Why emphasise cultural power?

Stories, images and social drama feature in the work of social movements “all the time” through (for example):

• dramatic campaign events
• vivid imagery in campaign publicity and social media memes
• film and video
• the ‘theatrical’ tension of what will happen next? that often features as political events unfold
• campaigns that focus on ‘public image’ or challenging the social license of corporations and politicians.

We speak of ‘people power’ / ‘economic power’ / military power/ parliamentary or congressional power / media power and legal power as different forms of power.

The power of images, narratives and the drama of political events can be seen as combining into a distinct form of power in its own right,

• which social movements (or politicians and corporations) may have more or less of at any one time
• which is more than just an adjunct to people power or a campaigning ‘tool’ or ‘resource’
• which is needed to effectively wage a “battle of images” and a “battle of narratives” with movements’ opponents to ‘win hearts and minds’.

Analysing what is happening in terms of cultural power as well as other forms of power offers a clearer picture of what is happening politically. A series of case studies of political communication, from Margaret Thatcher to Donald Trump – and, in Australian politics, from The Rudd-Gillard-Abbott era to the outcome of Australia’s 2019 election – focus on how progressives often lose the “battle of images” and “battle of stories”. Case studies of historic social movements, and of the climate movement examine how cultural power is wielded by progressives.

Combining “people power” and cultural power can be critical for social movement success

With a high level of ‘people power’, you can get a large turnout on the streets and build mass opposition to fossil fuel interests. You can campaign with a depth of grassroots support, working with strong community networks to sustain pressure over time. 

An organised movement can assert that Black Lives Matter, defying curfews and continuing to protest even when threatened with ‘vicious dogs’, tear gas and military force. ‘People power’ has been central to ending apartheid, claiming women’s right to vote, bringing down the Berlin Wall, abolishing slavery… the list is endless.

Often, however, generating enough cultural power is necessary to make these things happen in the first place: people turn out on the streets or organise in their localities or networks because they feel passionate, and they feel passionate (partly) because they are moved by stories, images and the ‘drama’ of events. In the climate movement, this pattern can be seen in the Do The Math Tour that launched divestment campaigning, the Stop Adani Roadshow, and way that the 2014 Pacific Climate Warriors’ blockade became a springboard to ongoing campaigning. The same pattern occurred with Gandhi’s Salt March, the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the lunch counter sit-ins in the US in 1960 that led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and its key role in later civil rights campaigns.

Naidoo makes in his book Change: Organising Tomorrow, Today (2017) correspond to Alexander’s arguments. Naidoo writes about the need for a ‘spark’, and for vision. He recalls the role of Steve Biko who ‘lit up our minds and rewired our synapses’ (L389-390) and the image of Hector Pieterson, killed by police during the Soweto uprising, which became ‘a powerful symbol of our resistance’ (L562). He notes the symbolic power of Nelson Mandela and the need to both preserve Mandela’s memory and to act on it. In this account, the strength and significance of imagery and symbolism and effective community organising work in tandem.