Health activism involves a challenge to the existing order whenever it is perceived to influence peoples’ health negatively or has led to an injustice or an inequity. The tactics of health activism have continued to evolve along with political opportunity and developments in culture and technology. Cell phone messaging and the internet, for example, are now extensively used in activism to organize rallies and to carry out online tactics.
But what works best in activism-what are the examples of success and failure?
LETS START WITH WHAT ACTIVISM REALLY MEANS.
ReplyDeleteActivism is action on behalf of a cause, action that goes beyond what is conventional or routine. What constitutes as activism depends therefore on what is ‘conventional’ as any action is relative to others used by organisations in society. For example, where free speech is respected and protected posting an e-mail complaining about the government is a routine occurrence. But in an oppressive political system such an action might be seen as subversive and punishable. Likewise, singing in a choir is not activism, but singing as a protest, for example in a prison, can be. Activist actions must therefore go beyond conventional behaviour.
In practice organizations employ a combination of both conventional and unconventional strategies and tactics to achieve their health and other goals. In systems of representative government, conventional actions include election campaigning, voting, advocacy and lobbying politicians. Some organizations do use these types of actions, but significantly, are not (and do not consider themselves as) activists because they operate using only conventional tactics. The circumstances under which some organisations are willing to use unconventional tactics as activists, whilst others are not, are going to be discussed in my next few blogs.
ReplyDelete-so if u are interested stayed tuned-if u are bored then pse ask me to switch to another subject!
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF ACTIVISM ARE THE ACTIONS, TACTICS AND STRATEGIES THAT ORGANISATIONS CAN USE TO INLFUENCE OTHERS, INLCUDING GOVERNMENT.
ReplyDeleteIt is useful to view the tactics of organisations on a scale ranging from indirect (conventional) to direct (unconventional) actions. The types of actions that activist organisations engage in can be broadly sub-divided into two categories: Indirect and direct.
1. Indirect actions are non-violent and conventional and often require a minimum of effort although collectively they can have a dramatic effect. Indirect actions include voting, signing a petition, taking part in a “virtual (on-line) sit-in” and sending a letter or email to a person or organisation to protest your cause.
2. Direct actions can become progressively more ‘unconventional’, from peaceful protests to inflicting intentional physical damage to persons and property. Direct action is a form of activity that aims to have a real-time and immediate effect, such as the stopping of work at a construction site and may have broader consequences for people in positions of authority or on future agenda setting. For most activists their focus is on having a real-time effect using short-term, reactive tactics as their primary, and often only, means of action. Direct actions can be further sub-divided into: Non-violent and violent actions.
2.1 Non-violent direct actions include protests, picketing, vigils, marches, rent strikes, product boycotts, withdrawing bank deposits, engaging in aggressive publicity campaigns and taking legal action.
2.2 Direct violent actions include physical tactics against people or property, placing oneself in a position of manufactured vulnerability to prevent action such as ‘digger diving’ to prevent construction, squatting in a house detailed for demolition or taking part in a civil disobedience involving the damage of property such as destroying crops.
This is an interesting topic. It seems that in a collective society like Japan, indirect action would be more effective than direct action. Are there any social conditions for those 4 types of actions?
DeleteMakie, you raise an interesting point-is activist action (action that goes beyond the conventional) cultural? Certainly, other parts of Asia (such as India and Nepal) engage in activism as do countries in SE Asia. Remember the blockading of the airport in Thailand and using human blood (collected from many activists) as projectiles! Quite unconventional from a western perspective. I am not sure why u think conventional action though would be better in Japan. Surely there must be examples of unconventional action-demonstrations, protests, strikes etc? I will do a little research and let u know-or do you have some exemples or a theory as to why conventional is best in Japan?
DeleteTHE JAPANESE ARE CAPAABLE OF COLLECTIVE PROTESTS:
Delete1.Fukushima protesters urge Japan to abandon nuclear power (9/2011)
Tens of thousands join Fukushima protest march in Tokyo amid continuing fears over radiation
The protesters, who included residents of Fukushima prefecture, called for the immediate closure of all of Japan's nuclear reactors and a new energy policy centred on renewables.
