Strategic Aims

The first diagram below is a completed sample of a ‘campaign strategy document’: a succinct summary of an entire campaign.

This diagram will give you an idea of how your campaign strategy document should look so that activists in your campaign can readily see what you are all doing.

Using the blank version of the campaign strategy document at the bottom of this page (which you can download), write in the political purpose – ‘what you want’ – of your campaign. The two strategic aims – ‘how you get what you want’ – are already defined and printed into the document (because they are always the same).

Now you just need to define your strategic goals for both mobilizing support for your campaign and for undermining support for the problem. From your political and strategic assessment:

(1) identify the key social groups that can be mobilized to support and participate in your strategy (and then write these groups into the ‘bubbles’ on the left side of the blank diagram below), and

(2) identify the key social groups (corporation/s, police/military, government, workers, consumers etc.) whose support for the problem (e.g. the deployment of 5G, the climate catastrophe, war, the discrimination/violence against a particular group, forest destruction, resource extraction) is vital (and then write these groups into the columns on the right side of the blank diagram below).

Your strategic goals should then be written in accordance with the formula explained in this article: ‘The Political Objective and Strategic Goal of Nonviolent Actions’. That is: ‘To cause a [specified group of people] to act in the [specified way]’.

In turn below, I have identified the basic set of strategic goals that would be appropriate for:

1. halting the deployment of 5G,
2. ending the climate catastrophe [although these strategic goals are subject to substantial revision as soon as I have a clearer understanding of the role of geoengineering in the climate], and
3. ending war.

1. Strategic goals that would be appropriate in a nonviolent struggle to halt the deployment of 5G (and which conform to the formula described above) include those listed below although, it should be noted, the list of strategic goals would be considerably longer as individual organizations, particularly including each major state-owned, public and private corporation involved in the deployment of 5G – notably including SpaceX (USA), OneWeb (UK/USA), Boeing (USA), Spire Global (Scotland/Luxembourg/USA), Iridium (USA), Globalstar (USA), Orbcomm (USA), Telesat (Canada), Eutelsat (Europe), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Earth Observing System (USA), the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency (USA) – see ‘National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA), Systems, Technologies, and Emerging Capabilities (STEC)’ – Lynk (USA), the Russian Satellite Communications Company, GLONASS (Russia), the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (China), Amazon and Facebook but others as well – should be specified separately.

Concerned people of Kerry in Ireland protest against the deployment of 5G on 28 January 2020. Photo: Tralee Today

Of course, individual activist groups would usually accept responsibility for focusing their work on achieving one or a few of the strategic goals (which is why any single campaign within the overall strategy is readily manageable). It is the responsibility of the struggle’s strategic leadership to ensure that each of the strategic goals is being addressed (or to prioritize if resource limitations require this):

(1) To cause parents, teachers, religious leaders and other adults in your [town/city/state/province/country] to nurture children so that they acquire the emotional and intellectual capacities to both seek out and develop nonviolent resolution strategies whenever dealing with conflict, including that in relation to damaging technologies based on electromagnetic radiation. See ‘My Promise to Children’.

(2) To cause the members of [environment groups Ev1, Ev2, Ev…] in [your town/city] to boycott [cell phones] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(3) To cause the members of [peace groups P1, P2, P…] in [your town/city] to boycott [cell phones] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(4) To cause the members of [women’s organizations WO1, WO2, WO…] in [your town/city] to boycott [cell phones] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(5) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T1, T2, T…] in [your town/city] to boycott [cell phones] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(6) To cause the members of denominations of [religious organizations R1, R2, R…] in [your town/city] to boycott [cell phones] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(7) To cause the students in [student organizations S1, S2, S…] in [your town/city] to boycott [cell phones] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(8) To cause consumers in [your area/country] to stop buying [technology products that rely on electromagnetic radiation] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that promote 5G technology.

(9) To cause [technology corporations TC1, TC2, TC…] to withdraw from the [satellite/satellite masts/local antennas/5G communications] industry in [your area/country].

