Source: Greenpeace New Zealand
Thinking back to the beginning of March this year, I don’t think any of us could have imagined that we would be living in the midst of a global pandemic that forced us all inside our respective bubbles for 7 weeks.
As activists we are used to being able to come together, take to the streets and protest. When that wasn’t an option we thought, well what now???
Like people all over the world we decided to look to the digital space in an effort to provide a platform to stay connected and share stories and skills from across the movement. With some feedback and guidance from you, we began running twice weekly late afternoon zoom sessions with various speakers covering topics like Campaigning during Covid 19, Stories of Successful Campaigns, Solidarity Online and Effective Distributed Campaigns. Speakers have included Greenpeace staff, members of ally groups, volunteers, and well… you. Thank you.
These sessions have been a beautiful reminder of what an amazing community this is and how much work we have to do as we all stand together to fight for a green and just recovery.
We know it’s not possible to always make it to everything, so we have recorded some of these sessions to share with you here. We will continue to upload new sessions as they happen.
Stories of Successful Campaigns
Speaker – Catherine Delahunty
Longtime activist, former Green MP and Greenpeace board member Catherine Delahunty shares her views on what defines successful activism, as she tells stories and shares learnings from her past work, including the struggle against mining in the Coromandel and the campaign to Free West Papua. She also speaks about her education from tangata whenua on Te Tiriti Te Tiriti in relation to environmental activism and how it impacted her work and the understanding of our world.
Campaigning during Covid-19
Speaker – Russel Norman
Covid-19 and the resulting lockdown had a huge impact on environmental and social justice campaigns all over the world. At Greenpeace we worked quickly to adapt our work to this new environment. In this Zoom session Russel Norman, Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand’s Executive Director, talks about the changes we made and how we see it playing out over the rest of the year.
The Power of Distributed Campaigns
Speaker: Sarah yates
Distributed campaigns can be a very key part of an effective campaign strategy. Activist and organiser Sarah Yates explains the model whilst also sharing insights from her past experience, stories of success and some great tools that can be used in running effective regional campaigns.
People Power and Making OMV History
Speaker – Abi Smith
The campaign against OMV, NZ’s last international oil giant, was a major focus for Greenpeace NZ in 2019. Abi Smith was one of the team members working on the campaign and shares stories about the different ways in which the organisation worked with supporters, activists and allies all across the country throughout the course of the year to Make OMV History.