The demonstration was the biggest the country has seen in years. Police said 20,000 people had taken part, while media reports put the number as high as 60,000.
2. Japanese protest against Fuji TV showing too many Korean programs (8/2011).
Around 2000 protesters gathered outside the Odaiba office of Fuji TV in Tokyo to protest against the station’s emphasis on the Korean programming.
COLLECTIVE ACTION POSSIBLE EVEN IN SUCH A CONFORMIST SOCIETY!
The range of tactics used by activists can be explained by a dynamic continuum (IF U WANT A COPY OF THIS CONTINUUM PSE SEND ME A POST OR EMAIL) that progresses from conventional, peaceful tactics to increasingly unconventional, illegal and more violent actions. Some organisations, those that do not come within the definition of activism, remain on the left hand-side of the continuum and use only conventional tactics. Other organisations, groups and individuals are willing to progress further along the right hand-side of the continuum to engage in unconventional tactics that are disruptive and violent. The continuum is dynamic because organisations can use a variety of tactics that move up and down the continuum that culturally informed and to some extent shaped by local laws. If the use of conventional tactics are unsuccessful then the organisation may choose to use more radical tactics further along the continuum as a part of their overall strategy.
ReplyDeleteCHAMPIONS OF HEALTH ACTIVISM-WHERE DID THEY ALL GO?
ReplyDeleteI am going to give brief profiles of (in my opinion) some key people who have been the champions of health activism as the lead into a discussion about who are the contemporary champions OR what happened and where did they all go?
FIRST SOME OF THE WOMEN ACTIVISTS:
Barbara Seaman (1935-2008), exposed the risks of such a highly hormonal, and largely untested, fertility regimen and, more significantly, exposed the lack of information shared with women as patients, who took the pill every day. The pill remains a popular method of contraception, but because of women's health activism, women have increased access to information about medical treatment and are no longer expected to take instructions on the choice of contraception from medical professionals without question.
Rose Kushner (1929-1990) was a 45 year old American journalist when in 1974 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The standard procedure at that time in the USA was to perform a tumor biopsy and radical mastectomy in a single surgical operation in which muscle tissue and lymph nodes were removed along with the breast. Rose Kushner objected to this very invasive procedure but could not find a doctor who would perform a diagnostic biopsy and allow her to decide what action to take next. Finally she found a doctor in New York who was willing to do a modified radical mastectomy. She was deeply affected by her experiences with breast cancer and embarked on learning more about treatment options and provided advice for patients, including criticism of radical mastectomies and the practice of performing a biopsy and a mastectomy as a one-step surgical procedure. Her rhetoric was strongly feminist and emphasized the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies thus openly critising the medical profession. Kushner established the Breast Cancer Advisory Center responding to calls and letters from thousands of women wanting information about breast cancer and its treatment. The Center's establishment was motivated in part by Kushner's desire to promote patient self-help and mutual support, thus displacing the medical profession and the American Cancer Society from their roles as information "gatekeepers". Kushner was a relentless activist, lobbying, representing women on advisory boards and technical panels and attending numerous meetings of medical professionals, interrupting presentations, questioning conclusions, and speaking against the practice of one-step breast cancer surgery. In 1979 the National Institutes of Health (of which Kushner was a lay member) concluded that radical mastectomy should no longer be the standard treatment for suspected cases of breast cancer but recommended total simple mastectomy as the primary surgical treatment.