(10) To cause the professional personnel [in professional associations PA1, PA2, PA…] to withdraw their knowledge and skills from [technology corporations TC1, TC2, TC…] in [your area/country] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(11) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T4, T5, T…] to withdraw their labor from [technology corporations TC1, TC2, TC…] in [your area/country] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(12) To cause [corporations C1, C2, C…] that provide [components and services such as management, ground station and launch services] for [technology corporations TC1, TC2, TC…] to cease doing so and, in the case of corporations that produce launch rockets and components, to convert from the manufacture of these technologies to the manufacture of [the specified/negotiated socially/environmentally beneficial products].

(13) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T4, T5, T…] to withdraw their labor from [corporations C1, C2, C…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(14) To cause [banks B1, B2, B…] to cease financing or otherwise serving the 5G technology industries.

(15) To cause bank customers to shift their deposits to ethical banks and credit unions that do not finance the 5G technology industries.

(16) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T7, T8, T…] to withdraw their labor from [banks B1, B2, B…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(17) To cause the members of [religious organizations R1, R2, R…] to agitate for their organization to divest from the 5G technology industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, renewable energy technology].

(18) To cause the members of [superannuation funds S1, S2, S…] to agitate for their fund to divest from the 5G technology industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, organic/biodynamic farming].

(19) To cause the customers of [insurance companies I1, I2, I…] to agitate for their insurer to divest from, and refuse to provide insurance cover for, the 5G technology industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, rainforest conservation].

(20) To cause the citizens of your [town/city] to agitate for your [town/city] council to resist deployment of 5G technology.

(21) To cause [media corporations MC1, MC2, MC…] that deny the adverse impacts of 5G technology to cease doing so.

(22) To cause the staff of media corporations MC1, MC2, MC… to withdraw their labor while those corporations deny the adverse impacts of 5G technology.

(23) To cause the closure of the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) in Alaska.

(24) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T10, T11, T…] to withdraw their labor from the HAARP.

(25) To cause the closure of the System for Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM) in Brazil.

(26) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T13, T14, T…] to withdraw their labor from the SIVAM.

(27) To cause the soldiers in [military units M1, M2, M…] to refuse to obey orders to [arrest, assault, torture and shoot, depending on your local circumstances] nonviolent activists campaigning against the deployment of 5G.

(28) To cause the police in [police units P1, P2, P…] to refuse to obey orders to [arrest, assault, torture and shoot, depending on your local circumstances] nonviolent activists campaigning against the deployment of 5G.

As you can see, the two strategic aims are achieved via a series of intermediate strategic goals.

2. Strategic goals that would be appropriate in a nonviolent struggle to end the climate catastrophe [although these strategic goals are subject to substantial revision as soon as I have a clearer understanding of the role of geoengineering in the climate] (and which conform to the formula described above) include those listed below although, it should be noted, the list of strategic goals would be considerably longer as individual organizations, particularly including each major state-owned, public and private corporation involved in the fossil fuel extraction/distribution cycle – notably including the coal corporations Adani Enterprises, Anglo Coal Australia, BHP Billiton, Glencore, New Hope Corp, Peabody Energy Australia, Rio Tinto Coal Australia, Vale, Whitehaven Coal and Yancoal Australia Ltd (Australia), Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (Bangladesh/India), Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), ČEZ (Czech Republic), National Energy Investment Group, China Huadian, the State Power Investment Corporation, China Huaneng, China Datang and the Shaanxi Energy Group (China), RWE, EPH, Uniper and STEAG (Germany), Public Power Corporation (Greece), the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Coal India and Adani Enterprises (India), PLN Persero, Bukit Asam and Adaro (Indonesia), J-Power, Marubeni, Chugoku Electric Power, TEPCO, Chubu Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Power (Japan), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Sarawak Energy (Malaysia), Erdenes Mongol (Mongolia), Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (Pakistan), Meralco, SMC Global Power Holdings, DMCI Holdings, Ayala Corporation, Aboitiz Power, Global Business Power, JG Summit Holdings and the Zest-O Group (Philippines), Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA (PGE), ENEA and ZE PAK (Poland), RusHydro, PJSC Inter RAO and Mechel (Russia), Posco Energy and KEPCO (South Korea), Endesa (Spain), Anglo American and Exxaro Resources (South Africa), EGAT (Thailand), GCM Resources (UK), Glencore (UK-Switzerland), Arch Coal, Peabody Energy, Cloud Peak Energy, Murray Energy Corp (USA), EVN, PetroVietnam and Vinacomin (Vietnam), but many other coal companies as well, and the oil and gas corporations Petrobras (Brazil), PetroChina (China), Total S.A. (France), Eni (Italy), Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosneft and Novatek (Russia), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), BP (UK), Royal Dutch Shell (UK-Netherlands), Chevron, ExxonMobil (USA) – should be specified separately and, particularly importantly, all of the strategic goals in relation to ending war in the subsequent example should also be included given the military’s preeminent role in destruction of the climate.

