you don't want to allow it, you won't need to do anything.
If you set up a list with your own email software, you are in fact setting up a list that requires approval since you're the only one who can add new email addresses to your address book.
How should your organization operate its mailing list? Should it be announcement-only? Is a moderator necessary? What subscription process would be better? Consider your organization's needs and goals before deciding.
A signature file (also known as sig or dot-sig file) at the end of an email message is an excellent way to provide contact information. If you include a complete URL, the signature file will also serve as a hyperlink to your Web site. Here is an example of a very basic signature file:
===============================================================
<<Corin>>
Joe Block Director
E-MAIL: Block@netaction.com
===============================================================
It's also possible to include a sentence or two in the signature file that promotes an event or action that your organization is involved in. Here is an example of a signature file that contains a message:
===============================================================
THE SUITCASE CLINIC
A student-run non-profit organization providing free services
for the homeless and low-income communities.
570 University Hall, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 643-6786
website: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~suitcase/
e-mail: suitcase@socrates.berkeley.edu
===============================================================
Most email browsers allow the user to set up a signature file that will automatically be tacked onto the end of every email message. If the signature file is the default, your browser should have a menu choice that lets you send a message without the signature in the event you don't want to include the identifying information. Some browsers also allow the user to set up an alternate signature so that you can include organizational contact information for your activist messages, and personal information for your personal correspondence.
If you plan to use a signature file, you should be aware that many Internet users consider it bad manners if your signature file is larger than your message. So if you frequently send short notes, remember to suppress the signature file.
TRY A PRACTICE ALERT: Get permission from two or three friends to temporarily subscribe their addresses, then create an address book email alert list. Draft a short action alert, and send it to your list.
Email is an excellent tool for communicating with media. It is a cost-effective way to quickly distribute press releases and newsletters, and is also useful for submitting letters to the editor or opinion articles. Electronic press releases and newsletters can also be posted to your Web site. We offer the following suggestions for communicating online.
Distribute email press releases in
plain ascii text.
Draft your press release as you would any other email message, using an
email software program such as Eudora or Microsoft Outlook. Never send press
releases as attachments to email, or attach other documents to email press
releases. If you need to prepare a paper copy of the press release, copy and
paste the ascii text into a word processing document (such as Microsoft Word)
after the release is written in the email browser.
Keep the text brief and focused.
An electronic press release should follow the same "pyramid" format as
any other press release. Start with the most important information (and remember
the five "W's" - who, what, where, when and why). Use short paragraphs and
keep it brief.
Write a subject line that's compelling
or provocative.
Keep in mind that the subject line is the first thing reporters will see
when they download your release. Never email a press release (or any other
message) with a blank subject line.
Include your electronic contact information.
Remember to include your email address and Web site URL in addition to
your phone and fax number, and address. Put all your contact information
at the top of the press release.
Use hyper-links where appropriate.
If there is additional information available on your Web site -- such as
a white paper or an event announcement -- include a hyper-link so reporters
can click right to it. Online publications will often include these links
in their stories, making this an effective way to direct visitors to your
Web site.
Send a test message before distributing
your press release.
Always send a copy of the press release to yourself or to a colleague before
distributing it. Check the format to make sure there are no broken lines of
text, and check for any mistyped Web URLs by testing them to make sure they
work.
Avoid disclosing the recipients' email
addresses.
Always type the recipients' addresses in the "Bcc" field of your email
message header, rather than in the "To" or "Cc" field
Post your organization's media contact
information on the home page of your Web site.
Be sure to keep the contact information up-to-date, and include information
on how reporters can be added to your mailing list.
Treat email media inquiries the same
as phone inquiries.
Always respond just as promptly to email media inquiries as you would to
phone calls. Reporters who work for online publications are much more likely
to contact you by email than by phone. If you're responsible for answering
media inquiries, check your email frequently throughout the day.
Set up an online archive for your media
communications.
Set aside an area of your Web site where reporters can locate past press
releases. (If you publish a newsletter in electronic form, maintain an online
archive of past issues, as well.)
Post press releases only to appropriate
lists, news groups, and publications.
If you plan to post your press release to any email discussion lists, news
groups or online publications, make sure the topic of your release is appropriate
content for the list or Web site. If your press release announces a new report
on air pollution, it would not be appropriate content for a forum for race
car enthusiasts, for example.
Collect email addresses from your media
contacts.
If you've been distributing your press releases by fax or postal mail,
ask your media contacts if you can switch to email distribution. Commercial
media directors (such as Bacon's Metro California Media) routinely include
email contact information.
Major newspapers frequently have separate staffs for their online versions, so you'll need to include those contacts on your list, too. There are also media directories and news services specifically for online publications that may be appropriate to add to your media list.
Limit the size of your email message
window.
In many email browsers, text that is longer than the width of the message
window will "wrap" to the next line. (When text is set to "wrap," you don't
need to hit the "return" key at the end of every line.) If the size of your
message window is set for more than about 75, the automatic "wrap" may result
in broken lines of text.
The simplest way to create an email media list is to use your regular email software. The most common products you might use are Qualcomm's Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, or Netscape Mail. To create your own email activism list, you will need to be familiar with two features of your email software: the address book and the "Bcc" field.
Most email software programs have a feature that lets you set up an address book where you can store the email addresses of friends, relatives, and business associates. Most email address books will let you store hundreds or even thousands of names, making it a useful tool for creating a simple announcement-only email list that you can use to send out press releases or email newsletters.
For example, if your organization distributes press releases, you can set up an address book entry labeled "Media" to store the email addresses of reporters and editors so you won't have to send individual messages to each of them
When the email addresses have been entered in the address book, your list is ready to use. But you'll want to send messages to the list without disclosing any of the recipients' addresses. So if you haven't already been introduced to the "Bcc" field, it's time to get acquainted.
When you open a "New Message" window in your email software, the message form will usually include a header that looks something like this:
=====================================================================
To:
From:
Subject:
Cc:
Bcc:
X-Attachments
=====================================================================
(Note: In some email software, "Bcc" is not included in the default setting of the header display. If you don't see it, check the "Help" file or the User Manual that came with the software, or contact the software company's support service by phone or email.)
Using the Media list in the example above, here is how you can send a message without revealing the reporters' email addresses: Type "Media" in the "Bcc" field of the message header (instead of in the "To" field) and type your own email address in the "To" field, like this:
=====================================================================
To: janedoe@nonprofit.org
From: janedoe@caral.org
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: CARAL lauds FDA approval of mifepristone
Cc:
Bcc: Media
X-Attachments
=====================================================================
Always use the "Bcc" field if you send email to a list you've created in your address book!
If you type "Media" in the "To" field instead of the "Bcc" field, all of the reporters' addresses will be displayed when the recipients open the message. There are two problems with this. First, some people prefer not to disclose their email address. Also, if the address list is long, the header will be long. This is annoying to some people because they have to scroll through screens full of addresses before they see the message. If your list contains several hundred addresses, just imagine how annoying it will be to scroll through all those screens! Here is an example of an email message from someone who neglected to use the "Bcc" field:
=====================================================================
From: "Jane Doe" <janedoe@hotmail.com>
To: James King <JKing@msn.com>, Alan Williams <awilliams@sirius.com>,
Dave Garrison <DG@aol.com>, "Jennifer Reilly" <Reilly@Reilly.com>,
"George Kelly" <Gkelly@pacbell.net>, "Thomas Jones" <tj54@aol.com>,
Gina Rogers <GinaR@uswest.com>, Dan Stevens <dans@yahoo.com>,
Vincent Davis <vince@att.net>, Ron Butler <ronbutler@dnai.com>,
"Marc Smith" <marc_smith@earthlink.net>, Tony Altura
<tonya@food.org>, "Jeffrey Carr" <carr867@aol.com>,
"Michael Milton" <mmilton@ucla.edu>,
Peter Boyd <pboyd@mindspring.com>, "Susan Smith" <ss@home.com>
=====================================================================
Managing the Media, A Guide for Activists
http://tenant.net/Organize/media.html
"Raising Our Voices," A Tool Kit for Activists
http://www.media-alliance.org/voices/index.html
ConsumerNet's "How To Work With the Press" Guide
http://www.consumernet.org/library/pr_writing.shtml
ConsumerNet's "Nonprofit Publicity" Guide
http://www.consumernet.org/library/publicity.shtml
BentonFoundation's Best Practices Toolkit
http://www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit/publicize.html
NetAction Notes 20 on Media Activism
http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes20.html
NetAction Notes 47 on Media Activism
http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes47.html
Media AllianceLinks to Media Organizations
http://www.media-alliance.org/medialinks.html
Thousands of General Media Links
Ascribe Public Interest News Wire
Links for Progressives and Media Activists
http://www.nlightning.com/bookmarks.html
Salon Magazine
Institute for Global Communication (IGC)
AlterNet
Common Dreams Newswire
http://www.commondreams.org/community.htm
TheVillage Voice
NewcityNet
Weekly Wire
http://weeklywire.com/ww/current/ww_news.html
NewsBytes News Service
Mailing List Directory
Deja News Search locates news groups
Publicly accessible mailing lists
Bay Area Progressive Directory and Events Calendar
http://www.emf.net/~cheetham/index.html
Craigslist announcement mailing lists for Bay Area events, jobs, etc.
Newstrawler searches for news on the Internet
http://www.newstrawler.com/nt/nt_home.html
The length of time it takes to download a Web site to your browser depends on the amount of information placed in the page. The more information the page holds, the longer it takes to view it. For this reason, when it comes to Web sites, "less is more" is often the best strategy. Beware of large graphics and software plug-ins, such as Macromedia Shockwave and Java applets, that allow flashy animation and sound. While they may help brighten your Web site, they will also drastically lengthen the amount of time needed to download it. Although there is much hoopla about DSL and cable broadband, the vast majority of Internet users are still using dial-up Internet service providers. Extensive use of graphics could make your Web site difficult to reach.
The key to building a useful Web site is to identify your organization's core competency and build your Web site around that core so visitors will have fewer things to choose from and fewer choices. Do less, but do it better. The less you do on your Web page, the easier it will be to keep it updated and fresh.
Think about how interactive tools are going to work on the Web site. Will you use a "mailto:" form, a fax server or a CGI script (a small programming application)? How will you manage the communications that will result from your Web prescence? Will someone on staff be responsible for answering email? Who will keep the content up-to-date?
You'll need to make a decision about how you will build and maintain your Web site. Will a staff member or volunteer be responsible, or will you hire a consultant? (See our mini-trainer on Web design for more on this topic.)
Avoid Web centrism, the tendency to focus on your Web site and ignore text-only technologies like email, mailing lists and news groups. Text is still far more popular, and has the advantage of being an active "push" technology. Keep in mind that most people check their email first. Bring people to your Web site with targeted, content-rich email announcements and reminders.
Monitor your email box on a regular basis. People will contact you from your Web site and will expect a quick reply. Create standard reply files for easy email management. Compile a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to reduce the need to respond to common questions. (As people email you with repeat questions, add them to the FAQ.) Periodically revise your Web site so that it addresses the concerns and questions of your audience.
An important aspect of conducting successful activism using the Internet is to integrate email and Web tools to create a comprehensive online campaign. Your organization's Web site should be fully operational to conduct the online activism campaign of your choice. In addition, you should use email outreach and publicity through other Web sites to drive traffic to your Web site activism tools.
Work with other Web sites and portals to publicize your online activism campaign. Web sites such as eActivist, Idealist ,HandsNet, and IGC's Internet Progressive Gateway will be supportive of your efforts and will list you free of charge. Surf the Web periodically to find sites likely to assist you in your campaign.
As we discussed in Part Two, collecting email addresses from your supporters and signing them up to receive your email newsletter is an essential component of your online activism efforts. Your Web site is an important part of this effort. Include your newsletter sign-up form on as many pages of your Web site as possible to make it easy for people to sign up. Keep in mind that some people will find your Web site through search engines and may not even see your Home Page. Make sure that each page has a newsletter sign-up form or a link to the sign-up form.
Think "cross medium" in your effort to publicize your Web site address and any email addresses that are important to your online activism campaign. Your print newsletters, reports, press releases, brochures and business cards should include all of this information. Consider printing up a small flyer or bookmark that you drop into all outgoing mail from your office. We've already mentioned adding this type of information to your email signature files. Add your URL to your voice mail message, particularly on phone numbers used for incoming calls from the general public.
Whenever possible, make your Web site and email references specific to the content. Saying: "Visit our Web site at www.childrensdefense.org " is good. Saying "Sign the online petition to protect access to child care at www.childrensdefense.org " is even better. Get creative!
If you're using email outreach to announce an upcoming campaign and keep supporters informed as the campaign progresses, include a hyperlink to the campaign page on your Web site. This hyperlink is a vital component of your effort to get people involved quickly and with a minimal time commitment. If your goal is to send 250 faxes to a targeted decision maker, or to collect 5,000 names on a Web site petition, keep your supporters informed, and appeal for their support, with a notice on your Web site. Finally, when an online campaign is complete, report back to your supporters on how you made use of their signature or their faxes. Close the activism loop through this feedback.
Here are some examples to show you how much variety there is in the tools activists are using on Web sites.
Fax server sites:
Online petitions:
(We discussed the problems with email petitions in Lesson 2A . Web-based petitions are less problematic, so we've included some examples here.)
Letter sign-ons:
· Planned Parenthood Letter to Support Contraceptive Equity Legislation & Choice. Visit: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/rchoices/lac/ .
· Center for Food Safety Letter to Take Genetically Engineered Bovine Growth Hormone Off the Market. Visit: http://www.foodsafetynow.org/send.asp?cam_id=57 .
· Council for A Livable World Letter to Tell the President to delay a decision on deploying a national missile defense. Visit: http://congress.nw.dc.us/cgi-bin/alertpr_oracle.pl?dir=clw&alert=14 .