SOME MORE WOMEN ACTIVISTS:
ReplyDeleteMargaret Sanger (1879–1966) was a key advocate for birth control at a time when it was illegal for any woman, even those who were married, to use these methods. Sanger argued that women would not be fully able to participate in life outside the home until they could control when and if they became pregnant. She was born in New York to a Catholic mother who had 18 pregnancies, 11 of which resulted in live births. Sanger herself had three children, all of them dying in their childhoods. In 1916, Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic in Brooklyn, the first of its kind in the United States, violating laws concerning the dissemination of information for the purposes of birth control. The clinic was raided by the police and Sanger was arrested and imprisoned where she continued to give lectures to the inmates on hygiene and reproduction. Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1921 and in 1923 established the first legal birth control clinic in the United States. It was not until 1960 when the birth control pill became available to the general public and in 1966 birth control was actually legalized for married couples in the United States.
Molly Melching is the founder and Executive Director of Tostan, a Senegalese based Non Government Organisation. Melching recognized that the Senegalese themselves, and not outsiders, must be the ones to carry forward the social transformation for the abolishment of Female genital Cutting. Their decision was motivated by the understanding that these traditional practices are harmful to the health of girls and women, and therefore, violations of their human rights and not in accordance with their religious and cultural values. This understanding was a corner stone of the Tostan programme and driven by inspirational leadership, Melching, has been a relentless advocate and lobbyist for the causes of the abolishment of Female Genital Cutting, forced and child marriage and human rights. Melching’s leadership and the leadership role of local women at the village level have been an important strategy in the abolishment of Female Genital Cutting through the Tostan programme.
NEXT SOME MALE HEALTH ACTIVISTS:
ReplyDeleteJohn Snow (1813-1858) investigated data on cholera mortality in Soho, London using a new numeric method that revealed the rate was much higher in certain areas which drew its water from heavily polluted sections of the River Thames. His investigations in the Broad Street district were able to show that there was a marked difference in cholera rates when one company moved its water intake source to a less polluted section of the river whereas another company did not. But when another epidemic occurred in 1854 his detailed house to house investigation provided conclusive evidence that the water supplied by one company to the Broad Street pump was the source of the cholera. The pump was sealed to stop it from being used by residents and the epidemic slowed down. Legislation in 1857 later required all companies to filter their water supply and a greater appreciation developed about the environmental factors could have an impact on the health of the public.
Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800 –1890) was an English social reformer, noted for his work on the Poor Laws and the improvement of sanitary conditions and public health. In 1832 Chadwick was employed to inquire into the operation of and reform of the Poor. In 1834 individual parishes were formed into Poor Law Unions each with a union workhouse, although Chadwick fought for a more centralised system of administration controlled from a central board. While still officially working with the Poor Law, Chadwick also took up the question of poor sanitation. Chadwick was a commissioner of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers in London from 1848 to 1849 and a commissioner of the General Board of Health from its establishment in 1848 to its abolition in 1854. In January 1884 he was appointed as the first president of the Association of Public Sanitary Inspectors (now the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health) (http://www.cieh.org/ accessed 15/1/2012).
LEADERS OR LOCAL CHAMPIONS are undoubtedly important to the empowerment process-but leadres do not always have the community interest at heart:
ReplyDeleteA village leader in one community had used his influence to obtain assistance from an NGO to help provide irrigation pipes and an electric pump to improve the water supply of the community. But not all members of the community were satisfied with these developments, especially groups of low-income women. The water supplied was too expensive for them and the pipes were laid to better serve the family members of the village leader. However, they could not complain because to contradict the leader could mean serious consequences for the livelihoods of poor families; for example, the village leader provided temporary employment during harvest and distributed flour to poorer residents. Not only did the leader hold an influential position in the community but his sons also held posts in the local government administration. The village leader was able to use his power-over others in the community, mostly over marginalised groups, to manipulate the distribution of resources and gain access to decision-making processes!
HOW CAN WE HELP FACILITATE GOOD LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC HEALTH?
MY EMAIL ADDRESS FOR QUERIES - INFORMATION- PAPERS ON EMPOWERMENT AND ACTIVISM
ReplyDeletegrlavera@hotmail.com
Leadership clearly plays an important role in health activism, for example, as figureheads, spokespeople, role models, strategists, visionaries and theorists.