4,000 Ende Gelände activists nonviolently blockade the tracks carrying lignite (the dirtiest form of coal) from the giant Hambach open-pit lignite mine to the power plant of RWE (the world’s largest lignite miner) in the Rhine, Germany. 27 Oct 2018. Photo: Nora Börding

Of course, individual activist groups would usually accept responsibility for focusing their work on achieving one or a few of the strategic goals (which is why any single campaign within the overall strategy is readily manageable). It is the responsibility of the struggle’s strategic leadership to ensure that each of the strategic goals is being addressed (or to prioritize if resource limitations require this):

(1) To cause parents, teachers, religious leaders and other adults in your [town/city/state/province/country] to nurture children so that they acquire the emotional and intellectual capacities to both seek out and develop nonviolent resolution strategies whenever dealing with conflict, including the climate catastrophe. See ‘My Promise to Children’.

(2) To cause the members of [environment groups Ev1, Ev2, Ev…] in [your town/city] to boycott [air travel and/or car travel and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(3) To cause the members of [peace groups P1, P2, P…] in [your town/city] to boycott [air travel and/or car travel and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(4) To cause the members of [women’s organizations WO1, WO2, WO…] in [your town/city] to boycott [air travel and/or car travel and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(5) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T1, T2, T…] in [your town/city] to boycott [air travel and/or car travel and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(6) To cause the members of denominations of [religious organizations R1, R2, R…] in [your town/city] to boycott [air travel and/or car travel and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(7) To cause the students in [student organizations S1, S2, S…] in [your town/city] to boycott [air travel and/or car travel and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(8) To cause consumers in [your area/country] to stop buying [fossil fuels and/or meat and/or specified forest products] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that deny the climate catastrophe.

(9) To cause [corporations C1, C2, C…] to withdraw from the [fracking/gas/coal/oil/meat/forest destruction/weapons] industry in [your area/country].

(10) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T4, T5, T…] to withdraw their labor from [corporations C1, C2, C…] in [your area/country] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(11) To cause [banks B1, B2, B…] to cease financing the fossil fuel, meat, forest destruction and weapons industries.

(12) To cause bank customers to shift their deposits to ethical banks and credit unions that do not finance the fossil fuel, meat, forest destruction and weapons industries.

(13) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T7, T8, T…] to withdraw their labor from [banks B1, B2, B…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(14) To cause the members of [religious organizations R1, R2, R…] to agitate for their organization to divest from the fossil fuel, meat, forest destruction and weapons industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, renewable energy technology].

(15) To cause the members of [superannuation funds S1, S2, S…] to agitate for their fund to divest from the fossil fuel, meat, forest destruction and weapons industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, organic/biodynamic farming].