Postcards:
Let's think a moment for how your organization could use these Web tools. Which Web tools would be useful for an advocacy campaign supporting a particular bill? How should your organization keep its supporters up-to-date on the campaign's progress and finish?
Relatively new services on the Web are allowing organizations to find and communicate with other organizations and interested people that may be concerned with similar issues. These outreach services are provided through online forums, web-portals, or other outreach services.
Web Forums are areas on the Web where you can post and respond to messages. It's likely that in the future, many businesses, government offices, schools and non-profit organizations will have forums on their Web sites.
Web forums are similar to "usenet" in that both forums and usenet allow users to post and respond to messages. The difference is that Web forums are based on the Web (rather than a separate Internet system like usenet), and are considerably more flexible than usenet(especially with respect to customization, security, and advertising). Web forums are also similar to "chat" in that both forums and chat allow users to gather and interact on the web. The main difference is that forums do not require all participates to be online at the same time.
Since conventional search services are not designed to efficiently index forum discussions, Forum One Communications Corporation has made its Forum One index available to the public at no charge.
Examples of non-profits using open source and shareware tools to create forums:
Example: Environmental Defense Fund http://plaza.edf.org/discussion.nsf/
Example: Multicultural Education Discussion Board http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/multicultural/pavboard/pavboard.html
An example of a site using Web forums:
Alternet'smessage boards provide a number of Web forums on widely varying topics.
Other forms of online forums allow users to connect to discussions about any number of topics related to the site by connecting the user to a newsgroup,allowing them to sign up to listserves, or providing them with chat connections.
Web Portals are services that connect people and organizations to many different networks and Internet resources through one site. They connect any number of organizations around the world through their sites and thus help promote coalitions between organizations that otherwise may have never contacted each other.
Some of these Portals only provide the network links for organizations to utilize. These portals facilitate in the organization and disbursement of information throughout the web.
Other portals are more actively involved in helping organizations make connections and link with others of similar goals an interests. These portals provide search mechanisms and other services that allow organizations to actively search out other groups with similar goals.
Nonprofit organizations can find volunteers online through web services that match volunteers with organizations. Nonprofits can find volunteers in their area or volunteers who want to work at home. Virtual volunteering is work that is done over the internet from a home or work computer. Virtual volunteers give nonprofit groups more freedom in finding help; they are no longer limited to volunteers in the area. See the Virtual Volunteering Project for more information.
Example: http://www.servenet.org
Example: Points of Light Foundation (List of Volunteer Centers by U.S. State)
Example: http://www.idealist.org (Allows prospective volunteers to find you through a search on organizations indexed by subject, date, location, skills, or language)
Also see Web Sites to Find Volunteer Opportunities .
In addition to volunteers, nonprofit organizations can also find paid employees on the internet. Many websites help users find jobs with nonprofit groups and let nonprofit organizations list their job opportunities.
Many Web companies and organizations offer services, like management or research tools, specifically designed to assist nonprofit organizations.
Many nonprofit organizations are interested in improving efficiency within their organization. There are online services that have information on how to manage organizations.
The Internet makes it very easy to do research on almost any topic. Instead of spending hours at the library, people can do research from their home computers. Research about nonprofit organizations can be found online.
There are a number of media sites and online portals that allow organizations to access the information they have in their archives and databases. These include both free and paid sites.
Some sites will provide searchable databases of information that they have collected. Most of these sites are free.
Other sites may offer access to their databases for a fee.
There are many other services available on the world wideWeb for nonprofit organizations. Many other websites have information about different services for nonprofit groups. Some sites allow users to search for specific services.
Here are some additional information sources on the World Wide Web.
Before a webpage can be seen by the public, it needs a Web address. Some Internet companies offer a limited amount of free webspaceand provide users with various tools to begin building their webpages.
Example: http://www.oocities.org
Example: http://www.tripod.com
Non-profit organizations might also consider buying their own domain names. ICANN has a list of accredited companies that help companies and individuals register domain names. Most of the companies charge a yearly fee to reserve a domain, but may also offer a variety of free services, such as free e-mail, technical support, and website forwarding. Compare a few different services to find the one that best suits your organization. See How to Find the Perfect Web Hosting Solution .
Example: http://www.yournamefree.com
Example: http://www.webhosting.com
The main language used on the World Wide Web is HTML. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
HTML is used on the Web for three reasons:
The basics of HTML are relatively simple. The structure of a Web page is:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> Title of Page </TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
Put the body of the page here.
</BODY>
</HTML>
Most HTML commands use two tags, one at the beginning of the tagged text and another at the end:
<TAG>TEXT</TAG>
See HTML 4.0 Elements for a list of all the HTML tags.
Tutorials that teach the basics of HTML are available on the web. See About.com's list of HTML Tutorials, Tips, and Tricks .
Example: HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners
Example: NCSA's Beginner's Guide to HTML
Additional HTML resources:
For a list of common mistakes made on the web, see JakobNielsen's Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design .
The HTML code on a website does not all have to be coded by hand. There are programs that will convert documents of non-HTML file types to HTML. See W3's HTML Converters Page for information and links to different HTML converters.
JavaScript is an optional object-oriented scripting programming language that can be used to change colors or pictures as your mouse moves over something on your Web page, or for interactive menus, or for other tasks. JavaScripts are short programs that allow users to interact with your Web page. Not all browsers are capable of or enabled to run these scripts. Some people turn off this capability for security reasons because malevolent Internet users have found ways to exploit security holes in browsers with JavaScript. The security risk, however, is usually minimal. Do not create a web page with navigation based entirely on JavaScript.
Focusing on content is the easiest way to make a site compelling and accessible to the widest range of users. There are a couple of things to consider in assuring the accessibility of your page to people with varying technology and needs. These are interoperability, internationalization, and accessibility to disabled persons.
· Interoperability merely refers to the need to make the site compatible with different Web browsers and technology. Consider how different web browsers will view your page.
o View your page(s) with different browsers, and even different versions of the same browser, such as Opera, Netscape Navigator, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and AOL's older browser. For more info, see the Best Viewed WithAny Browser Campaign .
Example:
Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer http://www.delorie.com/web/wpbcv.html
o Validation of your page is very important to ensure that any mistakes that might be overlooked in one version of a browser will be caught. For more information, read http://www.wdvl.com/Authoring/HTML/Validation/Why.html .
Examples:
Web Page Validatorhttp://www.Htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/
Web Site Garage http://websitegarage.netscape.com/
Net Mechanic http://www.netmechanic.com
o One method of achieving interoperability is by making multiple pages formatted for each browser, which can be very time and labor intensive.
o An easier method is to limit the use of frames and high-end multimedia, as they're not widely adopted yet. Using fancy, advanced features of web-sites, such as large graphical images, photos, frames, Shock-wave animations, or Java applets, will reduce the number of users who can view your website, and will cause long download times even for those who can view it.
Examples:
o Create good "ALT" tagson your Web site for visitors with images turned off or text-only browsers, or create "text-only" Web pages.
Example: Good Alt Tags at Corporate Watch http://www.corpwatch.org/
o If you can, survey your membershipand watch your logs to understand their technological "level" so you can adapt the technology on your Web site to fit their needs, interests and abilities.
· Internationalization deals primarily with the incorporation of certain standards within the HTML encoding, but is important for translatability of Web sites to different languages. While this can get fairly complicated, there are a few things that you can do for starters. For more in depth reading on this check out:
RFC2070 ("Internationalization of the HyperText Markup Language", F. Yergeau, G. Nicol, G. Adams, and M. Drst, January 1997). http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2070.txt
Weaving the Multilingual Web, 15th international Unicode Conference, Aug 31st http://www.w3.org/Talks/1999/0830-tutorial-unicode-mjd/
o Mark up the primary language of the site. To do this you just insert a Lang attribute into the HTML tag at the begining of your page. Language tagging helps control classification, searching and sorting by search engines, control hyphenation, quotation marks and spacing and allows for accurate voice synthesis by non-visual browsers.
Example: <HTML LANG="en-US">
o Specify any changes in the language for a particular part of your document. This is also important to disabled accessibility as discussed later. To do this you just insert the Lang attribute into the part of the document which changes languages.
Example
<P Lang="ja">
For a full list of language codes see:
http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/bibcodes.html
o There are online tools that can be used to translate the text of your site to other languages if you want. Some of these are paid services, others are provided free of charge. The free ones are mechanical translations and not entirely how we'd say thing if we were actually speaking the second language, so take them with a grain of salt.
Examples:
Weblations' Description of Translation services: http://www.weblations.com/eng/articles/art_1.htm
AltaVista World's Translation services: http://world.altavista.com/
· Accessibility requires that people with varying physical disabilities can utilize a site. This includes making the page compatible with Braille readers, non-visual browsers, and other forms of non-graphical or visual technology. The W3C's paper on accessibility outlines "checkpoints" that can usedto make a site accessible to disabled peoples. These include:
o Providing textual descriptionsof all non-textual content either within the alt tags of the images or separate, redundant textual descriptions. This includes tables that do not convert easily to linear text format.
o Using style sheets to define the format of a document for easier use by text or non-visual browsers. These are called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and are described in more detail at : http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/
o Being aware of the colors used in the page, as high contrast is needed for some with color or seeing disorders. Don't use color alone to relay information.
o Clearly identifying any changes in the languageof the page, as some non-visual readers can shift languages if they are instructed to. See previous Internationalization bullet on how to do this.
o Providing linear text alternativesto any tables that are necessary. Text only and non-visual browsers have a hard time rendering side by side text in tables.
o Avoiding Screen Flickering, Text Blinking, Scrolling, Auto Refreshing or other movement on the page unless you include a method to disable it in a script or applet. Some people with photosensitive disorders may have seizures from screen flickering at rates between 4 and 59 flashes per second!!!
o Providing clear and consistent navigation, with site maps, search abilities, navigation bars, content listings, and clear labels to all links.
o Periodically checking for and fixing broken links, to allow visitors access to the information that they need. The validating tools listed above will check a limited amount of broken links for free -- usually the first 50 links in aabout 5 Web pages. If your Web site is much larger, you can download a cool free program called Xenu's Link Sleuth , which will check up thousands of links throughout an entire website. Download the Link Sleuth at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html .
A much more complete description of disabled accessibility can be obtained at W3C's technical accessibility guidelines at: http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
An easier to follow, slide show based curriculum of the Web accessibility guidelines proposed by the W3C is available at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/
Michael Stein wrote a great article called Focus on Content (reprinted with permission) that provides a brief methodology for creating content driven sites.
Web site promotion and maintenance should be considered as you begin to design your site. In this section, we identify some of the things you need to consider.
Michael Stein presented an excellent outline called Success on the Internet: Creating An Effective Online Presence at a conference in June, 1999 (reprinted with permission).
Password protected Web sites let you limit access to an entire site, or to portions of a site. This configuration can be useful for membership organizations that wish to provide dues-paying members with services or information not available to the general public. It can also be a useful way for an organization's leadership (Board of Directors, steering committee, etc.) to exchange information or discuss strategy.
Set up a page on your site with links to other Web pages relevant to your message. Whenever you provide a link to another site, contact that site's webmaster and ask for a reciprocal link back to your site. Reciprocal links can help drive traffic to your site from other sites, as well as enrich the content that you offer readers since you are pointing them to other relevant information. But keep in mind that these links can also drive traffic away from your site. That it why it's important to ensure that the links are relevant to your message, and to ask for a reciprocal link back to your site.
Key words, page descriptions, expiration dates and other information about your page and site can be "tagged" with html code in the header lines so that they can be located by search engines such as Alta Vista or Infoseek. This will increase the chance of your site being located in a search. See the example below for more information on how to use Meta tags.
Examples: Web Design Group's FAQ (question 26) http://htmlhelp.com/faq/wdgfaq.htm#26
Examples: HTML Meta Tag http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/global.html#h-7.4.4 (Note: this one best used by those familiar with HTML)
Example: NetAction Notes #32 http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes32.html
Example: Jakob Nielsen's Alert Box alert-box.txt
Examples: a few email signature (.sig, pronounced dot-sig) samples
Icons can be very effective in advocacy campaigns, and they may also help drive traffic to your site. The best icons are simple, small, and easily associated with the issue. They can also be integrated with other aspects of your advocacy. For example, the same graphic can be used on bumper stickers or buttons.
Examples: Any Browser Campaign http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/
Examples: NetAction's Fish Campaign http://www.netaction.org/msoft/winfish.html
Graphics can be used to enhance your webpage. However, the overuse of graphics will slow down your website and may distract users from the information on your website. Sites with low graphics are going to be more accessible than sites with high graphics or advanced features like video streaming. See NetAction Notes No. 33 for a discussion of the use of graphics on the web. Organizations can create their own graphics or use graphics from websites that offer free graphics for use on other webpages. Webcom's Index of Icons and Graphics has a list of these sites.
Examples http://www.netaction.org/training/sample-log.html
As you see in reviewing the sample log from Net-Action's Web site, there is a lot of information that can be collected and analyzed. The Internet Service Provider who hosts your Web site may have a uniform way of reporting the statistics on your site, in which case you will have less flexibility about what information you can obtain and analyze.
Monitoring your Web site statistics is useful for a number of reasons. First, it can help you gauge the effectiveness of your Internet outreach. If the statistics tell you that only 150 people have visited your Web site in the last six months, you will probably want to consider other strategies, or possibly reconsider whether maintaining a Web site is the best use of your organization's resources. You can also use the statistics to determine which aspects of your site are attracting interest, and which are not. This could be useful when you consider a redesign of your site, or the addition or deletion of specific information.