ReplyDeleteActivist leaders are important both externally and internally. To the wider public, they are symbols of social concern. Inside movements, charismatic leaders can attract and retain members and hold a group together. Some social movements have used a model of promoting the vision and personal leadership of one charismatic individual. The leader may be effective but this keeps the potential leadership small and leaves the movement vulnerable. Once such charismatic leaders have gone, the vision is not continued and internal conflict means that the movement loses its impetus. Mechanisms must exist to ensure the continuity of vision even after charismatic leaders have left. A solution to the problem is selecting a mix of different types of leaders or else making a conscious commitment to sharing power and an opposition to formal hierarchy. Such groups might adopt consensus decision making and encourage everyone to develop a range of skills and play a variety of roles in the organisation. Leadership still exists in such groups, but it is leadership based on contributions and respect, not formal roles.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY SKILLS THAT LEADERS NEED TO BETTER PERFORM THEIR WORK AS ACTIVISTS?
Activist leaders need a range of skills including:
ReplyDelete• The sharing of power and institutionalizing internal democracy within movements;
• A style of leadership which encourages and supports the ideas and planning efforts of others, using democratic decision making processes and the sharing of information;
• The ability to boost the confidence of participants and develop in them a belief that they can succeed;
• The ability to promote teamwork and to motivate those around them;
• Conflict resolution; advocacy; and the ability to connect to other leaders and organizations to gain resources and establish partnershipS.
Exceptional individuals who have a shared commitment to public involvement are also important to motivate others and to develop partnerships. In one organisation local people were drawn into the process of participation and with increased confidence and capacity became powerful advocates in their own community. A proper balance between professional inputs and lay people was seen as essential because conflict was found to occur over the lack of clarity of who had decision making influence.
THERE IS AN INDIVIDUALISM IN PUBLIC HEALTH FUELED BY CONSERVATIVE/CAPATALISTIC GOVERNMENTS AND THE THE ECONOMIC RECESSION.
ReplyDeleteThe framing of health as individualized creates an obstacle for activism. The personalization of health provides a focus on the ‘struggle’, ‘fight’ or ‘battle’ against a disease or illness. The emphasis is on self blame, personal responsibility and individual action. Individuals may be committed to change but this remains at the personal level and not at the broader structural level. People who are passionate, even angry about, for example, climate change or the poor state of the global economy, are mobilised to protest about an issue that affects us all. But obesity and heart disease affect us individually, and the response is to deal with them at a personal level. They are not perceived as a threat to us all and this makes collective activism difficult to achieve. However, there have been exceptions in health, for example, the collective action of the gay community in the 1980s to cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS. Such was the determination of this community that the extent of interaction was probably not seen before in regard to a health issue by both the medical profession and groups within civil society. The spread of HIV was perceived as a threat by gay men and this motivated many of them to act collectively.
The shift in politics in westernised countries from ideologies of the left (social liberals, democrats, socialists and communists) toward the right (conservatives, capitalists, nationalists) have made individualism more influential in public health policy. This ideology has proved attractive to politicians because it promised easily quantifiable and achievable results within a short time frame, dealt with high prevalence health problems, was simple and offered powerful future cost-savings in health care services for people suffering from chronic diseases. Government health agendas typically promote individual healthy lifestyles to address issues based on scientific and epidemiological evidence, for example, the prevalence of obesity and heart disease in society. Government funded programmes use motivational interventions that target the general population to adopt healthy lifestyles and to change their ‘unhealthy’ behaviours. The emphasis is on the ‘healthy individual’ and typically encourages exercise, eating a balanced and nutritious diet, not smoking and the moderate use of alcohol through strategies to increase awareness and to develop personal skills. A paradox is that by targeting the behaviour of the majority who are at a low to medium risk, through top-down, mass media style interventions, has little effect at the individual level. For example, reducing dietary fat consumption for the whole population would reduce coronary heart disease, but it is difficult to change the behaviour of the majority of people whose risk is only low to medium. It is also difficult to change the behaviour of people who are not captured by top-down, mass media style interventions, such as ethnic minority groups, due to socio-cultural constraints.
