In defense of slactivists
Armchair activism needn’t be ‘slactivism’. Real activism gets results. If you can get results in your pyjamas then big ups to you!
Take the well-documented example of the fight against Nestle this year.
‘Using facebook and youtube, Greenpeace stared down Nestle and Nestle blinked’.
Nestle ‘had been under fire for three months for its use of palm oil in many of its products. Greenpeace said the palm oil was harvested unethically at the expense of indigenous forest and the wildlife (like orangutans) that live in them’.
Nestlé was ripe for the bruising on this one, especially since activity like this is completely at odds with their corporate environmental principle.
(From their website) ‘Nestlé fully supports the United Nations Global Compact’s three guiding principles on environment. Nestlé therefore: supports a precautionary approach to environmental challenges (Principle 7), undertakes initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility (Principle 8 ) and encourages the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies (Principle 9)
‘Activists swarmed Nestlés Facebook page posting lists of nestle products containing palm-oil to boycott and generally expressing their profound disapproval’
Finally, after months of holding their ground ‘Nestle announced it would work with the Geneva-based Forest Trust to effect change in its palm oil harvesting policies’ and in an unprecedented turn of events Nestle has called on Greenpeace to work constructively with the company to help bring about the moratorium on deforestation”
That’s real and it’s a bloody big win in anyone’s books – but to think it was achieved all through Internerds 2.0 is amazing!
If you never got around to caring, there’s really no excuse now!