Non-profit organizations may also find the Web site statistics helpful in convincing potential funders that your efforts are worthy of their support. For example, you can document the number of signatures on an electronic petition, or the number of faxes sent to a member of Congress from your site's fax server
The Internet provides activist organizations with new ways of communicating with members, recruiting new members, and soliciting contributions. With some exceptions, Internet membership building and fundraising activities will mostly have an incremental effect in the short run, and it is too early to predict what will occur in the long run. Organizations that start now to integrate an online presence into existing activities will be in the best position to capitalize on the technology as it evolves.
Know your organization's mission and understand your members before trying to identify online strategies that enhance your organization's work. Do your members need to know the latest information about AIDS treatment? A daily email newsletter that summarizes developments in AIDS treatment and provides pointers to more detailed reports on the Web might be a useful supplement to your other communications. Does your organization offer a support group for parents of children with diabetes? An email discussion list could supplement the group's weekly meeting.
A free tool is available on the Web for non-profit organizations that need a membership database to track contributions and donor demographics. The tool is ebase, a database template that any nonprofit organization can adopt to its needs. In addition to its database functions, ebase can be used to print envelopes and mailing labels and generate customized merge letters, including personalized email messages to subsets of the organization's membership list. Manuals and online help are also available. The database was developed by Desktop Assistance with support from several foundations.
Copies can be downloaded from the Web at: http://www.ebase.org/
Many organizations are experimenting with cyberspace fundraising. Email solicitations are increasingly popular, especially as year-end appeals. And despite early concerns, these solicitations are not generating widespread complaints about spam. The key is to limit your online soliciting to those individuals who have already expressed an interest in your work, by becoming a member, joining a list service, or participating in an action or event that your organization sponsored.
Many organizations have set up membership forms on their Web sites. These efforts range from "bare bones" efforts that provide a postal address and encourage readers to send in a check, or sophisticated secure servers that enable the donor to use a credit card.
Some groups raise money by online sales of buttons, bumper stickers, T-shirts, publications, or other items. Others offer donors a technology-oriented gift. Examples range from simple items such as mouse pads, to fairly sophisticated screen saver software that the donor can download in exchange for a contribution. Some of the issue-oriented organizations have set up links with Amazon.com, which donations a portion of the book sales to the organizations promoting the books. However, some groups now have concerns aboutAmazon.com's privacy policy. For more information, please visit the Electronic Information Privacy Center (EPIC)'s press release on the matter.
Example:Usingthe Internet for Fundraising http://www.nonprofit-info.org/misc/981027em.html
Example:Takingthe plunge into e-mail fundraising http://www.netaction.org/training/funding.html
Example: Fundraising Online http://www.fundraisingonline.com/index.html
Three different examples of fundraising approaches:
Example: EPIC http://www.epic.org/epic/support.html
Example: CARAL http://www.caral.org/form.membership.html
Example: WomensWork's secure server https://secure.manymedia.com/womenswork/form.html
Security should not be taken lightly on the net, especially when you are trusted with other people's financial information. It is not wise at this time to send your credit card information over the net without using some kind of secure methodology, be it encryption via PGP and/or use of a secure server. Many non-profit organizations house their Web sites on external site hosting providers, while others are in full control of all resources related to their Internet connectivity. Similarly, you may have the capability of implementing electronic commerce software on your server or through your host service provider to offer the security needed for credit card transactions. Alternatively, you may choose an intermediate service such as a trusted third party (such as First Virtual), funds transfer (such as CyberCash), digital cash (as it is), or an outside credit card processing firm to handle your transactions.
There are many different ways that organizations can fundraise on the Internet. Read How Can We Use the Internet for Fundraising? and Netaction Notes Click and give online and Profiting from non-profits for starters
Some websites match people who want to donate money with charities that are trying to raise money. Nonprofit organizations can register with these sites to find potential donors.
example: http://www.helping.org
example: http://www.egrants.org
FundsnetServices is a grants
and fundraising portal.
There are also sites that will do the soliciting of donors for the organizations that are registered with it.
Example: www.charitableway.com solicits donors based on profiles of the organizations that register with them. They take 10% of the donations.
Other sites allow a certain portion of their profits to be donated to non-profit organizations.
Example:www.4charity.com provides an online "Charity Mall" where 5-40% of sales go to the non-profits signed up.
For further information on non-profits and e-commerce, read this article from www.Benton.org
CyberCashis a secure payment technology that facilitates financial transactions between banks, financial institutions, transaction processors, merchants, and consumers. Consumers must first establish an account with CyberCash. Once they have done so, they can make purchases from participating merchants, and CyberCash collects a fee for processing the transaction.
Credit card processing firms, such as creditnet.com , facilitate financial transactions by providing a secure server through which the transaction is processed. This prevents the consumer's financial information from being read by any of the computers it goes through as the data travels from the customer's computer to the credit card company.
A third alternative is to encrypt, or code, the data so that it cannot be read as it travels over the Internet. Here is some background on PGP, one popular encryption technology .
More resources:
All mailing lists (also known as listserves) are managed via email - a form of communication that is inherently insecure. Sending mail via the Internet is like sending a postcard through the post office - given the time and resources, anyone who wants to read your mail can do so. So the tips below will not completely ensure secure and private mailing lists.
One way that you can circumvent some security issues is by using Web-based commercial list services like those discussed in Part 2B . These services often provide all the capabilities of commercial mailing list software - mass emailing, easy subscriptionn and unsubscriptionprocedures - with easier management, better security, and extra options like archival abilities. As noted in Part 2B , however, while these services are usually free there are some drawbacks. The companies that provide them attach short advertisements to the top or bottom of all mailings, and most include terms of use that give the service ownership of the content of your lists. You can find a listing of "community groups" at http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Chats_and_Forums/Mailing_Lists/ .
· Encourage people to use "disposable" email addresses when signing up for your mailing list. (See "Tips for Mailing List Members," #1, below, for information on "disposable" email addresses.) While this policy is impossible to strictly enforce, you can promote it by suggesting it on the mailing list sign-up page of your Web site and other written material that includes information about signing up for your organization's list.
· Hide the list membership when you configure the list. Unless the list administrator explicitly disables the ability for outsiders to view the list membership, anyone on the Internet can view the entire membership of a mailing list with a simple e-mail command.
· If your list is used for announcement purposes rather than open discussion among members, you'll want to configure your list to restrict posting privileges. Allow only staff members or trusted volunteers to post to the list, rather than allowing all subscribers to post. This will help prevent spammers or email harassers from attacking your members.
· If your list is used for open discussion among members, you'll want to configure your list to be moderated (see Part 2B .) Designate a staff member or trusted volunteer to serve as moderator and approve every post before it is sent. This will help prevent spammers or e-mail harassers from attacking your members.
· Use a "disposable" e-mail address when signing up for mailing lists. "Disposable" e-mail addresses minimize the risk in the event an unauthorized person gains access to the list membership.
A good "disposable" e-mail address has two characteristics: strangers cannot easily gain information about the sender merely by looking at the address, and the "disposable" address is separate from a personal or work e-mail address. The e-mail address "audrie@netaction.org," for example, would not make a good "disposable" address, because strangers can easily decipher that the address belongs to someone at NetAction whose first name is Audrie.
Good places to obtain "disposable" e-mail addresses are websites that offer free webmail, such as Yahoo! or Hotmail. You can find a listing of free e-mail sources at Yahoo's listing of free e-mail sources .
The Internet allows users separated by thousands of miles to communicate instantaneously, and the physical distance between users can lead to a false sense of security. In reality, the World Wide Web is highly insecure. If you want to see exactly how much information can be obtained about you and your computer when you visit a Web site, take the test at http://www.privacy.net/analyze/ .
Internet "cookies" are text files that Web sites place on the hard drive of your computer when you visit the site. Some people don't like having their online movements tracked, and view cookies as a threat to their privacy. Other people aren't troubled by cookies. Whether or not you like having your movements tracked on the Internet, cookies were created for legitimate business purposes. Online shopping sites, for example, use cookies to "remember" which items you have placed in your "shopping cart."
How dangerous are cookies? Cookies are simple text files, so they cannot transmit viruses or cause any other damage to your computer's hard drive or to your data. But there are good reasons to be concerned about your privacy. Both Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer, the two most popular Web browsers, contain several potential major security holes related to cookies. For example,one privacy monitoring Web site ( http://privacy.net/ ) discovered a bug in both Netscape and Internet Explorer that allows any Web site to download all cookies on a user's computer. Though the bug occurs in only one out of thousand computers, it allows Web sites to obtain e-mail addresses, passwords, and other sensitive information from affected browsers. (For more information on this bug, see http://privacy.net/cookiebug/ .
· Give your Web browser a free upgrade to the latest version, which should include a patch that fixes cookie-related security bugs like the one described above. You can update Netscape at http://home.netscape.com/ and Internet Explorer at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ .
· If you want to know how often Web sites place cookies on your computer, set your Web browser's preferences to alert you when sites are about to place cookies on your computer, and then visit some of your favorite Web sites. Most browsers have three options for cookie notification:
In Netscape, you will find these options under Edit --> Preferences --> Advanced. In Internet Exploorer, go to Tools --> Internet Options --> Security", click on the buttton that says Custom Level and scroll down to the section entitled Cookies.
Since many cookies are harmless, and popular websites such as Hotmail and Amazon.com utilize them in many transactions, you may not want to deny all cookies. The second option - asking your browser to inform you when a website presents you with a cookie - affords you the option to deny a cookie from websites that you may not trust.
SSL is an Internet standard that provides for the safe transfer of personal information, such as a credit card number, over the Internet. It does this through encryption, a process that scrambles the information you type on a Web page into a code that can only be read by someone with the specific key to unlock that code. When directed to a Web page using SSL, your browser will automatically encrypt all information that you submit to the Web site. Any time you are asked to provide sensitive personal information on a Web site - such as your credit card numberss or home address - you should use a secure Web site, as explained below.
Any Web site that asks you for information should explain its privacy policy and tell you up front what it intends to do with that information. A good privacy policy will tell you exactly what information the Web site collects from visitors, as well as how that information will be used. For example, if the Web site includes a mailing list sign-up form, the policy should disclose whether your address will be shared with other Web site operators without your permission.
Examples of robust privacy policies include:
When not referring to the canned pinkish meat, "spam" refers to the mass mailing of unsolicited e-mail. ("Spam" also refers to the unsolicited or junk e-mail itself.) Like traditional junk mail sent through the post office, spam is annoying and wasteful, and at times deceitful or offensive. Examples of spam include e-mail advertisements for consumer products, pornographic material, and get-rich-quick scams. Internet hoaxes, the virtual equivalent of urban legends, are another form of spam, as is unsolicited political e-mail.
Spam is wasteful for several reasons. E-mail users across the world waste time downloading, reading, and deleting unwanted e-mail. Furthermore, spammers (the people who send spam) usually target large groups of e-mail users, adding significant stress to mail servers, the computers operated by Internet service providers to send and deliver their customers' e-mail. In the worst cases, spam can completely overwhelm a mail server, causing it to shut down and preventing the ISP's customers from sending or receiving any e-mail.
Sometimes it can be hard to determine whether a particular email message is spam or is useful, wanted information posted to a mailing list for outreach purposes. If you manage a mailing list for your organization or your own personal activism, use the tips below to make sure that you don't alienate your subscribers by sending them spam.
· Don't send out unsolicited mass e-mailings, or subscribe people to mailing lists without their permission.
· Never post action alerts to email discussion lists or news groups on unrelated issues. If your action alert is about clean air, you're likely to get flamed if you send it to a discussion list focused on free speech.
· If you want to create your own mailing list, start by sending a message to appropriate discussion lists and newsgroups, announcing the new list and inviting people to subscribe. "Appropriate" means the topic of the discussion list or news group is related to the issue you address in your message. Be as specific as possible about the topic and how the list will operate. Will it be an unmoderated discussion list, or a moderated announcement list? Will there be several postings daily, or one posting every few weeks?
· As explained in Part 2B , avoid using the "To" and "Cc" fields when sending messages. Put your own e-mail address in the "To:" field and use the "Bcc" field for all the other addresses.
· When you receive spam, do NOT reply to the sender and ask to be taken off of the list - even if the mailing instructs you to do so. Often spammers will take the e-mail address of the people who reply to spam mailings and add them to other spam lists.
· Use a "disposable" e-mail address when registering with websites. (See the section on mailing list privacy issues for more information on "disposable" e-mail addresses.)
Further steps to combating spam include reporting spammers to their ISPs, who will often take action against them by shutting down their accounts. Visit the Network Abuse Clearinghouse for more information on how to report spammers.
Copyright laws apply to material published on the World Wide Web just as with books, articles, CDs, and videos. But many Web pages lack explicit copyright notices that inform visitors of what may or may not be downloaded or posted elsewhere, for public or private use.
When creating a Web site containing original material, it's a good idea to post a copyright policy in an easily noticeable spot. An example of an extensive copyright policy can be found at http://www.mlanet.org/copyright.html .
The "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" was enacted in October 1998 specifically to address Internet copyright issues. For more information on the DMCA, please visit the Association of Research Libraries' analysis of the bill at http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/dmca.html .
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all original content on a Web site is copyrighted to the creator or owner of that Web site. If you would like to use content, text, or graphics from someone else's website, both common courtesy and the law dictate that you must first obtain that author's permission.
Web page addresses are merely links and cannot be copyrighted. However, a collection of links that an author compiled may be copyrightable, since it would be the author's original collection.
Because of the nature of the Web, it is not always easy to determine exactly what content on a Web site is subject to copyright laws. For some practical tips for dealing with copyrights on the Web, visit The Copyright Website: The WWW, at http://www.benedict.com/digital/www/webiss.htm .
