Pressure groups: interesting times ahead

There have been some great case studies of pressure group activity in the press this week. This is hardly surprising given the speed and scale of the government’s reforms since coming to power last year and events over the next few months should give students ample opportunity to assess both the effectiveness of different methods of pressure group activity and the extent to which they help or hinder democracy.

According to the Guardian:

The head of Britain’s trade union movement declares the “phoney war over”, promising a barrage of protest against the government’s cuts, ranging from industrial strikes and “peaceful civil disobedience” to petitions by Tory voters in the shires.

Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, setting out plans for the first national demonstration against the cuts on 26 March, said the days of protests being solely about unions going on strike are over.

The Guardian has learned:

• Unions have gathered a £35m war chest to fund a mass campaign against the cuts, which could be used to cover wages if strikes become entrenched.

• Direct action groups are to stage occupations, sit-down protests and unauthorised feeder marches to coincide with the TUC demonstration on 26 March, when up to 200,000 people are expected to take to the streets of London.

• Online, other groups are calling for more widespread direct action. An organisation calling itself Resist 26 is calling for a 24-hour occupation of Hyde Park.

According to barber, the most powerful pressure on the government had come when coalition MPs faced hostility from their own constituents, highlighting the letter-writing campaign in the shires that prevented the privatisation of the forests. “I think democratic protests can influence political thinking in a serious way,” he said.

Referring to the direct action of protest groups such as UK Uncut, who have occupied high-street banks and retailers to highlight alleged tax avoidance, Barber said: “I think that kind of peaceful protest can play its part. I think that has helped highlight an issue that we were right at the forefront of putting on the agenda, I would say. Certainly I don’t want anything that gives rise to violence of any sort … But I think there can be a role for peaceful civil disobedience.”

In the same paper there is some evidence that other groups want to go further. these groups are, much like the unions, outsiders and direct action is designed to grab media headlines:

“Anti-cuts campaigners are planning a wave of sit-ins, occupations and “people’s assemblies” to coincide with this month’s TUC demonstration, in a “carnival of civil disobedience” designed to highlight opposition to the government’s programme of cuts.

Student activists, tax avoidance campaigners and anti-capitalist groups say they plan to occupy some of the capital’s “great buildings”, close down scores of high street stores and stage a 24-hour occupation of Hyde Park.

The direct action is planned to coincide with the TUC’s anti-cuts demonstration on 26 March, when more than 100,000 people – including public sector workers, families and first-time protesters – are expected to take to the streets of London.

UK Uncut, a peaceful direct action group set up five months ago to oppose government cuts and protest against corporate tax avoidance, is calling on its supporters to occupy and close down scores of shops on Oxford Street.”

How effective is this direct action likely to be?

Direct action may not effect significant policy change, but it is often the preserve of groups who are unable, or sometimes unwilling, to campaign by traditional means. If we look at the student protests, they could be said to have failed in blocking fee rises, even if on the other hand they could point to significant concessions gained for low income students. History suggests, however, that social change is often brought about by the actions of a committed few. In other words, without protest progress might not happen. And since modern politics doesn’t offer many opportunities to get involved, sometimes you have to do it yourself.