ReplyDeleteIn a rapidly changing technological environment activism has evolved to take advantage of the availability of new ICTs and applications such as SMS, Facebook and twitter. This has enhanced the ability to better communicate, to organise, to mobilise, to lever and to raise resources. The use of ICTs has rapidly changed the way in which people are able to network and to present a ‘face’ for their cause with which the public can interact, for example, through a website. This means that there has been an increasingly important role for ICTs to help re-frame the debate at an international, national and local level. On-line organisations are creating a new style of activism, often run by politically savvy, young entrepreneurs with a background in marketing and activism, one that fully utilises the availability of ICTs. GetUp is an independent, online advocacy organisation which aims to build a more progressive Australia by giving people the opportunity to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues. GetUp does not back any particular party and is a not-for-profit organisation that relies on small donations to fund its campaigns on problem gambling, same sex marriages and the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. GetUp received criticism of its campaign ‘No Harvey No’ that claimed timber by an Australian retailer had contributed to the destruction of native forests. In response, the Furniture Industry Association of Australia counter protested that GetUP was ignoring sustainably harvested Australian timber and jeopardizing local jobs. The tactics that GetUp employs include information sharing, e-petitions to members of parliament, lobbying, media advocacy and networking. GetUP runs its campaigns from an website which is media friendly, providing easy access to information for journalists and taking targeted and strategic action to influence policy makers.
ReplyDeleteDot-com activist organisations have several advantages over traditional forms of activism, for example, they are cheap and relatively easy to establish, they can create a quick and international coverage of targets, they can include a number of issues rather than be focussed on one issue and the technology that they use means that they appeal to a young and energetic membership. What will follow are some examples of dot.com activist organisations.
ReplyDeleteAvaaz.org (www.avaaz.org accessed 15/2/2012) is a global civil society organization launched in January 2007 that promotes activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, corruption and poverty. The organization operates in 15 languages, funding media campaigns, sending e-petitions, calling and lobbying governments, organizing "offline" protests and media advocacy events. Avaaz’s philosophy is that social movements in the past have had to build a constituency for each separate issue, year by year and country by country, in order to reach a scale that could make a difference. But by taking advantage of new technology global civil society organisations, such as Avaaz, can be composed of issue-specific networks of national chapters, each with its own staff, budget, and decision-making structure that can work on any issue of public concern in a flexible way. Avaaz's online community is polled every year to identify the most important issues to its members. Avaaz then sends email alerts to the online community in order for them to decide whether to get involved, and if enough people participate the campaign begins to take momentum.
ReplyDeleteGetUp is an independent, online advocacy organisation which aims to build a more progressive Australia by giving people the opportunity to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues. GetUp does not back any particular party and is a not-for-profit organisation that relies on small donations to fund its campaigns on problem gambling, same sex marriages and the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. GetUp received criticism of its campaign ‘No Harvey No’ that claimed timber by an Australian retailer had contributed to the destruction of native forests. In response, the Furniture Industry Association of Australia counter protested that GetUP was ignoring sustainably harvested Australian timber and jeopardizing local jobs. The tactics that GetUp employs include information sharing, e-petitions to members of parliament, lobbying, media advocacy and networking. GetUP runs its campaigns from a website which is media friendly, providing easy access to information for journalists and taking targeted and strategic action to influence policy makers (www.getup.org.au accessed 15/2/2012).