For more information on copyrights and the World Wide Web, see the following sites:
Censorship is a complicated issue that divides some progressive groups that generally agree on other issues. Free speech advocates like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) have opposed any limitations on Internet speech, but other organizations worry that acts of violence may be promoted if there are no restrictions at all on hate speech. Planned Parenthood, for example, won a $109 million judgment against the authors of the "Nuremberg Files" Web site, arguing that the site incited visitors to conduct acts of violence against individual abortion providers. (See Planned Parenthood's press release and an alternative view on free speech .
The proliferation of pornography, hate speech, and other offensive content, as well as the potential threat of Internet predators, raises concerns among parents about what their children view online. Some parents use filtering software such as NetNannyand CyberSitterto block access to Web sites they consider inappropriate for their children, or simply offensive.
But filtering software can also inadvertently block useful Web sites. Most filtering software look for "keywords" when blocking specific Web pages. Yet Web sites that support breast cancer research, for example, may be blocked because they contain the word "breast."
For more information on the capabilities of filtering software and reviews of the most popular brands, visit PC Magazine's 1998 Utility Guide: Parental Filtering Utilities . For more information on the problems with filtering software, visit Peacefire.
Militancy-a no-no!
The use of violence by protestors gives the government the excuse to arrest, abuses and control the activists. It is even more counter-productive when it involves acts of criminal activity such as property damage or assaults because it portrays the activists as criminals, thereby having their cause dismissed by the otherwise supportive average citizen.
Violence breeds violence, and it is counter-productive for use by First Nation Activists. The use of military weapons, camouflage, masks and the like, although it might seem to fit the warrior stereotype, have rarely led to positive results in dealing with first nations issues.
You have to keep in mind that the government has the military might and resolve to put down any criminal activity by first nation peoples, in fact, they actually welcome the chance to try out their toys on these unwanted citizens, and we only have to look back at OKA or Burnt Church to see how quickly the government will put the hammer down.
If you look to the USA, you will see the direction that Canada is heading: We had our OKAand Burnt Church and it is highly probable that we will have our Waco and Wounded Knee.
Non-Violence Civil Disobedience
1. Non-Violence
2. Non-violence doesn't just mean not doing violence, it's also a way of taking positive action to resist oppression or bring about change.
3. "The essence of non-violent technique is that it seeks to liquidate antagonisms but not the antagonists." Gandhi
4. The aim of non-violent conflict is to convert your opponent; to win over their mind and heart and pursuade them that your point of view is right. An important element is often to make sure that the opponent is given a face-saving way of changing their mind. Non-violent protest seeks a 'win-win' solution whenever possible.
5. In non-violent conflict the participant does not want to make their opponent suffer; instead they show that they are willing to suffer themselves in order to bring about change.
6. Non-violence has great appeal because it removes the illogicality of trying to make the world a less violent and more just place, by using violence as a tool.
7. Among the techniques of non-violent protest are:
8. peaceful demonstrations
9. sit-ins
10. picketing
11. holding vigils
12. fasting and hunger strikes
13. strikes
14. blockades
15. civil disobedience
16. Ghandi
One of the most famous leaders of a non-violent movement was Mohandas K.
Gandhi (1869-1948), who opposed British imperial rule in India during the
20th century.
17. Ghandi took the religious principle of ahimsa (doing no harm) common to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism and turned it into a non-violent tool for mass action. He used it to fight not only colonial rule but social evils such as racial discrimination and untouchabilityas well.
18. Gandhi called it "satyagraha" which means "truth force." In this doctrine the aim of any non-violent conflict was to convert the opponent; to win over his mind and his heart and pursuade him to your point of view.
19. Ghandi was firm that satyagrahawas not a weapon of the weak - "Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatever; and it always insists upon truth."
20. Ghandi did not think that non-violence was a tool for those who were too scared to take up arms (an accusation that was sometimes made):
21. "My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. I can no more preach non-violence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes." Ghandi, Young India, 28 May 1924
22. Non-violence in Ghandi'sthinking was a tool that anyone could (and should) use, and it was based on strongly religious thinking:
23. "Non-violence is a power which can be wielded equally by all - children,
young men and women or grown-up people, provided they have a living faith
in the God of Love and have therefore equal love for all mankind. When non-violence
is accepted as the law of life, it must pervade the whole being and not be
applied to isolated acts."
Ghandi,Harijan,
5 September 1936
24. "Non-violence is an active force of the highest order. It is soul force
or the power of Godhead within us."
Ghandi,Harijan,
12 November 1935
25. Non-violence: an example
You can get a clear understanding of what's involved in non-violence by
looking at the instructions that Gandhi gave to followers of his satyagraha
movement in India.
26. A satyagrahi, i.e., a civil resister, will harbour no anger.
27. He will suffer the anger of the opponent.
28. In so doing he will put up with assaults from the opponent, never retaliate; but he will not submit, out of fear of punishment or the like, to any order given in anger.
29. When any person in authority seeks to arrest a civil resister, he will voluntarily submit to the arrest, and he will not resist the attachment or removal of his own property, if any, when it is sought to be confiscated by authorities.
30. If a civil resister has any property in his possession as a trustee, he will refuse to surrender it, even though in defending it he might lose his life. He will, however, never retaliate.
31. Non-retaliation excludes swearing and cursing.
32. Therefore a civil resister will never insult his opponent, and therefore also not take part in many of the newly coined cries which are contrary to the spirit of ahimsa.
33. A civil resister will not salute the Union Jack, nor will he insult it or officials, English or Indian.
34. In the course of the struggle if anyone insults an official or commits an assault upon him, a civil resister will protect such official or officials from the insult or attack even at the risk of his life.
Additional Tips:
· Draft a vision/mission statement. This may seem redundant or unnecessary, but a vision statement is crucial for you and your organization. How would you summarize your organization's purpose in two sentences or less? You can print the statement on fliers, use it to unify your volunteers, and quote it for people who ask about your organization.
· Draft your own vision statement. What is your purpose and why are you involved? Why are you an activist? Your personal vision statement might be different from your organization's statement, and that's OK.
· Hold a retreat for your organization's leadership. It could be as short as a few hours, or as a long as a weekend. Discuss your vision statement, and formulate a list of 3-6 general goals that will help fulfill your mission. Prioritize these goals, and then draft a list of actions for each goal. You might want to share your individual vision statements as well.
· Print up a chart/outline listing your organization's mission, goals, and planned actions. Keep this in a handy place where you can refer to it. A few months down the road, have your leadership team do a reassessment. How are you progressing toward your goals? Can you check off some of the actions?
· Take initiative at the individual level. Most of the time, someone just needs to step up to the plate and swing the bat to get things moving. Sometimes people just need to see someone else doing something to realize how much a particular issue needs to be addressed in a community.
· Don't be afraid to ask others outside your organization to help you and don't avoid recruiting people whom you don't normally think of as "activist" types. You'd be amazed at who will join a cause!
· Recruit high school and college students to help your organization. Students are a great resource you can tap into. Local student organizations might be willing to let you speak at one of their meetings about volunteer opportunities. Students in public relations often need advertising campaigns to practice on ó you could find your organization some capable assistance.
· Be bullheaded about what you are doing and be persistent. Just because one door has been slammed in your face, does not mean that another one won't open.
· Bring a sense of joy to the world. Bring energy and happiness to what you are doing, whether it's an internal strategy session, a mail-stuffing party, or a news conference. Don't be all business and no fun when you run a meeting.
· Remember why you do what you do. Do not allow unfavorable circumstances to blow the wind out of your sails. Know what you are for, not just what you are against. Focus on your goals and not your opposition.
· Keep working toward your goals and keep things moving within your organization, even in the face of opposition or defeat. It's like piling up little pebbles of sand ó you may only be able to add one handful of sand at a time, but eventually you will fill up the box.
· Work on structural issues within your organization and keep your structure fluid. Build a structure that allows people to step in and pick up the vision that you started.
· Delegate responsibility whenever you can. This allows others in the organization to assume some responsibility and splits the work load. Don't be afraid to delegate both large and small tasks.
· Never ask someone else to do something that you are not willing to do yourself, when you delegate something. You should never communicate to a volunteer that you are dumping an unwanted or exceptionally onerous task onto her/him just because you don't want to do it.
· Explain things clearly. You may need to take some time to explain a particular task to a volunteer. At times, it may seem easier to do the task yourself than to explain it to a novice, but resist the temptation. A volunteer will remember your attitude, and will remember the time you spent patiently explaining something.
· Communicate to your volunteers/assistants that you trust them, and tactfully check on the completion of a delegated task. Ask people how things are going, and tell them that you appreciate their hard work and effort.
· Take time to get to know your volunteers and invest in individuals. Find out who your volunteers are and why they are helping your organization. People often need to forge personal connections within organizations.
· Focus on empowering people. Without individual ownership of the vision, you can not build an organization with strong grass-roots based support. Focus on giving individuals ownership of the organization and its purpose.
· Give individuals within your organization room to be different and understand that they are not all there for the same reasons. There might be multiple ways of doing things, and individuals might join your cause for different motives than your own.
· Facilitate people within the organization getting to know each other. You could informally suggest everyone go out for something to eat after a strategy session, use a 5-minute icebreaker to start a meeting, or pass out coffee club/lunch bunch cards to encourage people to get to know each other.
· Be willing to listen to people within your organization and be accessible to them. Maybe a volunteer just needs to check in with you and wants to update you on her/his progress. Is there a problem that someone needs to tell you about?
· Watch for the good things. So often we tend to focus on the things that go wrong that we forget to notice the things that go well. Rejoice in the small victories that happen everyday. You might even want to keep a log book of accomplishments. Did you meet a fundraising goal? Mail information to voters? Have a good talk with a local politician?
· Listen to your opposition. What are they saying and why are they saying it? Do you share areas of common interest with them? Is your opposition consistent? Do they have points of disagreement within their organization?
· Formulate a rational point-by-point response to your opposition's arguments. Don't just rely on your emotions for your response. Think before your speak. Do research and don't make charges without evidence to back them up.
· Designate a spokesperson to officially speak to the media for your organization. Carefully draft all news releases and policy statements and inform your volunteers about news release policies.
· Don't fight with the media over minor misquotes. If a reporter misquotes you, just let it go. You'll get better coverage down the road if you don't rankle a reporter and her/his editor.
· Build concentric circles. Word of mouth can be both a powerful and a detrimental public relations and recruitment tool. Talk to a lot of people about your ideas and encourage others in your organization to do the same.
Conclusion:
As you can see! There are many routes an activist can take, be it from his/ her home, on the streets, in the courts, or on the world stage. The routes one can take depend on individual people and their circumstances, but, the key is that everything is thought-out and analyzed before action is taken
Gray Wolf
-->-->-->-->Basic Introduction to Civil Disobedience
INTRODUCTION
This introduction was created as a response to the increasing occurrence
of civil disobedience in Canada . The discussion of civil disobedience in
the handbook is based on a hypothetical situation, which has been replayed
in many forests of British Columbia and other parts of Canada:
1.
A forest company has a license from the provincial government to log a
particular valley or area.
2.
Environmental groups oppose the logging, and resolve to use physical means
to prevent the logging.
3.
They create a human blockade by standing on the logging road in front of
any logging trucks.
4.
In response, the forest company goes to court and gets an injunction against
the blockade.
5.
The protesters either leave voluntarily or decide to remain as an act of
civil disobedience.
6.
Those that remain are arrested for violating the injunction.
7.
The protesters are brought before the court to answer allegations of contempt
of court, and tried in front of a judge.
8.
Based upon the evidence before it, the court decides whether to convict
the protesters of civil or criminal contempt.
9.
The forest company may choose to sue the protesters for damages resulting
from the blockade.
10.
The information in this handbook covers the last six steps in the dispute,
attempting to highlight the legal basis of each step and the possible consequences
of various actions.
11. The handbook is designed to ensure that environmental protesters who
are considering participating in acts of civil disobedience are fully informed
of the potential consequences of their acts, and of the legal distinctions
between various courses of action.
DEFINING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Civil disobedience can be defined as deliberate disobedience of the law
out of obedience to a higher authority such as religion, morality or an environmentalist
ethic. Civil disobedience has existed in various forms for as long as people
have lived in organized societies governed by the rule of law. Its primary
purpose is usually to change the law or society's views on a particular issue.
It is a public action intended to have a political effect.
Civil disobedience can be defined by certain criteria:
it is employed only after other means have failed
it is non-violent
it is undertaken openly
its participants are willing to submit to prosecution and punishment for
breaking the law
it is aimed at publicizing and challenging injustice
it is not employed for coercive or intimidating reasons
Civil disobedience is seen as morally justifiable if it contributes to the social good and is performed by someone who is well intentioned and well informed. Reasoned and thoughtful resistance through civil disobedience can often serve as a check on the political system and prevent serious departures from justice.
The fact that one can engage in principled disobedience of the law is generally
a sign of a nearly just society, for in an unjust society, dissenting voices
may be simply crushed. In a relatively just society, the use of civil disobedience
can be an effective and morally justifiable way to change laws or government
policies.
THE HISTORY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
The literature on civil disobedience is vast. Socrates wrote extensively
on thecitizen';s obligation to obey just laws. The Socratic principle is often
referred to as the"persuade or obey" doctrine: a citizen must either persuade
the government that the law should be changed, or obey the law as it is written.
[1] According to the Socratic principle, only just laws are deemed worthy
of compliance, otherwise the citizen has a duty to obey a higher authority.
Disobedience of the law is justified by appealing to the principle of necessity.
Henry Thoreau wrote extensively on civil disobedience in the nineteenth century. His view was that people should be"menfirst, and subjects afterwards." [2] Thoreau was opposed to such social evils as slavery and war, and refused to pay taxes to governments that supported such wrongs. "Under the name of Order and Good Government," he wrote,"we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness." [3] Civil disobedience is distinguished from merely breaking the law by the attempt to be 'civil' and adhere to the criteria listed above.
