5 WAYS TO TRANSLATE THE WOMEN'S MARCH INTO REAL CHANGE

Boston Women's March/Courtesy Anne Zeiser

By Anne Zeiser
Founder of Azure Media 
Author of  Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media

The Women’s March on January 21, 2017 - the day after Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration - was momentous. Not only for the moment it represented, but also for the movement it’s unleashing. Young people are feeling their agency. Creatives are producing social commentary. Journalists are reestablishing their craft. And democracy is galvanizing populist support. 

While it’s harder to get people to show up at events than to donate money, they turned out in droves for the Women’s March. At least 500,000 marchers peacefully protested in Washington D.C., for the “protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families - recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.”  Some 400 sister marches popped up in every major city and minor burg in the U.S., garnering 1.3 million participants. Hundreds more sprung up in Paris, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. In all, there were 672 separate marches worldwide, firing up 2 million activists.

By way of historical comparison, the Women’s March on Washington was the largest combined protest in the U.S. and the second largest in D.C., second to the 2013 March for Life to protest abortion, which attracted 650,000. The 1963 March on Washington, the historic civil rights rally on the Mall where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech drew 250,000 people; from 1965 to 1971 there were a series of anti-Vietnam marches, the largest being the 1969 Vietnam Moratorium, which attracted 600,000 over a week; and the 1995 Million Man Marchfor black rights drew between 400,000 (National Park Service) to 837,000 (Boston University/ABC research). 

But activism alone doesn’t automatically translate into change. Change happens from long-term organized actions that strategically exert pressure at critical pivot points. Strong movements operate both from the bottom up and the top down. Your actions matter because grassroots movements influence leaders and power brokers to make bold moves and break with party lines. The drumbeat must be unrelenting and sustained - for as long as it takes. Therefore, everyone who marched and everyone who marched in spirit must act in some meaningful way on an ongoing basis. 

You can contribute to real change by acting and participating in myriad ways. You can: volunteer, donate money, lobby elected officials, raise money, protest, contact the media, write articles, make art, spread the word. Here are five practical means to translate your energy and activism into change:

1.   Find a Group or Cause to Champion - Connect to an organization or a cause you care deeply about and stick with it. Don’t spread yourself too thin with too many causes, but rather commit to fewer things over the long haul. Whether you choose a larger organization like Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Center for Accountability, or Climate Reality or a local educational or health group, make a concerted effort to contribute in some way every week. Over time it will be a fulfilling part of your life, rather than a task.

 2.   Talk to Your Elected Officials - Elected officials represent you. You must make your opinions heard throughout officials’ terms, not just on Election Day. Your town, city, and state websites have your local officials’ contacts and the National Priorities Project has them for your Congressional representatives. Go to your officials’ offices hours. Call, e-mail, and write them to let them know how you feel about the issues of the day. Flood their phone banks and their mailboxes. Organize your own petition via Care2.com or sign onto organized petitions by CREDO Action, MoveOn.org, or Change.org. Sign the petitions, tag the links with hashtags, and share them widely on your digital platforms - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, blog, vlog, podcast, and website.

3.   Get Involved in Public Service - Be active in the political process. Run for office or support candidates who represent your ideology. You can start locally on school committees or in state legislatures. Virginia, New Jersey, and North Carolina have key state-level elections this year. There are 38 governors’ races in 2017 and 2018 that may affect gerrymandered districts (recarving the borders of a district to ensure a party or candidate wins). The mid-term Congressional elections in 2018 are critical to the complexion of Congress. Because the Electoral College is likely to remain in the 2020 presidential election, the best way to elect a president who represents your values may be to work in a sister battleground state such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maine, or New Hampshire to swing those electoral votes.

 4.   Register to Vote/Get Out the Vote - Voting is the most powerful tool of democracy, yet it’s the most overlooked. If everyone eligible had voted last fall, we might have had a different outcome today. Ensure everyone you know who’s a citizen of 18 years or older is registered. Many people don’t register because they don’t know how. Work with your town hall and state to spread the word on how to register. Help voters sign up in inner cities, on farms, and on college campuses. Check out Rock the Vote’s efforts to increase voter registration and The League of Women’s Voters initiatives to make registration easier and stop voter suppression. During elections, encourage people in your sphere of influence to exercise their franchise. Drive those that need help to vote or volunteer at your local polling place. 

5.   Support Journalism and Freedom of the Press - The days of believing fake news are dead. Sound journalism - supported by verified facts - is central to an informed citizenry. That’s why freedom of the press is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. To develop a discerning eye, read various news sites, watch news programs, and subscribe to a newspaper or publication. Note the difference in how media outlets report on the same issue. Understand the difference between reporting and opinion (public affair programs and op-eds). Watch documentaries on many subjects. PBS has some of the best. Cultivate and share your trusted news sources widely on social and digital media. Hold social media sites and news outlets responsible for fact checking. Support #Truth and #Journalism and denounce #FakeNews and #AltFacts.

There’s much that you can do, but these five avenues will focus your energy in ways that matter. If you want to keep following the Women’s March thread, its organizers have outlined “10 Actions for the First 100 Days” of Trump in office. They offer 10 doable, actions with easy-to-follow steps like socializing and sending postcards to elected officials. There’s no dearth of means to sustain the momentum and make a measurable difference. Add your ideas, organizations, and links in the comments below. 

