What to do? Critical Campaign Work in Times of Globalisation

The Conference, organised by Medico International and the Protestant Academy Bad Boll gives the opportunity to take a step back and reflect the chances and constraints of global campaign work. It will be an occasion to discuss the strategies taken by the Fatal Transactions campaign and others.

The 1990s were influenced by the professionalisation of the social movements. Political campaigns were increasingly taken over by non-governmental organisations and became their central communication strategy. At the same time, the conditionalities for political public relations work were changing. Globalisation seems to radically limit the scope of action of the states at national levels. Private players are increasingly taking over governing tasks. The privatisation of the political, among other things, finds expression in "Public Private Partnerships". At the same time, more and more regulatory competencies are being shifted to supranational levels.

In the face of these developments, the addresses of traditional political public relations work seem to disappear: Governments deny their responsibilities by pointing out the constraints of globalisation. Companies refer to humanitarian commitment or declarations of self-commitment. Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations are changing their strategy and increasingly are pinning their efforts on lobbying and less on mobilising the public.

We are raising questions of options for action for NGOs, that will enable us to overcome the threatening "Policy of Depoliticisation" (Pierre Bourdieu). Panelists from three continents will discuss these issues, among them the representatives of attac, Greenpeace, the People's Health Movement, Brot fur die Welt /Bread for the World, of the international campaigns Fatal Transactions and Stop EPAs.

This conference is hosted by Medico International and Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll/ Protestant Academy Bad Boll (Dr. Manfred Budzinski, Wolfgang Wagner)