By participating in civil disobedience, however, there should be no doubt that one is breaking the law. Chief Justice McEachern of the British Columbia Court of Appeal wrote that Civil disobedience is a philosophical, not a legal principle. ... Even philosophers agree that those who disobey any law, by civil disobedience or otherwise, must expect to be punished according to law.
Civil disobedience is not a defence to any wilful breach of the law. [4]
In modern times, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have entrenched the concept of non violence within civil disobedience. However, many violent displays have occurred, such as the Black Panthers' protests against racial oppression.
It is questionable whether or not these acts are truly in the spirit of civil disobedience. In the environmental context, groups such as Earth First or The Sea Shepherd Society serve as examples of the extreme in civil disobedience.
These groups are generally recognized as aggressively passionate"eco-warriors".
They believe that active resistance is necessary to bring quick focus and
needed change to human activities which pose ecological threats.
STEP 1: THE INJUNCTION
An injunction is a legal remedy granted by a court to prevent interference with the legal rights of a person, a company or the government. A forest company facing a blockade can seek an injunction by going to court on the basis of a claim of interference with its right to log an area. That is, the company might sue the individuals or the environmental group for interference with the company's"economic relations."
Because the court will not usually make a decision on the legal claim immediately, the company will seek interim measures to protect it before trial.
The principal interim measure in this context is an injunction.
The injunction is designed to prevent greater damage to the forest company's rights in the period between when the lawsuit (based on, for example, economic interference) is begun and when it is decided.
Injunctions are commonly issued against certain named people, and"all others having knowledge of" the injunction.
The injunction might prohibit those people from blocking access to a certain road or bridge.
An injunction can be issued by a court on the application of one party (the forest company) without the other party (the environmental group) being present (an ex parte injunction).
Injunctions can vary in their duration. Interim injunctions are usually in place for only periods of time, although those periods may be indefinite. Interlocutory injunctions usually remain in effect until the trial on the substantive claim brought by the company.
Alternatively, an injunction may be permanent, for example to prohibit people from preventing access to an abortion clinic.
Generally, an injunction is issued to enforce a private right, for example the right of a forest company to log a valley.
However, an injunction may also be issued by the court at the request of the provincial Ministry of Forests or Attorney General, to protect the public interest.
The"public interest" is generally defined as"the public's interest in seeing
the law obeyed."
Contesting an injunction
A court will not issue an injunction against protest activity without an application by the forest company.
The company will typically file a "writ of summons" to begin the lawsuit, usually alleging economic interference.
After the writ is filed and served on the opposing party (the environmental group named in the writ), the opposing party has seven days to file an"appearance".
An appearance is a fairly simple document which indicates to the court that the group intends to contest the claim of the forest company.
If no appearance is filed, the forest company can file for "default judgment" and request a permanent injunction as a remedy.
If an appearance has been filed, the company may still apply for an injunction, but only an"interlocutory" injunction, that is, one which will be in place until the trial.
The company does this by filing a"notice of motion" with the court. Unless the court has been convinced that the situation is urgent or that no notice is necessary, 48 hours notice must be served on the group that would be affected by the injunction.
This service must include copies of any affidavits which the injunction application will rely upon. [5]
Thus there are two periods of time in which to stop an injunction: in the
seven days after the writ is filed, and in the two days after the notice of
motion is filed for an injunction.
The test for issuing an injunction
If the appearance is not filed and the forest company applies for an injunction, the group can oppose the application.
In order to get the injunction, the company must establish facts about the protest which support its claim that the protesters are acting illegally.
An environmental group can contest the application by providing sworn
statements which state the group's version of the facts related to the protest.
A court will only issue an injunction if it is a"justand equitable" remedy
in the situation.
There are three stages to the test which the court must consider before issuing an injunction against a protest:
1.
Is there a "fair question to be tried?" The forest company must prove that
its lawsuit is not"frivolous or vexatious." The lawsuit may be considered
frivolous if it is simply a false front for the application for an injunction,
while the initial lawsuit itself will not be pursued. The court may also consider
who would be likely to win, on the evidence before it, when the case goes
to trial.
2.
The forest company must convince the court that it faces" irreparable harm
" should the protests continue. This is usually defined as cases where the
act complained of would put the plaintiff out of business, deprive him of
his livelihood, or cause irrevocable damage to reputation or professional
standing. However, sometimes the court will also consider whether the defendants
are capable of financially compensating the forest company for lost business,
should it win at trial. [6]
3. The court will consider whether the "balance of convenience" favours the granting of an injunction. The court must be satisfied that it would not do more harm by issuing the injunction than it would by declining the injunction.
Essentially, the test in Canada is to look at the possible results of the
lawsuit.
If it would be adequate to grant the forest company a monetary award
("damages") after the lawsuit, then an injunction is unnecessary. Damages
are considered inadequate where the harm done by protesters would be irreparable,
the company would be unable to recover any money from the protesters, or where
keeping people working is considered more valuable than allowing a protest.
It may be that Charter arguments could be used to challenge an injunction
application by a company. Charter arguments would"trump" the balance of convenience
test, which usually favoursthe company.
For information on possible Charter arguments which could be used
to contest the injunction, contact the ELC or visit our website for a copy
of "Contesting the Environmental Injunction: Five Charter Arguments."
After the injunction has been issued
Once the injunction has been issued, any affected individual or group can
apply to have it"rescinded, suspended or varied." [7]
The applicant needs to show that the test above was wrongly applied by the court. If the court granted the injunction in the absence of the environmental group ( ex parte ), then the group may also argue that the forest company did not reveal all of the facts to the court when it applied for the injunction.
It should be noted that once someone has been charged with violating an
injunction, s/he is severely constrained from attacking the validity of the
injunction. This is referred to as the"rule against collateral attack."
STEP 2: CONTINUING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE DESPITE THE INJUNCTION
The best opportunity for preventing logging is at the stage of
the injunction. Once it is issued and upheld by the court, the injunction
makes it illegal for anyone to engage in the prohibited actions.
Assuming that it is prohibited by the injunction, blocking a logging
road at this point in the scenario may amount to civil disobedience, and contempt
of court.
Once the injunction has issued, the applicant (the forest company) is responsible
for providing copies or somehow notifying the protesters of its contents.
If the civil disobedience continues despite the injunction, then the forest
company may request the police to become involved.
The standard police practice in these situations is to seek an enforcement
order from the court, allowing them to detain violators of the injunction.
Once this is granted, the police will go to the blockade and read out the
injunction. Protesters refusing to leave after the injunction has been read
once more are then arrested.
Upon arrest, everyone has the right to be informed of the reasons for the
arrest, and to retain and instruct counsel without delay, and to be informed
of that right. [8] As well, anyone charged has the right to be informed without
delay of the specific offence or offences alleged. [9]
Once arrested, protesters are detained until they can be brought before
a judge, who determines how much bail will be required and when the trial
will take place.
During this interval, which may be as long as a week-end, protesters are
often fingerprinted and photographed by the police. It is interesting to note
that the British Columbia Court of Appeal is of the opinion that allegations
of criminal contempt alone are not sufficient to warrant fingerprinting or
photographing. [10] The practice has not been put to the test in a formal
legal challenge however.
STEP 3A: ARREST FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT
Contempt of court is a unique, unwritten offence that predates
Canada's Criminal Code .[11] While it is difficult to define contempt precisely,
it generally comprises any conduct that brings"the authority and administration
of law into disrespect" or"interfereswith the due course of justice or process
of the court." [12]
This definition points to two major characteristics of contempt.
First of all, contempt is quite a vague term. Applying it to specific behaviour involves a considerable degree of discretion on the part of the courts.
Secondly, courts have tended to view contempt with special concern,
as a serious offence that directly challenges their power and authority. As
one judge stated, "everyone will recognize the importance of maintaining the
authority of the courts in restraining and punishing interferences with the
administration of justice." [13]
The seriousness of contempt means that judges believe that it is essential
that they have broad powers to punish those in contempt of court. According
to one commentator,"the punishment of contempt is the basis of all legal procedure."
[14]
The power to punish for contempt is taken to be integral to maintaining
the rule of law. Thus, courts have allowed themselves a considerable degree
of discretion when it comes to dealing with contemptuous conduct.
Types of contempt of court
Contempt of court can be divided into two types of categories: direct versus
indirect, and civil versus criminal.
Direct contempt of court refers to those acts which occur in or near a court, and directly interfere with its proceedings.
This type of contempt is not of concern here. Indirect contempt is where
the disobedience occurs away from the court, often involving a refusal to
follow an order of the court. Indirect contempt is most relevant to environmental
protesters faced with an injunction.
Indirect contempt is further divided between civil and criminal contempt
of court.
Contrary to popular belief, the distinction between civil and criminal contempt is not made on the grounds that civil contempt arises out of disputes between private parties, while criminal contempt involves criminal acts punishable by penal sanctions.
In fact, civil contempt can end in imprisonment, and criminal contempt can arise out of private actions.
Rather, the distinction rests upon the consequences of the contempt.
Specifically, contempt is viewed as criminal when it tends to depreciate the
authority of the court in the mind of the public.
It is often a surprise to people that, even when the origin of the court
proceedings were civil (a lawsuit for economic interference between an environmental
group and a forest company, for example, is a civil action), this has no bearing
on whether the contempt charges will be civil or criminal.
Even a peaceful protest over a civil matter can give rise to a finding
of criminal contempt if the judge is convinced that the public defiance of
the injunction has reduced the authority of the court.
The distinction between civil and criminal contempt hinges on whether or
not the conduct in question goes beyond a private dispute between two parties
and enters the realm of public interest.
Civil contempt is disobedience of an order of the court. Criminal contempt is when the disobedience in question diminishes public respect for the justice system, and in particular, the court.
Actions subject to a finding of criminal contempt are viewed as attacking
the court itself. In such cases, the court seeks to enforce the order and
also to restore the court's dignity by punishing the protester.
STEP 3B: CRIMINAL CONTEMPT OF COURT
Distinguishing criminal from civil contempt of court is not easy.
In order for someone to be convicted of criminal contempt, two factors must
be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. First, it must be shown that the accused
intended, or should have foreseen, that his or her disobedience of the court
order tends to "depreciate the authority of the court".
This principle is based on a fear that, by disobeying the court's order, the accused is encouraging others to do the same.
A society ruled by law relies on voluntary compliance with the law,
so it is important to society as well as the court that its orders are followed.
Beyond the fact that someone is not following a court order, judges are
generally reluctant to consider the reasons behind the disobedience.
Judges cannot normally allow people to disobey the law based on their own personal moral standards.
Contempt is a flexible offence, however, and the degree of moral justification
can affect a court's ruling. This subject is discussed in greater detail below.
The second factor in proving criminal contempt has three parts. The accused
must have disobeyed the injunction in a public, flagrant, and continuous way
"Public" is the most crucial of the three criteria. There have been several
recent cases where disobedience of the court was both"flagrant" and "continuous,"
but fell short of criminal contempt because the conduct wasn't considered
public
In determining the public degree of the protest, the judge is often concerned
with who was there, other than those who were arrested.
Certainly it is enough that members of the media were present. However,
where media are not invited, or the protest is aimed at a local audience rather
than a provincial or national audience, the court may still find that it
was public.
It may be enough that police or protesters who chose not to be arrested
were present at the time
Some judges may see all protests as attempts to gain public sympathy for
a cause, and thus those judges may consider all protesters' defiance of the
court "public." Publicity is therefore a double-edged sword for the protester.
On one hand, the publicity of the protest may make it more effective in terms of persuading people of the justice of the cause.
On the other hand, the publicity of the defiance is a strong indicator
of criminal contempt.
The one element that may reduce the backlash of an effective publicity
campaign is the elimination of unnecessary criminal activity.
Public defiance may be seen as inevitable, but reducing the extent to which the court feels specifically targeted by the public element of the defiance has been found to lesser criminality in some cases.
"Flagrant" has been interpreted in several ways. Most often, it means that the actions of the protesters amounted to an insult to the administration of justice.
Judges consider whether or not the conduct was deliberate, done in an inflammatory way, whether the protesters were given the opportunity to avoid arrest, and whether they amassed in large numbers for the purpose of intimidating the police.
Protesters who state without apology their determined defiance of
the court are more likely to be seen as acting flagrantly.
The more physical force the police have to use to remove a blockade, the
greater the implied intent of the protesters to resist arrest, and the greater
the flagrancy. The police have a duty to arrest those violating an injunction,
so resisting arrest has little moral value. The original act of blocking the
road thus loses some of its moral value by being contaminated by the intention
to resist arrest. A court may decide that protesters who resist arrest are
showing contempt for both the forest company and the administration of justice.
"Continuous" is the least definite of the three criteria. The court has
said that continuous is"equivalent to something more than momentary or trivial."
Continuous contempt could thus include defying an injunction for only a few minutes, depending on the circumstances.
If the only reason why a blockade or protest ends is due to police intervention, then the court will find that it was continuous - no matter how short-lived it may have been.
A blockade which is designed to be an extended affair, with many
protesters, support groups, and a physical blockade will almost certainly
be considered continuous.
Further factors distinguishing civil from criminal contempt
As can be seen, there are major obstacles to a campaign of civil disobedience
that seeks to avoid criminal sanctions.
There is no legal loophole or special strategy for conducting a campaign that protects both the environment from threats and the protesters from criminal liability; it is likely to follow any extremely effective campaign of civil disobedience.
That said, there have been exceptions.
Two cases from the Kootenay region of British Columbia, involving the Valhalla
Wilderness Society and the Perry Ridge Water Users Association, are exceptions
to the general rule.
In these cases, despite the elements of publicity, flagrancy and continuity,
environmental protesters were convicted only of civil contempt.