But, don’t wait to be led by others to become a change agent. 

“If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing.” -- President Barack Obama

This story also appeared in the Huffington Post

_____________________________________________________________________

Anne Zeiser is a critically-acclaimed transmedia and social impact producer and media strategist. She’s stewarded films and iconic series for PBS, produced news for CBS, managed national brands for marketing firms, and founded Azure Media, which develops transmedia projects on air, online, and on the go that fuel social impact in communities, in schools, and in capitals. She’s the author of Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media from Focal Press’ American Film Market® Presents book series. Chapter 29, “Media-fueled Social Impact” outlines how to create social change movements using the media.

Follow Anne Zeiser on Twitter @AzureMedia www.twitter.com/AzureMedia

5 THINGS TRUMP'S WIN TAUGHT MY 12-YEAR-OLD SON

TomWang112

By Anne Zeiser
Founder of Azure Media 
Author of  Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media

My son’s middle school pre-election vote was prescient. Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 7%. “Could this actually happen in real life?,” asked my 12- year-old. “Yes it could.” For more than a year, I have predicted that this outcome was likely. Ask my friends and family about the heated discussions at cookouts and holiday get-togethers. Most dismissed my theory that Trump would win because of the hidden, growing trend he represented and pandered to. I suspected the polls wouldn’t fully reveal this partially underground phenomenon. 

Now that it has come to pass, what to say to a kid who heard Trump’s “build a wall” statement in real time and called him on it vehemently? A kid who formed his own opinion of who was the better candidate, landing firmly on Hillary Clinton. So, when Trump became the President-elect, what could he learn from the loss of his chosen candidate?



These are my suggested takeaways:

1. Life isn’t fair. It never has been and it never will be. The sooner and the more deeply you learn this, the better-equipped you will be to handle life. “So what?” if a kid stole your ball, the teacher blamed you for something you didn’t do, a colleague presented your idea as his, or your candidate didn’t win? The takeaway: Decide how you are you going to handle it. Are you going to blame your current circumstances on external forces?  Are you going to dwell on the fact that it’s unjust? Or, are you going to translate that ire into resolve to do something about it… starting now? 

2. Find the good in people. Are all of Trump’s supporters, bigots, misogynists, and haters? Probably not. But they’re all scared. They’re afraid of losing something precious — their economic or social standing. We know how swiftly fear brings out the worst in people. We saw the rise of fear in Nazi Europe and we saw FDR brilliantly allay it when the Great Depression descended upon this country. The takeaway: Work hard to understand what people are afraid of. Is it fear of lost jobs, diminished quality of life, or “otherness?” Once fear’s understood, you can combat it – by demonstrating how rising tides raise all boats or how we all share a common human experience. 

3. Understand that you have power.  Whether you’re a 12- or 87-year-old; a business owner or unemployed; a white male or a member of a disenfranchised group; you are powerful, especially in this country. You have rights. You have a voice. You have platforms. You have agency.  The takeaway: Every person’s actions matter. The greatest movements began with one person who inspired others to stand up for good. What you do in your life – no matter how seemingly insignificant – has a ripple effect on the people around you, and so on, and so on. Gather up your power and feel its strength.

4. Identify clearly what needs fixing. While there’s a lot to do to make the world a better place and it’s great to feel passionate about many things, you can’t fuel real change without identifying concrete problems and solutions.  What will ensure all Americans have equal rights under the law? How do we give everyone an opportunity to prosper? What measures will protect our planet from climate change? The takeaway: Find your cause(s) and identify the various ways to improve it. Some solutions involve top-down institutional or policy change. Others use bottom-up grassroots public pressure. Most use both. What elements of those solutions can you truly advance?  

5. Create a practical action plan.  Actions affect change. Your actions should be proportional to the concern you feel. If you think the long-standing future of the country is at stake, then make a long-standing commitment to getting involved. Progress requires hard, protracted work. You can sign a petition or post on social media, but will armchair activism be enough? The takeaway: Evaluate the most effective ways you can make a difference. Are you a strong writer or a tech guru? Can you lend your skills to like-minded people or groups? Perhaps you will shape your career to positively impact this world. Will you run for office? Invent something useful? Advocate for the needy?

In seeking lessons around the outcome of the recent election for my 12-year-old – a person old enough to understand what’s going on in the world, but not old enough to fully feel his agency in changing it – I learned a lot. Proof positive that parenting often teaches us more than we teach our children.  In that spirit I share what I hoped my son would learn during this exceptional time – a time that’s raw, but rife with opportunity.

This updated story also appeared in the HuffingtonPost.

_____________________________________________________________________

Anne Zeiser is a critically-acclaimed transmedia and social impact producer and media strategist. She's stewarded films and iconic series for PBS, produced news for CBS, managed national brands for marketing firms, and founded Azure Media, which develops transmedia projects on air, online, and on the go that fuel social impact in communities, in schools, and in capitals. With media partners from PBS and the BBC to Miramax and Sikelia Productions, Zeiser has successfully launched and marketed film studios and media organizations, feature and documentary films, television series and specials, mobile games and apps, and online video and media communities. She's the author of Transmedia Marketing: From Film and TV to Games and Digital Media from Focal Press' American Film Market® Presents book series. You can follow her at the book’s Web site or on Twitter @azuremedia.