ReplyDeleteHEALTH ACTIVISM HAS HAD SUCCESSES
ReplyDeleteHealth activism has been a successful strategy for pressure groups, focussing on a specific, sometimes localised and often a short term issue, for example, women’s groups in the UK successfully campaigned for more funding for the use of Herceptin® to treat breast cancer because the minimum cost to pay for the treatment was well beyond the means of the women with cancer tumours. Health activism has also had an important role in helping social movements that are committed to long term campaigns to address broader issues such as the birth control movement for better choices for women and the breast feeding movement. Social movements that have been successful have employed a combination of tactics, have strong leadership, good media relations, a network of strategic alliances and sufficient, independent financial resources. For example, the South African Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is credited with galvanizing opposition to the court challenge brought by multinational drug firms against the South African government’s attempts to import cheaper versions of antiretroviral treatments. TAC successfully employed direct tactics including civil disobedience, legal action and media advocacy to force it to make antiretroviral drugs available through the public health system.
(Health) ACTIVISTS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT WE EXPECT
ReplyDeleteHarvey Milk (1930-1978) is described as one of the most influential gay rights activists of the 20th century. Milk started the Castro Valley Association, an organization that helped the gay community become politically organized and gain allies within labour unions and local political leaders. After running for a seat on the San Francisco Board for four times, he won the election in 1977, becoming the first openly gay person to hold office in the United States. But this victory would not last and Milk was murdered after he had served only 11 months on the board. Milk's legacy continued and one hundred thousand people marched on the first anniversary of his death to the nation's capital in support of gay rights
HEALTH ACTIVISTS TAKE ON ALL KINDS OF CAUSES
ReplyDeleteMolly Melching is the founder and Executive Director of Tostan, a Senegalese based Non Government Organisation. Melching recognized that the Senegalese themselves, and not outsiders, must be the ones to carry forward the social transformation for the abolishment of Female genital Cutting. Their decision was motivated by the understanding that these traditional practices are harmful to the health of girls and women, and therefore, violations of their human rights and not in accordance with their religious and cultural values. This understanding was a corner stone of the Tostan programme and driven by her inspirational leadership, Melching, has been a relentless advocate and lobbyist for the causes of the abolishment of FGC, forced and child marriage and human rights. Melching’s leadership and the leadership role of local women at the village level have been an important strategy in the success of the Tostan programme.
NIMBY, WIMBY, NIABY - WHAT DO THESE MEAN?
ReplyDeleteNot in my backyard (NIMBY) and the term ‘Nimbyism’ are used to describe the opposition by people, often local residents, to a proposal for a new development such as an industrial park, wind farm, landfill site, road, railway line or airport in their neighbourhood. NIMBY is also used more generally to describe people who advocate some proposal, for example, budget cuts and tax increases, but oppose implementing it in a way that would require any sacrifice on their part. NAMBI (Not Against My Business or Industry) is used as an equivalent to NIMBY by those opposing the business or industry in question. NAMBI is a term for any business interests that expresses concern with actions or policy that threaten their business portraying its protest to be for the benefit of all. Such a labelling would occur, for example, when opposition expressed by a business involved in an urban development is challenged by activists, causing the businesses to protest and appeal for support. The term serves as a rhetorical counter to NIMBYs. Other terms such as ‘Why in my backyard’ (WIMBY) and ‘Not in anyone’s backyard’ (NIABY) have also been used to express the opposition to certain developments as inappropriate anywhere in the world such as the building of a nuclear power plant
NIMBY’s in Australia
ReplyDeleteWerribee is a small town in Australia situated in an agricultural and market gardening area close to the city of Melbourne. In 1996 the Local Government Minister announced the siting of the toxic waste dump at Werribbee and the Colonial Sugar Refining (CSR) were commissioned by the Government to prepare an environmental effects statement with the intention of CSR becoming the implementing agent for the project. The announcement of the development of the dump was a sufficient emotional trigger for outraged residents to take personal action. Their focus was against the toxic waste dump which residents felt would be detrimental to the health and economy of the community. Individuals quickly organized themselves into a resident’s action group called ‘WRATD’ (Werribee Residents Against Toxic Dump). Local leaders soon emerged and who would become instrumental in the development of this ‘community of interest’ and its rapid growth into a proficient organization. Within a period of 18 months the ‘community of interest’ had succeeded in establishing an effective campaign to raise public awareness and influence political decision makers. WRATD employed local experts who gave weight to a sophisticated approach of information dissemination, for example, a computerized operations centre and partnerships with the local university helped to broaden WRATD’s expertise. The campaign was carried out in a positive and pervasive manner constantly working behind the scenes to bring about political and social change in favour of the Werribee residents. After an enormous show of strength by 15,000 residents, who demonstrated against the siting of the dump, and a petition of more than 100,000 signatures, the CSR abandoned the project. Environmental researchers have shown that decisions about the location of hazardous waste sites have often been made in a top-down way, ignoring the concerns of local residents including economic losses from falling house prices. The environmental justice movement specifically evolved in the USA to help empower poor communities to have a more active role in the decision making process regarding these types of issues.