The facts of these cases make the court's reluctance to label the actions
criminal contempt understandable. Although the protests garnered extensive
media coverage and involved hundreds of people, the protesters were polite
and non-confrontational, and took pains to apologize for defying the court
order.
There was also a high level of local support for the environmentalists, and those that were arrested spoke eloquently in their own defence.
Mr. Justice McEwan, the judge in both cases, made this statement
in his judgment:
In this case each of the contemnors spoke. They are all highly educated,
accomplished and impressive individuals. They do not seem to be naive or unsophisticated.
They all professed no disrespect toward the Court. [22]
Although the judge found the protesters guilty only of civil contempt,
he did impose a penal sanction on the protesters.
The sentence was a suspended seven-day jail term. That is, the protesters would not go to jail unless they defied the injunction again, or got arrested for some other offence.
Despite the threat of imprisonment, the sentence was significantly
lighter than the 45 - 60 day jail terms imposed in some many criminal contempt
cases.
It is important to note that in these cases, due to some evidentiary problems,
crown counsel did not intervene, and the plaintiff's counsel did not ask for
a finding of criminal contempt by the court.
This was unusual for contempt proceedings, and was cited as a factor by the court when it made its finding of civil contempt. Thus, these cases may be less significant than they first appear.
However, it remains the case that the court had the power on its own to make a finding of criminal contempt, and did not.
It may be therefore, that another court in a similar position will, if
faced with similar facts, follow the findings of Mr. Justice McEwan and impose
a civil rather than a criminal penalty.
To summarize, the main aspects of the Kootenay cases which supported the
judge in convicting the protesters for civil rather than criminal contempt
were:
The peaceful nature of the protest.
The restraint and cooperation of the protesters when the police arrived.
The politeness of the protesters to the police, opponents, and the court.
The eloquence in court of those charged with contempt.
The protester's apologies to the court for having to violate the injunction.
The fact that no one was seeking a finding of criminal contempt.
Incorporating these first five factors into an environmental protest is
no guarantee that the protesters will be found guilty of only civil contempt.
However, it may help the court, in some cases, to make a finding of civil rather than criminal contempt.
For these reasons, as well as factors involved in sentencing (not to mention
obvious non-legal considerations), environmentalists are well advised to consider
carefully the presence or absence of these factors when conducting a protest.
STEP 4A: TRIAL FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT
A person who is arrested for disobeying an injunction may be found
guilty of civil or criminal contempt of court, as outlined above. Despite
the recent Kootenay cases, the majority of people arrested during environmental
protests are charged with criminal contempt of court.
The following is a description of the likely procedures which follow
arrest on a charge of criminal contempt.
Trial without jury
A person charged with contempt of court is brought before a judge for trial.
The trial will be without a jury, as criminal contempt of court charges typically
carry a sentence of less than two years in jail.
After the prosecution states the allegations, the court will ask the defendants to plead guilty or not guilty.
If the plea is guilty, then the court will proceed to sentencing.
If the plea is not guilty, then the prosecution will question witnesses, and lead evidence to try and prove the contempt.
The defendant will then be given an opportunity to present any of his or
her defences.
STEP 4B: POSSIBLE DEFENCES
When a decision to plead not guilty is made, it is important that the defendant
have an understanding of what types of arguments the court will be willing
to hear.
Protesters are very often disappointed with the court's lack of sympathy for defences which rely on broad environmental, social and political arguments.
This is because the court will deal exclusively with issues of law. Broad decisions, such as government forest policy, are beyond the scope of the courts and must be addressed in the political forum.
Consequently, in determining whether or not a person is guilty of
contempt of court, the only relevant factors for the court are those proving
or disproving legal elements of contempt:
Was the defendant aware of the injunction?
Did she or he disobey the injunction?
In determining criminal contempt, was the defendant's conduct in disobeying
the injunction public, flagrant, and continuous?
As discussed above, the power of the courts to protect themselves from
disobedience is considered integral to their authority and the rule of law.
Challenges to the courts' authority, such as the deliberate violation of an injunction, are perceived to strike at the very core of the judicial process.
For this reason, as well as the one mentioned above, the courts give little weight to many arguments in defense of civil disobedience actions.
The following are a selection of defences which have been put forward in
the past, with a brief consideration of the validity of each one:
The injunction violated my right to freedom of expression, under the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.
Although the right to freedom of expression has offered limited protection
to temporary, peaceful interruption of objectionable practices, this protection
has never been extended to justify the deliberate violation of a court order.
The argument is weakened further if alternative methods of lawful expression
(such as standing alongside the road and expressing dissent) were available.
[23]
I was practicing civil disobedience.
Civil disobedience is a philosophical or political action, not
a legal right. Disobedience
of the law, regardless of its form or reason, may be subject to penalty.
I violated the injunction only because it was necessary to prevent
environmental destruction.
The defence of necessity recognizes that a law may be broken if it is the
only means of avoiding a greater peril.
However, as justification for violating injunctions, this defence has failed for two reasons.
First, alternatives to breaking the law, such as applying to the court to have the injunction set aside, are available.
The defence of necessity requires that there was no reasonable opportunity for an alternative course of action that did not involve a breach of the law.
Second, the defence of necessity is not applicable when the peril to be
avoided, such as government authorized logging, is sanctioned by law. [25]
I was not aware of the exact terms of the injunction.
If no attempt was made to communicate the terms of the injunction to those present, then a valid defence of ignorance of the injunction may arise.
However, if copies of the injunction were distributed, or read aloud, any ignorance of its terms has been treated by the courts as willful indifference.
Therefore, those refusing to accept a copy of the injunction, or covering
their ears while it is read aloud, cannot rely on a defence of ignorance of
the terms of the injunction.
I did not intend to commit contempt of court.
It is rarely the intention of an environmental protester to bring
the court into contempt.
However, when a person refuses to comply with an injunction once
it has been served, the courts have found it reasonable to infer that they
intended to defy the order, and thus commit contempt of court. [26]
I did not intend to commit criminal contempt. I did not intend
for my actions to be public.
The violation of the injunction may be considered public if it occurs before
members of the public or the media, whether or not they were invited, or if
the object of the action is to gain public sympathy. [27]
I was not aware that my actions would depreciate the authority
of the court.
It is not necessary to prove that a person knew as a fact that the court's
authority would be undermined as a result of their actions. Recklessness regarding
the effect of their actions on the authority of the court is considered sufficient
intent to commit criminal contempt.
My actions were not continuous.
No matter how short-lived, contempt is considered continuous if
it would have continued if the person had not been stopped by arrest or another
act.
I was not a party to the original injunction. The injunction was
issued against "John Doe, Jane Doe, and Persons Unknown."
If someone is aware of an injunction and refuses to obey it, the person
is liable to punishment for contempt, even if the person is not a party to
that injunction.
The injunction was not granted recently.
An injunction remains in full force and effect until varied or appealed,
unless the expiry date is written into the injunction itself, as in an interim
injunction.
The party being protected by the injunction was involved in illegal activities.
Except in cases of immediate
peril or necessity, no right exists to break the law to prevent another party
from acting illegally. The proper mode of action is to notify the relevant
authorities.
A civil injunction cannot lead to criminal charges.
Disobeying a lawful order can be pursued as a criminal offence, whether
the order itself was criminal or civil in nature.
As a youth, I am entitled to be tried in a youth court under the
Young Offenders Act .
A Superior Court such as the B.C. Supreme Court, where contempt of court
trials are held in B.C., takes precedence over the jurisdiction of youth courts.
It is left to the discretion of the Superior Court to try youths for contempt or to defer them to a youth court.
The injunction was not properly granted, and therefore I was not obligated to obey it.
Even if an injunction is granted to a forest company when it should not have been, for example, due to some legal defect or an incorrect judicial decision, it is still considered to have the strength of the law. Courts do not allow arguments against the injunction to be used as defencesagainst contempt charges.
This is called the"rule against collateral attack". The position of the
court is that the proper recourse in such a situation is to challenge the
injunction through legal means.
STEP 4C: THE SENTENCE
The penalty for civil contempt of court is usually a fine.
Criminal contempt of court charges have been typically assigned a jail sentence and a fine. Because judges have a lot of discretion as to the sentence for contempt, the amount of fines imposed varies greatly with the circumstances of each case.
Fines for environmental protesters have been in the range of $500 - $3000, though it is possible thaat a higher fine could be imposed.
Jail sentences have been as low as a few days and as high as sixty days.
For those sentenced to jail, electronic monitoring by the use of
an anklet is sometimes possible.
Factors determining the sentence
The more criminal the blockade, the stiffer the likely penalty.
Courts have considerable discretion in deciding how high a fine or how long a jail sentence to impose on those convicted of contempt.
Harsher sentences have been assigned to people where they :
did not show respect for the judge by being disruptive or defiant
did not show remorse or apologize for their actions
disobeyed other laws in the course of defying the injunction
had prior convictions for criminal contempt of court.
Some people charged with criminal contempt of court have been completely
acquitted after apologizing to the court and promising not to repeat their
acts.
Criminal Records
Criminal records are a concern to many people, and are much misunderstood.
There are several kinds of "records" that are created after a conviction for an offence.
The term"criminal record" is usually used to refer to records kept in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).
These records only include convictions under the Criminal Code, and as criminal contempt is a common law offence not listed in the code, individuals convicted of criminal contempt do not have CPIC records.
However, there is another, much more inclusive, police database which does include contempt convictions, called the PIRS (Police Information RetreivalSystem).
Although being listed in this database is not the same as having a "criminal record," there are implications.
If an individual is being tried for contempt, information from the PIRS may be used as evidence or in sentencing.
As well, this information is available to border crossing guards.
Some protesters have been refused access to the United Statesbecause
of PIRS criminal contempt conviction records.
Some parties have applied to
have their PIRS records for contempt expunged," or deleted, by the court.
The courts have refused, stating that it is outside their jurisdiction.
STEP 5: LAWSUITS FOR ECONOMIC INTERFERENCE
Another area of law which may affect environmental activists is the area
of economic interference torts.
Torts are private wrongs committed by individuals (or companies) against other individuals, such as negligence and defamation.
Torts are different from crimes against the state, such as murder and robbery:
after committing a tort, the offender may have to pay compensation to the
victim, but the offender is never sentenced to jail for committing the wrong.
When an environmental protest results in monetary losses to a forest company,
it may be possible for that company to sue the protesters or the group which
organized the protest.
As noted above, before the forest company can get an injunction against the protest, it must make some kind of legal claim.
That is, the forest company must claim that the environmental group, by protesting, is committing a tort, and should be prevented from doing so by an injunction.
Once the injunction has been issued, forest companies in the past have typically ignored the initial claim.
Environmentalists and environmental groups often have no means to pay compensation, so the lawsuit would not usually be worthwhile for the forest company.
However, the company is entitled to pursue the lawsuit beyond the first stage and try to get money from the protesters as compensation for their protest.
In fact, such a practice is becoming more common, and threatens to
overwhelm environmental groups attempting to mount large scale protests.
By blockading the road and preventing the forest company from logging,
the protesters effectively prevent the company from carrying out its business.
The forest company may have contracts with other companies, such as sawmills and shipping companies.
If the forest company cannot cut and remove the timber, these contracts
may be broken, and the forest company may lose money.
Essentially, by suing the protesters for interfering with its economic
relations, the company can seek to recover some of the profits which it lost
by being blocked from the valley.
The company would typically have to prove that:
the protesters' activities resulted in economic harm to the forest company
by interfering with its business interests, and the protesters intended to
cause the forest company the harm, or that the economic harm could have been
expected from the activities
Economic Interference and SLAPP Suits
The potential for using the tort of economic interference against actions
that result in a financial loss make it a commonly used foundation for SLAPP
suits.
SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and these suits are often used by corporate interests as a means of discouraging public criticism of their actions.
SLAPPs are becoming common in the United States, and are beginning
to have a significant effect on Canadian public interest groups.
The case regarded by many commentators as the leading Canadian example
of a SLAPP suit is Daishowa Inc. v. Friends of the Lubicon
In that case, Daishowa Incorporated sued a group called the Friends of the Lubicon for various acts of economic interference by the Friends.
The Friends wanted to stop the company from logging certain areas in northern Alberta claimed by the LubiconCree as their ancestral lands. Instead of using a physical blockade, the Friends used an economic boycott to try to stop the logging.
They picketed customers of Daishowa, such as Pizza Pizza, that continued to purchase its paper products. Daishowa lost money because of the boycott.
It sued the Friends and applied for an injunction preventing future protests.
In April of 1998, the Ontario Court (General Division) dismissed Daishowa's application for a permanent injunction, stating that the actions of the protests of the Friends constituted a legitimate consumer boycott (although damages of $1 was awarded to Daishowa for defamatory comments that the court found to have been published by the Friends).
More than $300,000 in legal fees were spent defending the Friends from the Daishowa suit.
Although SLAPP suits are without strong legal foundation, as the injunction application was found to be in Daishowa, it is the scale and expense of defending them that makes public interest groups especially vulnerable.
At the time of this writing, Daishowa is in the process of appealing
the decision of the Ontario Court
STEP 6: CRIMINAL CODE CHARGES
While lawsuits are becoming more common as part of the legal effects of
environmental blockades, to this point criminal charges (apart from contempt)
have been uncommon.
According to the B.C. Attorney General's Crown Counsel Policy Manual on Civil Disobedience, protesters should be allowed to express their opinions.
The Ministry encourages private individuals who are affected by the protest to seek a civil injunction through the courts, as discussed above in step 1, and to enforce it through civil contempt proceedings, as discussed in step 3a.
That said, it is possible in some situations for the Crown to lay charges,
such as breach of the peace, instead of or in addition to contempt of court.