(16) To cause the customers of [insurance companies I1, I2, I…] to agitate for their insurer to divest from, and refuse to provide insurance cover for, the fossil fuel, meat, forest destruction and weapons industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, rainforest conservation].

(17) To cause the citizens of your [town/city] to agitate for your [town/city] council to divest from the fossil fuel, meat, forest destruction and weapons industries and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner].

(18) To cause [media corporations MC1, MC2, MC…] that deny the climate catastrophe to cease doing so.

(19) To cause the staff of media corporations MC1, MC2, MC… to withdraw their labor.

(20) To cause farmers in [farmers’ organizations F1, F2, F…] in [your area/country] to switch from meat production to biodynamic/organic production of grains, legumes, fruit and/or vegetables.

(21) To cause the soldiers in [military units M1, M2, M…] to refuse to obey orders to [arrest, assault, torture and shoot, depending on your local circumstances] nonviolent activists campaigning against the climate catastrophe.

(22) To cause the police in [police units P1, P2, P…] to refuse to obey orders to [arrest, assault, torture and shoot, depending on your local circumstances] nonviolent activists campaigning against the climate catastrophe.

As you can see, the two strategic aims are achieved via a series of intermediate strategic goals.

3. Strategic goals that would be appropriate in a nonviolent struggle to end war (and which conform to the formula described above) include those listed below although, again it should be noted, the list of strategic goals would be considerably longer as individual organizations, such as each corporation involved in some vital aspect of weapons production – and particularly the world’s largest weapons manufacturers: Lockheed Martin (USA), Boeing (USA), BAE Systems (UK), Raytheon (USA), Northrop Grumman (USA), General Dynamics (USA), Airbus Group (Europe), United Technologies Corporation (USA), Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica) (Italy), Thales (France), Almaz-Antey (Russia) – should be specified separately.

Yemenis carrying the remains of a cluster bomb during a demonstration against the Saudi-US war against Yemen in Sana, Yemen, 2016. Photo: Yahya Arhab/EPA

Of course, individual activist groups would usually accept responsibility for focusing their work on achieving one or a few of the strategic goals (which is why any single campaign within the overall strategy is readily manageable). It is the responsibility of the struggle’s strategic leadership to ensure that each of the strategic goals is being addressed (or to prioritize if resource limitations require this):

(1) To cause parents, teachers, religious leaders and other adults in your [town/city/state/province/country] to nurture children so that they acquire the emotional and intellectual capacities to both seek out and develop nonviolent resolution strategies whenever dealing with conflict, including military violence. See ‘My Promise to Children’.

(2) To cause young people to refuse recruitment into the military forces.

(3) To cause conscripts to conscientiously refuse to perform military duties.

(4) To cause the activists in [peace groups P1, P2, P…] in [your town/city] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(5) To cause the activists in [environment groups E1, E2, E…] in [your town/city] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(6) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T1, T2, T….] in [your town/city] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(7) To cause the women in [women’s organizations WO1, WO2, WO…] in [your town/city] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(8) To cause the members of [religious denominations R1, R2, R…] in [your town/city] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(9) To cause the students in [student organizations S1, S2, S…] in [your town/city] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(10) To cause the consumers in [your area/country] to boycott [all/specified nonmilitary products] of [weapons corporations W1, W2, W…] and to boycott all media outlets (including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and social media) that are pro-war.

(11) To cause more individuals to conscientiously resist paying [part/all] of their taxes for war.

(12) To cause more organizations to conscientiously resist paying [part/all] of their taxes for war.

(13) To cause increasing numbers of activists educated in nonviolent accompaniment to publicly deploy in war zones to accompany civilians for their protection and to impede the conduct of military violence.

(14) To cause [weapons corporations W4, W5, W…] to convert from the manufacture of military weapons to the manufacture of [the specified/negotiated socially/environmentally beneficial products].

(15) To cause [banks B1, B2, B…] to cease financing the weapons industry.

(16) To cause bank customers to shift their deposits to ethical banks and credit unions that do not finance the weapons industry.

