We will use as an example of an activist campaign the campaign against Nike for its use of sweatshops in the developing world. First, we want to get a general sense of the history of this campaign against Nike.
Just spend an hour or so reviewing this first set of links (unless you really get interested in it). I think you can move quickly through this material.
- First, skim the Wikipedia entry on Nike sweatshops.
- Here is a short news article from the Guardian arguing that the Nike campaign was successful.
- A young man named Jonah Peretti inadvertently started an online campaign against Nike sweatshops. Here is one article about him and here is a later article. Be sure to view the 6" video in article #2.
- Here is a copy of the e-mail in question. It's pretty funny.
After you become acquainted with the Nike controversy, read two articles on Blackboard:
- Bullert, B.J. (2000). Strategic Public Relations, Sweatshops and the Making of a Global Movement. Cambridge, MA: The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.
- This article goes fast.
- Bennett, W. Lance. (2003). Communicating Global Activism: Strengths and vulnerabilites of networked politics. Information, Communication & Society, 6(2), 143-168.
- This article will take more time. It is really the article with big ideas for class.
Some questions I will try to address in class:
- What do global activist networks like?
- What do we mean by segmentation, polycentric networks, and integration?
Optional stuff:
- I am probably going to talk about the 1999 WTO protests.
- I am also going to draw from another article. If you are really into this stuff you might take a look. It is also on Blackboard.
- Bennett, W. Lance. (2003). New Media Power: The Internet and Global Activism. In N. Couldry & J. Curran (Eds.), Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World (pp. 17-38). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
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