"Online activism really helps change the lines," explains Sarah Durieux, France director of Change.org.
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SIERAKOWSKI / ISOPIX
The number of online petitions, and in general online mobilization, exploded in France in 2020 because of the health crisis.
"Today, the online petition is a central tool for organizing the mobilization", explains Sarah Durieux, France director of Change.org, which is publishing this Thursday, January 21, "Changing the world" (First editions).
“Petitions come to life on social networks, beyond the simple signature.
They lead to other much more concrete actions, such as street mobilizations, ”adds the leader, a specialist in citizen mobilizations and digital strategies.
We see a lot of them running on social networks… Online petitions have multiplied in recent years.
Some have even managed to mobilize more than a million people, such as the one posted in November 2018 “For a drop in fuel prices at the pump” which officially launched the “yellow vests” movement.
Large mobilizations have therefore emerged thanks to online petitions.
“Everyone today can act, at their own level.
We can all use the methods of activism to shake things up, ”explains Sarah Durieux, France director of Change.org, the world's largest online petitions platform.
"Writing an effective petition text, federating and animating a community of support, organizing a punching action and pushing political leaders to respond, all these actions are within our reach", adds the leader, in her book
Changing the World
, to be published on Thursday, January 21 (First editions).
20 Minutes
interviewed the young woman, a specialist in citizen mobilizations and digital strategies, who was recently selected by the Obama Foundation to follow the
Obama Foundation Leaders program.
Why did you feel the need to write this book, which is a sort of little manual for “the budding activist”?
Many
digital natives
now know how to go about mobilizing online.
It is not to them that I wanted to address myself through this book, but to all the others, those who do not have the experience, nor the networks to make their causes known.
It is important today to train people, to give them the tools to advance their fight online.
For me, today is a big democratic issue.
There are many social issues which deserve the attention not only of the media, but also of political and economic leaders.
In
Changing the World
, I concretely explain how to go about making an online mobilization successful, in particular by addressing citizen lobbying techniques to influence decisions.
The objective of my book is not only to allow people to make their causes known to as many people as possible, but it is above all that they can succeed.
The online petition, is it a real tool for activism today?
Absolutely.
In any case, it is a good starting point for activism.
Everyone knows the principle of the online petition, and how to participate.
It is an easy to use tool for people who want to get started in activism.
The online petition fulfills three objectives: it makes it possible to make a cause public (which is not the case with all militant actions), it allows people to count themselves - it gives legitimacy to the group, and to the cause that 'we defend - and above all most importantly, it allows us to organize ourselves for the rest of the movement (demonstration, sit-in and other initiatives).
Today, it is a full-fledged tool for activating and mobilizing.
We saw this very recently with the baker from Besançon who launched an online petition [240,000 signatures] so that his apprentice, a young Guinean refugee, is not deported.
Many actions were taken (re-shared tweets, questioning of deputies, etc.) following this petition, and made it possible to bring this cause to fruition.
Laye Fode, the young apprentice, was able to be regularized and keep his job.
For me, this campaign has been extraordinary, and it is typically the kind of mobilization that we support on Change.org.
Is this really an effective way to influence the public and political debate?
Many of our petitions launched on our platform have had spinoffs, and significant repercussions in public life.
I am thinking, for example, of the mobilization against the Labor Law in 2016, which started with a petition launched on Change.org signed by more than a million people.
Or even - some have already forgotten - the movement of "yellow vests" which was also launched by a petition "For a drop in fuel prices at the pump" on our platform.
If we go back in time a bit, there is also the whole campaign around the grace of Jacqueline Sauvage, which had a lot of impact.
This affair, and the mobilization it sparked, has revived the debate on domestic violence in France.
We have defended a lot of causes, but not all of them are remembered ...
Online petition, and online mobilization in general, today has real political legitimacy.
Some do not want to recognize it politically, because it is not easy to manage.
But the reality is that there is a real impact of digital movements on public opinion.
Certain political figures respond directly on our platform.
This was the case with our president, Emmanuel Macron, during the “yellow vests” crisis, or even with Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, who on several occasions spoke on Change.org.
However, many criticize online petitions, and in general slacktivism, which is also called "click activism" ...
Some believe that this kind of activism requires little effort, less commitment.
This is a criticism that I can fully understand, but which today is no longer valid at all.
The petition was used before as an indicator to measure engagement.
Today, it is a real central tool for organizing mobilization.
Petitions come to life on social networks, beyond the simple signature.
They lead to other much more concrete actions, such as street mobilizations.
Likewise, we see more and more messages shared on Instagram in the form of colored thumbnails on which are affixed a few words or phrases to support a cause [such as the black background for the
Black Lives Matter
movement
or the blue background to support the Uyghurs].
I fully assume to use this kind of tools.
It has become an effective way to make certain messages visible, and to mobilize thousands of people.
Clicking, for me, is really getting involved!
And it's also a way of including people who are sometimes put aside, those who are geographically isolated, those who have health problems… Not everyone has the possibility of participating in physical actions.
Some can only express themselves with a click, but this does not mean that their commitment is less.
Today, we need to restore value to these people who are mobilizing online.
We can always put into perspective the fact that it has less value, but what I see is that battles are actually successful today.
Slacktivism makes it possible to create a commitment, and especially to concretely move things forward.
If people had not widely shared the photo of little Aylan in 2015 [a little Syrian boy found dead on the Turkish coast], we would not have the same understanding in the public space of what is happening in the Mediterranean.
It is important to rely on this kind of sharing which can sometimes seem ephemeral.
You devote an entire chapter of your book to how to "make the buzz".
How to use social networks and virality to reach as many people as possible?
Today we are living in the age of Instagram (after that of Facebook).
Before, we used to do large columns in the newspapers, today we see that a well-produced video can very quickly appeal to a lot, see a lot of people.
We all have a smartphone - which photographs and films - so we can all potentially be mobilized and / or mobilize.
For me, there are two important concepts for a cause to go viral: content and network.
When it comes to content, video and images have become very effective tools to convey a message.
We see this in particular with the success of
live shows
, especially in this period of health crisis when people need to stay connected to each other.
And then there is the network, that is to say, you have to find the right entry point to get your message across, and mobilize.
Contrary to popular belief, seeking the support of influencers or great personalities is not necessarily the best idea.
Has the health crisis, which we are still experiencing today, amplified online mobilization?
For me, there was clearly a before and after Covid-19.
We have gone from nearly 1,000 petitions per month on the platform, to more than 3,000.
In France, this represents a 35% increase in petitions launched over this period [10 months], and a 15% increase in the number of people registered on the platform.
There really was a Covid effect.
The situation has really changed.
People, who could not protest because of lockdowns and other restrictions, needed other alternatives to speak out and put pressure on politicians.
They needed to click!
We have thus enabled people who have little knowledge of digital technology to step up to digital mobilization.
The platform does not live outside the world, it is just a reflection of what is happening in society.
In any case, 2020 has been a historic year for Change.org.
It remains to be seen whether 2021 will be similar ...
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