Stories and images

• cultural power • the climate movement • social movement history

Combining ‘people power’ and cultural power

A powerful combination

When social movements make an impact, we can often find ‘people power’ and the power of stories and images working in tandem. Yet some campaigning features high levels of one form of power but not the other. A high level of both is often essential.

March in Harlem, New York City, following "Bloody Sunday" at Selma: March, 1965 (Stanley Wolfson, Library of Congress)
Gandhi and other campaigners during the Salt March / "Salt Satyagraha", 1930 (Gandhi Heritage Portal, Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, Ahmedabad) .

What do we see if we place campaign events on a continuum showing high or low levels of different dimensions of power?

Examples of combining high levels of people power and cultural power include: 

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter in 2020 is a more recent example where people power and cultural power have fused.

The words ‘Black Lives Matter’ were painted in the streets – including in front of Trump Tower – George Floyd was remembered through ceremonies, vigils and images,  – and BLM protests continued, faced with threats from Trump, sending a strong signal that protestors would not be intimidated.

Huge marches in opposition to the Iraq War were one form of ‘people power’ in action. Yet generating (1) a large turnout and (2) a strong cultural impact are two different things. Marches against the Iraq war contributed to a perception that the war was illegitimate. The size of the marches would have contributed to this, however they are not remembered as political turning points in the same way as (e.g.) the US Civil Rights Movement’s 1963 March on Washington, the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches, the 1930 Salt March, or the 1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy.⁠ The marches against the Gulf War lacked a combination of • a dramatic sequence of actions involving • symbolically-significant locations and • iconic themes. 

The Climate Elephant of 2010 attracted significant media attention and featured the powerful symbolism of climate change as the ‘elephant in the room’: it gained commercial TV coverage, without involving a high level of people power.
 
By contrast, the school strike movement organised events with a smaller turnout than the Peoples Climate Marches and the anti-war marches, but they have featured the real cultural power of young people claiming their future and challenging an older generation that is failing them.

We often hear campaign wins described as  ‘a victory for people power’– which is true- 


yet what part was played by stories and images in the process? For example, when the ‘public image’ and legitimacy of corporations and financial institutions leads them to pull out of projects or divest from fossil fuels, the cultural power of visual images and narratives consistently plays a key role in creating the conditions where this kind of change happens. 

Cultural power energises support and defines what is at stake.

Rallying for divestment right outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall St (Matthew Anderson/ 350)

The case of Stop Adani provides one example: clearly, people power was mobilised. Images have made a huge impact as well.

See also

"School strikes: ‘people power’ and cultural power in action"
And:

"Movements use stories and images "all the time" -
so why the focus on cultural power?"
Mika Maiava of Tokelau at the Pacific Warriors Newcastle blockade (Jeff Tan)
Mural for Nelson Mandela, Lewisham Shopping Centre, London (Bill L, Flickr).