Criminal charges would be considered in the following five scenarios:
The protest involves violence resulting in physical harm or the reasonable
apprehension of injury;
The protest causes property damage which is not insignificant;
The protesters assault a police officer; or
The protest clearly contravenes the public interest
The protest amounts to a breach of the peace.
If any of the above scenarios occur, there are a variety of charges which
might be laid against protesters.
If the protest involves violence, those involved may be charged with assault. Similarly, if protesters assault a police officer, they may be charged with that offence.
If property damage occurs, the Crown may charge some of the protesters
with mischief.
According to the Criminal Code, mischief occurs when someone intentionally"interferes
with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property".
In an Ontario case, striking workers stood shoulder to shoulder to prevent management personnel from entering the company's property.
The court held that the workers could be guilty of mischief. Similarly,
environmental protesters preventing a forest company from using its property
might also be found guilty of mischief.
Another possible charge is intimidation, which occurs when someone "blocks
or obstructs a highway" for the purpose of preventing others from exercising
their legal rights
A highway is generally defined in B.C. law as any public road
Thus an environmental protester blocking a logging road to stop a forest company from logging might be guilty of intimidation.
A further possible charge is obstruction of a highway, which is a
relatively obscure offence under the B.C. Highway Act .
In most cases, environmental protesters would not normally incur any of
these charges, as the protesters usually already face a penalty for contempt
of court.
Additionally, before any charge is laid by the Crown, it must be
approved by the Regional and Executive Crown Counsel, who must consider the
appropriate action in the circumstances.
In the event that an environmental protester is charged with any
of the above offences, including criminal contempt, he or she may apply for
legal aid.
Legal aid is generally granted to those who have a very limited monthly
income (currently less than $833 for a single person) and who face a reasonable
likelihood of a jail sentence if convicted of the charge.
Applications for legal aid must be made in person. In Victoria, the office
is located at 1221 Broad Street. In Vancouver, the office is located at 605
Robson Street.
There are legal aid offices in many communities.
Even if legal aid will not cover the charge, lawyers at the office can at
least offer some advice as to how to deal with a criminal charge.
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
Historically, our legal system evolved from protecting narrow economic
interests rather than broader social concerns.
While this role is changing, it may be some time before pressing social issues, such as the protection of the environment, are given the recognition that they deserve.
Nevertheless, it is important to remember the role the courts play as defenders of the rule of law, and the irreplaceable role that the rule of law plays in a better future.
The importance of this role was stated eloquently by Mr. Justice Josiah Wood of the British Columbia Supreme Court:
"The fragility of the rule of law is such that none of us who seek to enjoy its benefits can be permitted the occasional anarchical holiday from its mandate, no matter how compelling or how persuasive may be the cause that such anarchy seeks to advance."
" Furthermore it is only through the rule of law that any meaningful, lasting
or effective change can be wrought in the law. Thus it is that by seeking
to change the law by deliberately disobeying it you threaten the continued
existence of the very instrument, indeed the only instrument, through which
you may eventually achieve the end you seek. Such conduct is not only illegal,
it is completely self-defeating."
Judge Wood's remarks may overstate somewhat the fragility of the rule of
law and the arguments against civil disobedience. History has shown time and
again the value of challenges to unjust laws by individuals concerned with
creating a better society.
Nevertheless underlying much of the philosophy behind civil disobedience is a basic understanding that the rule of law is an vital part of a better future.
Although many arguments can be made against the injustices dealt to environmental protesters, it is important to remember that an integral part of such disobedience is the honour and self-sacrifice involved in accepting an unjust punishment, as a foil for exposing that injustice.
Civil Disobedience is the act of disobeying a law on grounds of moral or political principle.
It is an attempt to influence society to accept a dissenting point of view. Although it usually uses tactics of nonviolence, it is more than mere passive resistance since it often takes active forms such as illegal street demonstrations or peaceful occupations of premises.
The classic treatise on this topic is Henry David Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," which states that when a person's conscience and the laws clash, that person must follow his or her conscience.
The stress on personal conscience and on the need to act now rather than to wait for legal change arerecurring elements in civil disobedience movements.
The Democratic Bill of Rights asserts that the authority of a government
is derived from the consent of the governed, and whenever any form of government
becomes destructive, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish
it.
Throughout the history of Canada and the U.S., civil disobedience has played
a significant role in many of the social reforms that we all take for granted
today. Some of the most well known of these are:
1) The Boston Tea Party -- citizens of the colony of Massachusetts trespassed
on a British ship and threw its cargo (tea from England) overboard, rather
than be forced to pay taxes without representation to Britain.
This was one of the many acts of civil disobedience leading to the War
for Independence, establishing the United States of America as a sovereign
state.
2) Anti-war movements have been a part of U.S. history
since Thoreau went to jail for refusing to participate in the U.S. war against
Mexico in 1849.
More recent examples were the nationwide protests against the war in Viet Nam, U.S. involvement in Nicaragua and Central America, and the Gulf War.
Actions have included refusal to pay for war, refusal to enlist in the
military, occupation of draft centers, sit-ins, blockades, peace camps, and
refusal to allow military recruiters on high school and college campuses.
3) The Women's Suffrage Movement started in England and
lasted from 1848 until 1920, when thousands of courageous women marched in
the streets, endured hunger strikes, and submitted to arrest and jail in order
to gain the right to vote.
4) Abolition of slavery -- including Harriet Tubman'sunderground
railway, giving sanctuary, and other actions which helped to end slavery.
5) The introduction of labor laws and unions. Sit-down
strikes organized by the IWW, and CIO free speech confrontations led to the
eradication of child labor and improved working conditions, established the
40-hour work week and improved job security and benefits.
6) The Civil Rights Movement, led by Martin Luther King,
Jr. and others, included sit-ins and illegal marches which weakened segregation
in the south.
7) The Anti-Nuclear Movement, stimulated by people like
Karen Silkwood and the Three Mile Island nuclear power accident, organized
citizens throughout the country into direct action affinity groups, with consensus
decision making and Gandhiannonviolence as its core
. Massive acts of civil disobedience took place at nuclear power facilities
across the country, followed by worldwide protests against first-strike nuclear
weapons, occupying military bases, maintaining peace camps, interfering with
manufacture and transport of nuclear bombs and devices, marching, sitting
in, blockading and otherwise disrupting business as usual at nuclear sites.
8) Environmental and forest demonstrations, with acts
of civil disobedience such as sit-ins, blockades, tree sits and forest occupations,
have emerged in the last decade, prompted by the continuing mass clear cuts
and destruction of the forest ecosystem and widespread environmental consequences.
In all of these struggles, citizens had reached the conclusion that the
legal means for addressing their concerns had not worked. They had tried petitioning,
lobbying, writing letters, going to court, voting for candidates that represented
their interests, legal protest, and still their views were ignored.
In each of these movements, the protesters were compelled by deep moral
convictions. Their distress was strong enough to motivate them to go against
the grain, to sacrifice personal comfort, to face unknown danger, to give
up their freedom and risk going to jail. Their love of truth and justice drove
them to action. Many, but not all, of those committing civil disobedience
in the last two decades have been trained in Gandhiannonviolence philosophy
and tactics.
TACTICS
Non-Cooperation is used by some protesters during civil
disobedience actions. Non-cooperation may include going limp, refusal to give
information at booking, fasting and refusal to participate in court proceedings.
Gandhi, who profoundly influenced nonviolent disobedience movements in
the 20th century, stated that "Non-cooperation with evil is as much
a duty as cooperation with good."
Non-cooperation is not intended as a hostile act against police officers and jail guards. An understood theoretical basis is that nonviolent protest draws its strength from open confrontation and non-cooperation, i.e., civil disobedience.
We retain as much power as we refuse to relinquish to the government. Non-cooperation
is a form of resistance that is used to reaffirm our position that we are
not criminals and that we are taking positive steps toward freeing the world
of oppression and environmental suicide.
The decision to non-cooperate is a difficult choice to make, since it subjects
those who choose it to greater possibilities for pain and punishment, and
many times is misunderstood by law enforcement.
In addition, it poses a dilemma for protesters who would prefer to communicate
with the arresting officer, making it more difficult to communicate while
being dragged across the ground.
Reasons some protesters
choose non-cooperation:
1) Moral conviction: It would be wrong to be an accomplice
to a procedure that supports what is morally unacceptable.
2) To increase the likelihood that all protesters are treated equally:Refusing
to give names so that everyone committing the same act will be treated equally
and fairly in jail and in sentencing.
Refusing citation, bail, fines or probation keeps protesters together,
increasing the potential for collective bargaining.
3) To extend the action: Going limp at arrest impedes
the removal of the protesters, prolonging the disruption of business as usual.
4) To demonstrate that the criminal justice system is part of the
problem:It may be a corporation that is damaging the environment,
jeopardizing all our lives and our children's future, but it is the criminal
justice system that is legitimizing and supporting it.
Civil disobedience is often an effective means of changing laws and protecting
liberties. It also embodies an important moral concept that there are times
when law and justice do not coincide and that to obey the law at such times
can be an abdication of ethical responsibility.
The choice of civil disobedience and non-cooperation is not for everyone. We all choose to do what feels right to us personally. However, it is hoped that this article will make such a choice more understandable to those who have wondered about this form of protest
PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS
I have written this paper to inform you of your rights when dealing with the police at public demonstrations.
It is designed to help you exercise your right to engage in non-violent civil disobedience, and avoid committing any criminal offence. It's also designed to assist you in the event you are arrested.
The information is of a general nature. It will not answer every question you have, and the information may not apply in every case.
I have relied on a number of publications that have been very helpful in my preparation for this paper. I would like to thank the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (Quebec) for their booklet entitled Guess What! We've Got Rights?!(Montreal, March 1999).
I have used the framework from this booklet and added/changed the law as it relates to BC. As well, I would like to thank the Law Union of Ontario for their very informative manual entitled Offence/Defence: Law for Activists (1996 edition).
This BC guide has been written in the same spirit as the above Quebec and Ontario works. It is anti-copyright. We invite users to freely copy and reproduce this work for their own purposes.
Finally, I am attempting to revise and add to this guide on a regular basis. I welcome your questions, comments and criticisms. My e-mail address is
The guide takes into account the new post-September 11, 2001 Bills, C-24, C-35, C-36, and C-42. They were ostensibly intended for terrorists and organized crime, but contain many additional handy provisions for use against protesters.
All of the Criminal Code sections, as well as the September 11th Bills, are readily accessible. See the Department of Justice website: http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/
DEMONSTRATIONS
Protecting your identity
Many times undercover police officers mingle with the demonstrating crowd and they go unnoticed. Their main objective is to identify demonstrators, activists, organizers and speakers.
You can choose to wear a mask or other headgear to protect your identity. However, there are some drawbacks to this.
First, it is a crime to be masked or disguised with the intention of committing a crime. This may give police an excuse to target you even though you are not intending to commit a crime.
Second, wearing a mask may frighten other demonstrators.
The choice to protect your identity is yours to make.
What to bring
There are a number of items that are always useful to bring to a demonstration:
1. Pen and paper: these are handy to take detailed notes of any incident that might occur during the demonstration. For example, if there are arrests, the names of people arrested their telephone numbers, contacts, details of the arrest, etc.
2. Still cameras and video cameras: police do not like being watched or, worse, being caught in the commission of an illegal act. These may keep the police in line. Again, cameras are great in case the police do step out of line.
3. Tape-recorders: a tape-recording of remarks by police is a valuable addition to photos and videotape.
4. Clothing: ask yourself whether the shoes you are wearing are comfortable for running, and whether the clothes you are wearing will attract too much attention. Further, you don't want to be easily grabbed by your clothes or your hair by someone illegally attempting to restrain you.
5. Water bottles to use for bathing your eyes in the event tear gas is used by the police.
There are a number of items you may wish to leave at home:
1. Leave your address book or any other document that has sensitive information at home.
2. Don't bring any illegal drugs or anything that might be considered as a weapon (from the police point of view).
3. Bring one piece of photo identification and leave the rest at home.
Watch what you say
Remember, there may be undercover police mingled with the crowd. Be careful about what you say. Do not try to expose an undercover police officer yourself by shouting and pointing at him or her. You may be charged with obstruction. However, you are able to inform your friends around you, so they will know.
Voluntarily dispersing
Always leave in groups because if people are improperly targeted for arrests, it is usually at the end of the demonstration. This is the most vulnerable time for arrest.
Involuntary dispersal by riot police
If the police try to disperse the crowd, remember to leave in groups of about 10 to 15 so that you have some witnesses and support. This is when comfortable running shoes will come in handy.
The police may use a number of potentially harmful tactics to disperse the crowd:
1. Pepper spray: if you are pepper-sprayed, do not rub your eyes. Thoroughly rinse the affected areas with water. Don't panic. The burning sensation will pass in time.
2. Tear Gas: there are different types of tear gas:
i. HC - this is crowd-dispersing smoke. It is white smoke that is harmless and non-toxic. It is used for the psychological effect.
ii. CN - this is standard tear gas. It will smell like apples. It causes a burning sensation in the eyes and skin. As well, it may irritate mucous membranes.
iii. CS - this is much stronger than CN, but it has the same effects. It has a strong pepper-like smell and causes nausea and vomiting.
If the police use the above methods to disperse the demonstration and you become a victim, you should:
1. not panic. The effects will wear off in about 10 to 15 minutes. Panicking will only make it worse.
2. go to a well-ventilated area, facing the wind with your eyes open. Don't rub your eyes.
3. rinse your face and any parts of your body that are exposed with water. Adding baking soda will improve the effectiveness of the water.