Want to be a better health activist-check out this web link to upgrade your skills:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wegohealth.com/
An exciting new book on health activism-covering many issues relating to strategy and to the theory of how activist organisations function.
ReplyDeleteHere is the web link:
https://www.flinders.edu.au/flinders/people/misc/00005935_Health%20activism.pdf
Present global economic conditions are giving rise to a tighter political and economic agenda and to public policies that reduce social and economic structures, deregulate labour and financial markets and stimulate commerce and investment. Governments are further reducing their responsibility by increasing market choice, transforming national health services into insurance based health care systems, privatising medical care and by promoting a bio-medical model of health as individual behaviour change. For everyday living conditions this means that governments are cutting pay and jobs, freezing benefits and welfare payments and reducing opportunities for community empowerment, education and maintenance of the infrastructure. This neoliberal ideology is attractive to politicians because it promises easily quantifiable and achievable results within a short time frame, dealing with high prevalence health problems, is relatively simple and offers powerful financial incentives for savings in health care services, especially for people suffering from chronic disease. Health activism can play a real role in countering these situations-watch this space for more information...............................................
ReplyDeleteHealth activism has been a successful strategy for addressing a specific, sometimes localised and often a short term health inequality. For example, women’s pressure groups in the UK successfully campaigned for more funding for the use of Herceptin® to treat breast cancer because the minimum cost to pay for the treatment was well beyond the means of the women with breast cancer tumours. Health activism has also played an important role in helping social movements to address broader issues of social injustice in regard to birth control and breast feeding, giving women more control over their lives and health. Successful social movements have employed a combination of tactics directed by strong leadership, good media relations, a network of strategic alliances and sufficient, independent financial resources. For example, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is credited with galvanizing opposition to the court challenge brought by multinational drug firms against the South African government’s attempts to import cheaper versions of antiretroviral treatments. TAC successfully employed direct tactics including civil disobedience, legal action and media advocacy to force the government to make antiretroviral drugs available through the public health system.
ReplyDeleteThe deepening global economic recession has given rise to a tighter political agenda on public policies that reduce social structures and safety nets. For everyday living conditions this means cutting pay and jobs and freezing benefits and welfare payments. Those people most likely to be affected by national economic changes, because they are low on the social gradient and have less financial or social protection must, more than ever, engage in interventions to reduce the negative impact on their lives. But bottom-up approaches can be compromised by the bureaucratic, top-down framework in which public health programmes are designed and delivered. People cannot depend on government to help them and in hard economic times initiatives at a local level are even less likely to influence broader policy decisions.
ReplyDeleteResistance to government and corporate decision making has been an effective means for people to gain greater access to power and resources. The Treatment Action Campaign, for example, successfully forced the South African government to make anti-retroviral drugs available through the public health system. Health activism can function independently of government support. It can challenge the existing order whenever it leads to an injustice because if necessary it can go beyond conventional action in its struggle for radical social and political change. Activism has been successful in addressing local inequalities such as preventing the removal of neighbourhood health services. It has also helped social movements to address broader issues of social injustice including improved working conditions and equal pay. Public health organisations have of course had an important role to play by using their ‘expert power’ to legitimize the concerns of others and by providing evidence to document the benefits of supporting a specific cause. An example is the support given to the advocacy group ‘Action on Smoking and Health’ for the ban on smoking in public places. It is activism that offers public health a way forward to address social injustice and inequality at a time when difficult political decisions have to be made and when innovative ideas in practice are lacking.
