Fighting back

[Guest guest]

I really wish all of you could be aware of the fact that this issue regarding the safety of breast implants has alot of stuff going on behind the scenes. There is a realm out there that would like nothing more than to destroy the work that groups like ours do. This is us, guys. We could be squashed like a bug. There ARE people out there we need to be watchful of....

Fighting Back at Flacks

The groups that most scare the PR industry are the local grassroots groups they derisively label "NIMBYs." Unlike national environmental groups and other "professional" reformers, the local groups are hard to manipulate precisely because they aren't wired into the systems that PR firms like to manipulate. Most "Not in My Backyard" activists commit to a cause after some personal experience drives them to get involved. Typically, they act as individuals or with small groups of citizens who come together to address a local, immediate threat to their lives, cities and neighborhoods. They are often treated with contempt by the professional environmentalists, health advocates and other public interest organizations headquartered in Washington, D.C. Many times, they lack organizing expertise and money. They don't have budgets or polished grant proposals needed to obtain funding from foundations and major donors. But corporations andthe US government are spending tens of millions of dollars on PR and lobbying to fight these local community activists. The most visible manifestations of NIMBYism, and its biggest success stories, have been in stopping toxic waste sites and toxin-belching incinerators from invading communities. Author Mark Dowie sees this new wave of grassroots democracy as the best hope for realizing the public's well-documented desire for a clean and healthy environment in sustainable balance with nature. "Today, grassroots anti-toxic environmentalism is a far more serious threat to polluting industries than the mainstream environmental movement," Dowie writes. "Not only do local activists network, share tactics, and successfully block many dump sites and industrial developments, they also stubbornly refuse to surrender or compromise. They simply cannot afford to. Their activities and success are gradually changing the acronym NIMBY to NIABY -- Not In Anybody's Backyard." (32) But before that can happen, local groups need to develop a strategy for confronting the powers-that-be in their backyard, and that means learning to recognize and fight the techniques of PR. Until they learn this lesson, local activists may continue to win local battles, while finding themselves outmaneuvered and outgunned at the national level. http://www.io.com/~brettw/PR_War.html

Stauber and Sheldon Rampton edit PR Watch, a quarterly publication about the public relations industry, and are authors of the new book, Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry published by Common Cour. age Press. The book can be ordered by phone by calling 1-800-497-3207, or by mail for $20/book (includes postage and handling) from the Center for Media & Democracy, 3318 Street, Madison, WI 53711.