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Here’s how, with our allies, we started in New York:
CONSIDER ALLIES, OPPONENTS,
AND WHERE THE POWER LIES
1 SET A CLEAR, BOLD GOAL
Once we have our goal and our target, we then step back and ask questions like:
Our goal was a statewide ban on fracking in New York — bold, direct, and easy to understand. “It was ‘Asking for what you really want, not just what you think you can get,’” says Emily. It also helped us gain allies and trust. “I think as an organization, we built up credibility really quickly because nobody nationally was calling for a ban,” says Alex Beauchamp, Food & Water Watch Northeast Director. “That just opened a lot of doors. People saw that we were the ones say- ing the right thing.”
2
IDENTIFY A TARGET
The target is the person or group of people who can give us what we want. Choosing well is essential to any fight. “You need to target some- one who’s elected, because the power you have is unelecting them, or affecting their funding,” explains Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch Founder and Executive Director. Targeting Governor Cuomo was key to the campaign’s success. In the early days, there were many discussions about who to target — we con- sidered the legislature, various officials, the DEC. But it became clear that no matter what anyone else did on fracking, Cuomo would make the final decision. He also had lots of leverage points, like his aspirations for national poli- tics. This knowledge shaped our tactics as we raised the issue of frack- ing in New York to the national stage.
These first three steps are part of the Midwest Academy strategy chart that Food & Water Watch uses for most of our campaigns. “It’s a way of looking at power, our relationships to power, and how we can all come together to overcome entrenched power,” says Mark Schlosberg, Food & Water Watch Director of Public Affairs.
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People Power vs. Fracking 18
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