How we Win! Summary of findings on successful climate justice campaigns in North America
(This page is a work in progress! Stay tuned for more information :)
How We Win was a 2023 research project supervised by Dr. Jen Gobby, and conducted by McGill students Cassandra Ciafro, Anna Henry, Frida Sofia Morales Mora, Thomas Nakasako, Dafne Ozcan, Nico Serreqi and Lea Vadez Reyes. It investigates the factors and conditions that led to successes for intersectional climate justice campaigns across Turtle Island (North America), plus the challenges they faced and how they were overcome. This page includes a summary of some key findings in the report, and key quotes from interviews and surveys with successful campaigners.
Fourteen successful intersectional climate justice campaigns from Mexico (1), the so-called United States (___), and so-called Canada (___) were explored. ‘Success’ was defined as having achieved material gains, or advancements in physical, financial, legal, or electoral conditions.
Multiple key themes emerged across several campaigns. Direct action is the strategy most commonly used to successfully overcome government opposition and police repression. Legal action and political pressure were most effective for procedural delays, reducing the economic viability of projects, and sometimes, for facilitating the recognition of Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
Coalition building was recognized as both a strategy and a success, leading to new campaigns and/or activist groups, and providing more perspectives and knowledge. Community engagement was also recognized as a strategy and a success, fostering collaboration and strong community support. The researchers concluded it was essential, not only for effecting change but also for maintaining strong, diverse and intersectional campaigns that engage a wide variety of activists.
The research concluded that a diversity of tactics is essential for intersectional climate justice campaigns to be successful. A diversity of actors, strategies, and tactics can contribute to the effectiveness of a campaign. They also indicated that government opposition and police repression against Indigenous sovereignty and rights campaigns were large challenges faced by movements. Thus, community engagement and building strong, large, and diverse coalitions seem to be the most effective strategies, along with engaging in direct action.