Bill C-42: expanded definition of 'military-security zone'
Bill C-42 amends the NationalDefence Act. The amendment enables the Minister of Defenceto declare a specific area a 'military-security zone' (section 260.1). The zone may be an area of land, water, airspace, or structure. The zone may be a fixed or a moving zone. Anyone may be forcibly removed from that zone.
Such a declaration could be issued for a geographic area encompassing all of the potential areas for demonstration and protest around the meetings planned for Kananaskisthis year. Some refer to the bill as the "Kananaskis Bill", designed specifically for the G-8 Summit. This Bill has not yet been passed into law, but no doubt will be soon.
It is unlikely this section would have any relevance during demonstrations here in British Columbia with respect to the anti-labourlegislation passed by the Liberal government on January 27, 2002.
ARE THE POLICE BOTHERING YOU?
Identifying yourself
The law obligates you to identify yourself to police in the following cases:
1. If a police officer is in a position to arrest you, or to issue some form of summons to you, and you do not identify yourself, you may be charged with obstruction: R. v. Legault, [1998] B.C.J. No. 1309.
2. If you are driving a motor vehicle, you must show your driver's licence: Motor Vehicle Act, ss. 71 and 73.
3. If you are found in a bar or movie theatre, you are obliged to prove that you are of legal age.
4. According to some municipal bylaws, if you are found at night in a public place (i.e. a park), you are obliged to identify yourself or you may be charged with vagrancy.
Other than these exceptions, you are never obliged to identify yourself or speak to the police. The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality's booklet entitled Guess What! We've Got Rights?!, at page 3, is informative:
If police ask you to identify yourself or to come with them, ask them: "Am I under arrest?" If you're not, you may tell them, calmly and firmly, that you don't have to either identify yourself or follow them.
Carrying identification
Canadian law does not require that you carry identification (unless you are driving a motor vehicle). However, by carrying identification, you may avoid a trip to the police station in case of a minor infraction.
Do the police have to identify themselves?
In BC, according to the Police (Uniforms) Regulations of the Police Act, all uniformed officers have to wear a "badge, metal, plastic or cloth, bearing an identification number or name" above their right breast pocket of the uniform. The only exception is for executive and senior officers who are not required to wear such identification.
Undercover police, of course, are not referred to in this regulation.
If the identification is not clear, you should ask the officer to identify him/herself. However, you probably won't get the answer you are expecting.
It may be worth noting a description of any officer acting illegally or improperly. Try to remember or note down the obvious things, like height, weight, hair colour, and any other distinguishing features, such as eyeglasses, scars, etc.
Bill C-24: the police as criminals?
There is also a new law in effect as of December 18, 2001: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (organized crime and law enforcement). On the surface, it is intended to, and probably does, aid in the fight against organized crime. However, there is an important feature that you should keep in mind.
In certain circumstances, the new legislation authorizes the police to violate the law.
Designated police officers are entitled to violate the law, and are immune from criminal liability.
There are some pre-conditions, such as the requirement that the officer believe that his/her illegal conduct is reasonable, and proportional to the offence being investigated; there must be no serious loss or damage to property; and there must be no intentional bodily harm.
There is no provision in the new legislation limiting the use of this new power to organized crime contexts. It can be used in the context of demonstrations (section 25.1, Criminal Code).
The $10,000 or more per day the RCMP are spending on three satellite uplink trucks, and continuous video surveillance of the Kananaskis site and surrounding communities, may in fact have the unintended effect of holding police excesses in check.
Arrest without a warrant
The Criminal Code (section 495) states that you can only be arrested without a warrant if:
1. a police officer believes on reasonable grounds that you have committed or are about to commit an offence;
2. a police officer sees you committing any criminal offence; or
3. police have reasonable grounds to believe that there is an outstanding warrant for your arrest (e.g. for unpaid tickets).
Arrest with a warrant
A warrant for arrest is a piece of paper signed by a judge with your name and the alleged offence you have committed written on it. You may ask the police officer to show it to you and the police officer is required to show you the warrant.
Arrested for what?!
If you are arrested, the police have to tell you what they are charging you with. Ask them what they are charging you with.
The most common charges are:
1. Mischief. This offence is extremely broad in its scope and includes destroying, damaging or rendering inoperative property or preventing or interfering with its lawful use. In R. v. Mayer, [1994] Y.J. No. 142, three individuals sat silently chained together to a railing in the Legislature in the Yukon. The Court stated that sitting silently chained together in this case did not constitute mischief. Actions constituting slight inconvenience that do not interfere or interrupt the lawful use or enjoyment of property do not amount to criminal mischief.
The key is not to destroy, damage, render inoperative property, or prevent or interfere with its lawful use. Creating a human barricade so that no person can get by is mischief: Regina v. Mamolita et al, [1983] 9 C.C.C. (3d) 85.
2. Assault. An assault consists of anyuse of force against another person directly (i.e. with your fists) or indirectly (i.e. throwing your glove at a person). Assault includes an attempt or threat to use force against another person if that person has reason to believe that the attempt or threat could be carried out. An assault can be very minor.
Assault in an attempt to resist arrest is more serious. It includes assaulting any public officer or peace officer engaged in the execution of his or her duty, or of assaulting a person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of anyone, including yourself.
3. Obstructing a police officer. Anyone who resists or wilfully obstructs a police officer in the execution of his or her duty or any person lawfully acting in aid of such an officer is guilty of an offence. As well, if someone omits, without reasonable excuse, to assist a police officer in the execution of his or her duty in arresting a person or in preserving the peace, after having reasonable notice that he or she is required to do so, is guilty of an offence.
A person asking why his friend is being arrested is not obstruction (Regina v. Long, [1970] 1 C.C.C. 313).
4. Causing a disturbance. This offence can be committed in a variety of ways. The most common are by fighting, screaming, shouting, swearing, singing or using insulting or obscene language, impeding or molesting another person, or by loitering in a public place and in any way obstructing persons there.
Speaking normally through an electronic megaphone can constitute causing a disturbance: R. v. Reed (1992), 76 C.C.C. (3d) 204 (B.C.C.A.).
5. Unlawful assembly. An offence of unlawful assembly requires that three or more persons be involved, and that they assemble in a way, or behave in such a way after assembling, that causes others in the neighbourhoodto be afraid that the assembly will either disturb the peace tumultuously or provoke others to do so. Tumultuous means chaotic, disorderly, clamorous or uproarious. The fears of others must be based on reasonable grounds. An assembly can start out lawful, but later become unlawful.
A riot is an unlawful assembly. To prove that there is a riot, it is essential that there be actual or threatened force and violence, in addition to public disorder, confusion and uproar. The accused must be shown to have intended to be a participant and that he or she had taken part in the disturbance (intention can be inferred through being reckless).
6. Contempt of Court. Contempt of Court is conduct that is in deliberate or wilfuldisobedience of a Court order and thus offends the Court. In recent years, the government and private companies have been granted injunctions against potential demonstrators. Once an injunction is violated, a person can be charged with contempt.
There is a difference between civil and criminal contempt. In Canada Post Corp. v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers, [1991] B.C.J. No. 3444 (B.C.S.C.), the Court stated the difference, at page 6:
The Court must consider whether the conduct in question was so defiant of the rule of law and so designed to interfere with the proper administration of justice that it would tend to bring the administration of justice into scorn. If there is a reasonable doubt on that issue, the conduct should be characterized as civil contempt.
In MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. Simpson, [1994] B.C.J. No. 1913 (B.C.S.C.), the Court wrote:
In order to establish a person is in criminal contempt of court, Crown counsel must prove beyond a reasonable doubt four elements….
1. Did the Court issue an injunction [Order] prohibiting certain acts?
2. Did the particular accused know about the terms of the injunction [Order]? Knowledge includes willful ignorance. Personal service of the copy of order is not required. It is sufficient if the evidence shows the respondent had knowledge of it: Rogers Cable T.V. Ltd. v. IBEW, [1993] B.C.J. 2822 (B.C.S.C.), at page 3.
3. Did the accused do one or more acts amounting to disobedience of one or more of the terms of the injunction? In Alran Industries Ltd. v. Delta Cedar Products Ltd., [1996] B.C.J. No. 729 (B.C.S.C.), at page 4, the Court stated that "disobedience must be proved to be 'deliberate' or 'wilful'".
4. Did the conduct of the accused amount to a public defiance or violation of the order so as to make the contempt criminal as opposed to civil?
For civil contempt, the first three elements above need to be proved, whereas for criminal contempt the fourth element has to be proved.
Fines can run from several hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. A term of imprisonment may be imposed.
C-36: the 'Lets Make the Demonstrators Terrorists' Act
Many thoughtful and reasonable people have expressed the view that the new terrorism legislation was unnecessary; that the existing laws, administered with greater resources, were adequate to deal with the unique and insidious nature of terrorist activity. They have expressed the concern that part of the government's motives in passing such laws was their value in dealing with the growing protests against the WTO and the FTAA.
Bill C-36 amends the Criminal Code by adding section 83.01, a new and very broad definition of terrorism. It is also a very complex definition. For our purposes, the relevant parts of it can be summarized as follows:
It is a terrorist activity,
for a person with a political purpose, to do anything
with the intention of compelling a person or government to do something,
and which intentionally causes a serious risk to the health or safety of the public;
or which intentionally causes serious interference with a public or private essential service or facility.
The section excludes protests or strikes that are not intended to result in the harm described above.
However, it wouldn't take much imagination for a police officer to decide that a trade unionist who was peacefully demonstrating at Kananaskis, but who was standing a few feet away from a demonstrator who had become violent, should also be arrested as guilty of terrorist activity.
Nor would it take much imagination for the police to treat union members in the hospital sector engaging in a wildcat strike, and picketing to protest anti-union legislation, as coming within the definition of terrorists engaging in terrorist activity.
That's not all. The section includes even attempting, or threatening, such conduct. Or counseling it. Or assisting someone after they have committed such an act.
Bill C-35: the 'Police Can Do Anything' Act!
You should also keep in mind the extraordinary new powers given to the police under Bill 35, An Act to Amend the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act. It gives the RCMP broad new statutory powers "to ensure the security for the proper functioning of any inter-governmental conference".
On one reading of that legislation, the police are able to do "anything" they consider reasonable and appropriate to protect those involved in these summits (section 10.1). It was passed on November 29, 2001, but is yet to receive royal assent. It will likely be in effect soon - certainly in time for Kananaskis.
The new Minister of Justice recently indicated that there may be more legislation of this nature to deal with the issue of terrorism.
You may not wish to speak to anyone regarding your arrest
If you are arrested, you have no obligation to speak to police in any circumstance, except, of course, to provide identification in the circumstances listed above (i.e. arrest). You have to provide only your first and last names, complete address, and your date of birth.
Try to remember all the details of your arrest. For example, who arrested you, the time of the arrest and, if possible, the name/badge number of the arresting officer.
The police may try to engage you in conversation by being friendly and concerned. The police may try to use the "good cop/bad cop" routine.
They may make promises that are not binding.
They may tell you liesto intimidate you. Just stay calm.
They can only hold you for 24 hours before taking you in front of a judge.
Many demonstrators have a rule that they do not say anything to the police.
As well, you may not wish to speak to anyone regarding the circumstances of your arrest - the person you may be speaking to in your cell could be an undercover police officer.
You have a right to remain silent. Immediately ask to speak to a lawyer. If you cannot afford one, get legal aid.
Under no circumstances should you give up your right to speak to a lawyer.
SEARCHES
Any search before an arrest is illegal unless the police have "reasonable grounds to believe" that you are in possession of an illegal item or substance - such as a firearm or drugs.
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The "reasonable grounds" concept is vague and open to interpretation.
The police may abuse their power, as has been the case many times!
If you feel that the police are abusing their power, let the police know that you don't agree with them searching you.
Again, try to remember all the details that you can.
For example, the name/badge number of the police officer conducting the search and of any other officers present.
This will make it easier to file a complaint or commence legal proceedings against the police if you choose to later.
If you are arrested, the police can search you, but they can't arrest you just for the purpose of searching you.
Police will most often search you after arrest to make sure that you don't pose a danger to them or yourself. As well, they will search you just to find more evidence that can be used against you.
Remember, you can only be searched by an officer of the same sex (however, there are a few exceptions).
There are three types of searches:
(1) summary search, which is a general "pat down" or "frisking" over clothing or inside pockets;
(2) strip search, which generally involves the removal of all your clothes to permit a visual inspection of a person's private areas; and
(3) a body cavity search involving a physical inspection of the genital or anal regions.
On December 6, 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada issued tough new rules limiting a police officer's ability to conduct a strip search. Such searches can no longer be carried out as a matter of routine policy. They may be conducted only where there are reasonable and probable grounds for that type of search (R. v. Golden, 2001 S.C.C. 83).
Although you may choose otherwise, it is generally wiser not to speak to the police without a lawyer's advice, even during a search, unless you have to provide identification.
Some have described it as the golden rule for demonstrators: speak to a lawyer before you speak to the police!
LEAFLETING AND PICKETING
As a result of a Supreme Court of Canada decision last month, in Pepsi-Cola Canada Beverages, 2002 S.C.C. 8, peaceful protesting and picketing at secondary sites are now permitted as part of our Charter rights of freedom of expression.
Leafleting with accurate, non-defamatory information is similarly an exercise of our freedom of expression rights: Kmart Canada, [1999] 2 S.C.R. 1083.
TRESPASS
As a general rule, other than on enclosed land, there is no provincial offence of trespassing in British Columbia, as there is in some other provinces.
However, trespassing in a private building or on private property, or public building or property to which access is restricted, remains a civil wrong, or a tort. If requested to leave, you must comply.
If you refuse to leave, the owner or agent may use reasonable force to evict you. Even the most minimal physical resistance on your part may constitute the offence of a 'deemed assault' under the Criminal Code. But merely passively resisting by, for example, going limp, is not a deemed assault.