by Susan MacVittie
Many of us are familiar with the endless amount of emails stuffed into our Inbox asking us to sign an online petition. Petition sites such as Avaaz, Change.org, SumofUs, and LeadNow have given a digital voice to millions of people and organizations. They use online petitions to work towards changing laws, influencing corporate behaviour, and making communities healthier and more equitable.
Sharing links to articles, petitions ,and campaigns help to get the word out but there is much debate about whether online activism, often derogatorily called slacktivism, just serves to increase the feel-good factor of the participants and doesn’t create much change beyond the click.
Some research supports the notion that Internet campaigns can have an impact on political decisions. One successful online campaign was launched in 2012 by 13-year-old activist Abby Goldberg. After more than 170,000 people signed her petition to veto a bill that would have made it illegal for towns in Illinois to ban single-use plastic bags and impose a user fee, Governor Pat Quinn vetoed the legislation, partly as a result of her campaign. In an August 27, 2012 Chicago Tribune story, Jennifer Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said, “It was the end of the session, and nobody was paying attention. The work Abby did was huge and played a big role in persuading Quinn to veto the bill.”
According to a 2010 study, The Political Click: Political Participation Through E-petitions in Germany, e-petitions have an agenda setting function. In 2005 the German Bundestag implemented an electronic petition system. Individuals were given the opportunity to send in private petitions to the German parliament via an online platform and submit petitions of public interest which in turn were published by the German parliament to enable other users to express their support of these public petitions through electronic co-signatures. Researchers found that not all e-petitions were created equal, as only a few e-petitions attracted the majority of co-signatures needed to meet quorum, but those that did were able to have their campaigns brought before parliament for discussion.
Though the success of the petitioners’ request may not be the exact change they are looking for, there is more to gain than to lose from the use of this new communication media in politics. Other countries such as England, Scotland, and Wales are offering the online petition as a model for citizens to engage.
The Canadian Experience
In Canada, the Quebec National Assembly has implemented an online petition system and currently MP Kennedy-Stewart has a motion before the House of Commons that will face a vote in January. It proposes to create a new system to allow Members of Parliament to sponsor electronic petitions. Along with being seconded by NDP, Conservative, and Independent MPs, Motion 428 has been endorsed by respected leaders and organizations from across the political spectrum, including Ed Broadbent, Preston Manning, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Canadian Federation of Students. Polling conducted by Angus Reid found that over 80% of Canadians also support bringing electronic petitions to Parliament.
“Right now letter petitions are accepted in the House, but not electronic petitions, but we still receive a lot of electronic correspondence. We look at how many emails we receive every month on a particular issue and take note,” says Kennedy’s Legislative Assistant, Andrew Cuddy. “Every MP addresses receiving electronic petitions and form letters in a different way. Some email campaigns clog up the email account, so they may just get deleted and not counted. Some people might think that written petitions are more authentic than electronic petitions but that’s nonsense. The Internet helps to engage the youth and we tell people to Tweet at your MP because they are always on their Blackberry and will take notice.”
MLA, Claire Trevena agrees that making sure people are engaged in the political process is important. “I haven’t been presented with online petitions but I receive emails. You judge whether it is an issue in your constituency; you don’t weigh which avenue they’ve used to bring an issue to your attention. The fact is, that someone is raising a concern and it’s your job to respond to it.”
Beyond the Virtual World
Worries have been expressed that clicktivism isn’t a replacement for boots-on-the-ground activism. Grassroots movements have a rich and potent history demonstrating that the big wins were achieved through lots of people doing lots of little things over a long period of time. Each movement has used the latest technology to get their message out, whether it was the printing press, telegrams and telephones, hand-bills, fax machines or more recently email, Facebook and Twitter. The movement no longer remains underground – it’s also online.
For Avaaz, the click is just the beginning of a much longer campaign. Each year, Avaaz sets out its overall priorities through all-member polls. From these, campaign ideas are then polled and tested with random samples to see which initiatives have the most support. These range from lobbying H&M and GAP to back a life-saving safety code for clothing factory safety, to putting pressure on the Maldivian President to end the practice of flogging victims of sexual abuse. Avaaz combine online petitions with the expertise of more than 100 well-trained advocates who are experts in policy, campaigning, media and law, and many of their campaigns have been successful.
Whatever the method, participating in a cause gives people a chance to feel empowerment, and that, in itself, is a positive step towards change.
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Susan MacVittie is Managing Editor of the Watershed Sentinel and has been known to sign an online petition or two or three…
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