Historically, public health has been instrumental in bringing about radical change including reforms in sanitation in the 19th century and by giving people more choices to cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS in the 20th century. Today, social injustice and health inequality is killing people on a grand scale even though this could be avoided through a redistribution of power and resources from people at the top to those lower down the social gradient. Of course, it would be naïve to expect this to happen without the action needed to force those holding most of the power to share what they have with others. Public health is presently engaged in a gentle debate about these issues. What we need is a strong professional statement and a revolutionary call for action to solve the problems of social injustice and health inequality. But where will this call for action come from- the Peoples Health Movement? A Public Health body? An outstanding academic? A frustrated practitioner? Who has the courage and authority to make these kinds of statements?
ReplyDeleteMany large commercial and corporate lobbies have far more influence than ordinary citizens, pressure groups or social movements. Companies are of course part of civil society and contribute in many positive ways but they can also put their interests ahead of the public interest and find political allies in trying to marginalize or counter the tactics used by movements and pressure groups that are against their agenda. Corporations use a range of public relations tactics designed to influence decision makers, researchers, public opinion and policy analysis. There are sophisticated public relations, market research and lobbying companies specialising in these types of counter tactics in support of, and often only within the financial reach of, corporations. HOW CAN HEALTH ACTIVISTS COUNTER CORPORATE ACTIONS?
ReplyDeleteThe table of contents has now been updated on my new book on health activism, please see link below:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book238141?siteId=sage-uk&prodTypes=any&q=laverack&fs=1#tabview=toc
Leonard Syme, an influential American epidemiologist, suggests that this means changing the way we plan, deliver and evaluate public health, train the next generation of practitioners, organise and finance programmes, conduct research and view our role as ‘public health professionals’. I agree and go further to suggest that public health can play an important role by supporting people to engage in health activism and offers a way forward when innovative ideas in professional practice are lacking and economic times are hard. People must act on their own behalf and as governments and corporations only really listen to those with the strongest voice/leverage-unconventional action-radical action is a direct solution for many marginalised groups in society!
ReplyDeleteA VICTORY OR A LOSS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS?
ReplyDeleteLactivists’ are activists seeking to increase respect for breast-feeding in public places.
One mother was asked to breastfeed her child in the public bathroom and not in the public area in a well known coffee shop.
And so, in 2004, over two dozen ‘lactivists’ held a ‘nurse-in’ at a Starbucks cafe in Maryland, USA.
Starbucks café was forced to concede and to allow women to breastfeed in their cafes in public.
Graffiti is images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property to express underlying social and political messages. Graffiti is considered defacement and vandalism and is illegal.
ReplyDeleteBUGA UP started as a response against tobacco advertising in Australia in the late 1970s.
The campaigners defaced thousands of tobacco advertising billboards using humour and setting up parody organisations such as the ‘advertising double standards council’.
High profile events such as using a plane to sky write ‘cancer country’at a major sporting event.
BUGA UP caught the public attention and helped to change public opinion in the lead up to the national ban on cigarette advertising in Australia in 1994.
I seem to see a new protest or activist action everyday-involving young people-a return to the 1960-70s with an exciting twist-the use of ICT to better organise and mobilise people. In a neoliberal, belt tightening world-activist might well be reborn (if it ever really went away)---but where will it lead us-more accountable, responsive government or a population with a slightly longer leash?
ReplyDeleteHealth activism is a growing area of interest because it offers a more direct approach to achieve lasting social and political change to improve the lives of others. This book, for the first time, provides a clear foundation to the theory, evidence-base and strategies for health activism including exciting international case studies.
ReplyDeleteHealth Activism: Foundations and Strategies.
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book238141