(17) To cause the members of [religious organizations R4, R5, R…] to agitate for their organization to divest from weapons corporations and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, renewable energy technology].

(18) To cause the members of [superannuation funds S1, S2, S…] to agitate for their fund to divest from weapons corporations and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, organic/biodynamic farming].

(19) To cause the customers of [insurance companies I1, I2, I…] to agitate for their insurer to divest from, and refuse to provide insurance cover for, weapons corporations and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner such as, for example, rainforest conservation].

(20) To cause the citizens of your [town/city] to agitate for your [town/city] council to divest from weapons corporations and to invest in [the specified socially/environmentally responsible manner].

(21) To cause [corporations C1, C2, C…] that provide [services/components] for [weapons corporations W7, W8 or W…] to cease doing so and, in the case of corporations that produce components, to convert from the manufacture of military components to the manufacture of [the specified/negotiated socially/environmentally beneficial products].

(22) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T4, T5, T…] to withdraw their labor from [weapons corporations W7, W8 or W…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(23) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T7, T8, T…] to withdraw their labor from [corporations C1, C2, C…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(24) To cause [corporations C4, C5, C…] that provides [services/supplies] to [military bases MB1, MB2, MB…] to cease doing so.

(25) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T10, T11, T…] who work in/supply [military bases MB1, MB2, MB…] to withdraw their labor [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(26) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T13, T14, T…] to withdraw their labor from [corporations C4, C5, C…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(27) To cause [corporations C7, C8, C…] that manufacture and supply spy satellites for military purposes to convert from the manufacture of these satellites to the manufacture of [the specified/negotiated socially/environmentally beneficial products].

(28) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T16, T17, T…] to withdraw their labor from [corporations C7, C8, C…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(29) To cause [corporations C10, C11, C…] that provide [services/components] for the militarization of space to cease doing so and, in the case of corporations that produce components, to convert from the manufacture of these components to the manufacture of [the specified/negotiated socially/environmentally beneficial products].

(30) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor organizations T19, T20, T…] to withdraw their labor from [corporations C10, C11, C…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(31) To cause [corporations C13, C14, C…] that provide private military contractors (mercenaries) to fight in wars to cease doing so.

(32) To cause the private military contractors (mercenaries) who fight in wars to resign from [corporations C13, C14, C…].

(33) To cause research facilities [RF1, RF2, RF…] that do research in relation to biological, chemical, nuclear and ‘next generation’ weapons to cease doing so and to refocus their research in [the specified/negotiated socially/environmentally beneficial direction].

(34) To cause the workers in [trade unions or labor or professional organizations T22, T23, T…] to withdraw their labor from [research facilities RF1, RF2, RF…] [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].

(35) To cause [media corporations MC1, MC2, MC…] that support war to cease doing so.

(36) To cause the staff of media corporations MC1, MC2, MC… to withdraw their labor.

(37) To cause the soldiers in [military (police) units M1, M2, M…] to refuse to obey orders to [arrest, assault, torture and shoot, depending on your local circumstances] nonviolent activists campaigning against war.

(38) To cause the police in [police units P1, P2, P…] to refuse to obey orders to [arrest, assault, torture and shoot, depending on your local circumstances] nonviolent activists campaigning against war.

(39) To cause individual members of the military forces at [Military Base MB1, MB2, MB…/Drone Base DB1, DB2, DB…/Navy Ship NS1, NS2, NS…/Navy Shipyard NY1, NY2, NY…/Navy Port NP1, NP2, NP…/Air Force Base AFB1, AFB2, AFB…/Army unit AU1, AU2, AU…/Marines unit MU1, MU2, MU…/Special Forces unit SF1, SF2, SF…/Space Base SB1, SB2, SB…] to resign.

As you can see, the two strategic aims are achieved via a series of intermediate strategic goals.

Source of this document: https://nonviolentstrategy.wordpress.com/strategywheel/strategic-aims/