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Presentations

I thought the presentations today were very interesting. I have heard about the Invisible Children before however I was unaware that a movement was started for the Invisible Children. I think that the fundraisers the Invisible Children Movement hold help bring the problem the children face to others. The activities allow other people, such as Americans, to see how the children of Uganda are forced to live. I was also excited to learn about their website and actually visited it and it is extremely informative and easy to navigate. The presentation on anti-apartheid in South Africa spoke about the jail the student visited over break. A jail that was used by the South African government to silence people by exiling them. She talked about how a former prisoner and a former guard are both tour guides of the prison. She said there is obvious tension between the two men but they still work together trying to educate people of the issues of apartheid. I also thought that it was interes...
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Grassroots Movements

This Thanksgiving break I got to experience grassroot movements hands-on. I went to New Orleans for break to help do Hurricane clean-up and we worked with two grassroot organizations. The groups we worked with were SAFER (Student Advocacy for Equitable Recovery) and PNOLA (Pheonix of New Orleans). Both groups provide free labor to people who otherwise would not be able to rebuild their homes. We actually met Jim, the starter of SAFER. We talked with him for awhile and while he seems very invested in the projects he told us some of the drawsbacks of starting his own organization. The biggest drawback is funds, or lack of funds. Since the Hurricane most organizations relied on donations in order to help families rebuild their homes and settle back into life in New Orleans. This was mostly because FEMA's funding had been cut and not much money was coming from the government. Also, many people did not have flood insurance or their insurance only reimbersed them for not even a ...
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Letter From Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail is a response to what many white clergymen had said to him.  They questioned why he was in Birmingham and they told many African Americans that it was the wrong time to protest.  In the letter MLK Jr said to these men that they have waited to long for freedom and for justice and that they have been oppressed for so long that they couldn't have possibly waited for a good time to protest.  He said that according to many white people there is no good time to protest.  Throughout the letter he compared the hardships African Americans have to many religious events and people.  He cited religion a lot in the letter.  Then he discussed his disappointment in the white church.  He thought that the church would help African Americans in their struggle however they have not helped at all and have often criticized the blacks for attempting to gain justice.  The language he used was very powerful and I believe the religious references he u...
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Civil Rights Movements

Before I talk about the civil rights movement I want to talk about how do you measure the success of a social movement. Della Porta and Diani talk about four ways to measure the success of a social movement: policy, symbolic messages, increased influence of movement, or change throughout society. In policy a movement is only seen as a success if the goal is achieved. With symbolic messages the spread of the movements message is the most important. This is usually more effective than policy change however you still need the law to support the message. Increased influence of the movement gives normal citizens the right to participate such as commissions or forums. However, these commissions are usually viewed as tools of the government which cause people to be weary. Finally change throughout society is to change the whole society's notion of a particular law or idea. Examples of these successes can be viewed throughout the civil rights movement. For example the movement went...
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Policing Social Movements

The Della Porta and Diani article talks about different strategies to contain social movements. It is important for the government to find some way to deal with social movements so that the movements do not undermine the state authority. Three strategies mentioned are coercive strategies, persusasive strategies, and informative strategies. In much of the civil rights movements coercive strategies were used, an example is if you try to disobey the law we will arrest you, or if you do not move we will arrest you. During the civil rights movements the government was not tolerant towards the blacks at all. However, if a government is tolerant of a movement the social movement and the government can help each other. One influence on how the government treats the social movement is how the social movement reacts. If the social movement is generally peaceful the government will be more likely to help. Another factor is how people outside the movement view the social movement. If they ...
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Protest Cycles

So what motivates people to start a social movement? As Jenkins and Wallace say in their article people must look at the generalized action potential of protest movements. The generalized action potential is how likely a person is to be able to take action. Not only must the group look at the individual's attitude but also the resources available to the individual. The article cites three things to look at for mobilization. The first is the rise of a new class. As mentioned before those with more time can become more involved, and that is nothing new to this article either. As people advance socially they also become more encouraged to become involved politically. Another thing that mobilizes people is the change in social values. As people become more educated they usually tend to become more tolerant and can see injustices that are brought upon others. Finally if a group feels politically disenfranchised or excluded they are likely to mobilize. Two main examples of mobi...
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Changing Social Movements

Della Porta and Diana talk about different types of social movements stating mass protest movements and grassroots organizations as two types. In mass protest organizations the movements are meant to bring attention to the group; while grassroots groups are less concerned about drawing attention to themselves and are more concerned with gaining members and longevity. In order to be a successful social movement it is important to gain membership; however this becomes difficult in certain movements because some people are afraid to get involved due to labels. Stewart, Settles, and Winter's article shows how people are labeled due to their involvement in certain social movements. This "label" may discourage involvement in many movements. For example many Americans may want to be involved in the anti-war protest, however, they may be labeled as un-American so may not become involved (this definitely was more prevalent after 9/11 when everything that went against the gover...
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