We will be talking about market and political failures in tonight's class. This little blog entry contains both concepts. A bunch of people (between 300,000 and 500,000) demonstrated in New York this weekend demanding political action on climate change, an issue that almost embodies market failure. What will be the outcome?
[H]olding large rallies doesn’t always result in political change. It is
by organizing at the district level, walking neighborhoods, and putting
pressure on those running for Congress that we would get real
legislative change. Some activists are such purists that they sniff at
giving political contributions. Likewise, disinvestment from oil and
gas companies is a great symbolic gesture but it doesn’t stop global
warming.
NYC Climate Demo: Top 5 Massive Rallies that had no Effect | Informed Comment
Like Juan Cole, I am all for people taking advantage of their First Amendment rights, but I do not think a massive rally is enough to convince Congress to make substantial changes. Historically, there have been several large rallies that have received a lot of media attention without any significant changes from Congress. The problem with large rallies is that they do not produce lasting pressure. Initially, large rallies produce a lot of hype from the media. Once the rallies are over, they lose almost all of their media attention. By losing the media, these rallies lose a lot of the pressure they had on Congress. Why? It is because people across the nation are no longer engaged in the issue. Without a majority of the population educated and in support of a certain issue, Congress can just wait for all the commotion that rallies produce to die down. In order to produce lasting pressure there needs to be more promotion at the local level. By building up awareness and knowledge for certain issues, local communities will become more engaged and compassionate towards these issues. As more and more communities become involved, they will begin to have more of an impact and apply more of a lasting pressure to not only local governments, but Congress as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Querubin in that rallies lose their steam after losing media coverage. Demonstrations are exciting and feel powerful when present or when talking about the numbers of people in attendance, but members of Congress do not feel this power because it does not affect them. Perhaps the role of rallies is to incite the people who care about the issue to pressure congress in more direct ways, such as through donating to politicians who support their views.
ReplyDeleteI think a little research on the rally will put some context behind it. Knowing a few people that actually drove to NYC this weekend to take part in the demonstration, the NYC protest was deliberately held to "make noise" ahead of a climate convention at the UN this week. Lead by environmentalist Bill McKibben, the march sought to let, in particular, the Obama Administration know that a multitude of people wanted action on global climate change. If you read the review of the convention from today (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/world/asia/obama-at-un-climate-summit-calls-for-vast-international-effort.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) it looks like that's what we may be getting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both Q and Monica, but in this case the rally had a specific goal- to promote action at the UN climate conference. And frankly, if the measures proposed by Obama do go into effect across the world, then McKibben's Peoples Climate March will have reached its goal.
Just saw John Stewart's take on the march, and found it both humorous and insightful (and a little bit concerning): http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/8q3nmm/burn-noticed.
ReplyDeleteI think in this clip he points to a couple of reasons why the march was important. For one, the UN secretary general was present. As Bret mentioned, one of the main goals of the march was to reiterate to the UN that many people find this issue to be important. So in that regard, I would agree with Bret that the march was successful.
Also, this clip shows how some important members of Congress actually understand very little about climate change. We can only hope that this march will compel Congress members to at least become more informed about climate change, which I think would undoubtably lead to some positive changes in environmental and corporate policy.