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Summer 2014

Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials David Kornhauser The protection of human rights is an incredibly important and yet all too often challenging task. To most average people, the prospect of creating a campaign to protect the inalienable rights to which everyone is entitled is a seemingly impossible task. This paper analyzes the success of a giant in the Human Rights industry, , and provides the reader with advice on things to keep in mind when beginning their own initiative.

Human Rights Action Center Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials

Introduction ...... 2

Jack Healey: A Leader in the Promotion of Human Rights ...... 2

Lessons from an Incredible Personality ...... 3

Steps to Success: Advice from a Veteran Campaigner ...... 5

Step 1 – Get to know your cause ...... 5

Step 2 – Decide who should hear your message and how to do it ...... 7

Step 3 – Organization, Planning and Flexibility ...... 11

Step 4 - Simplicity ...... 12

Step 5 – Utilize the power of media ...... 13

Reviewing and Assessing the Human Rights Now! Tour ...... 14

What was the purpose of the Human Rights Now! World Tour? ...... 15

Territoriality and Communication: An Issue throughout the tour ...... 15

Flexibility: An essential skill ...... 17

Conclusion ...... 18

1 David Kornhauser

Introduction

A successful humanitarian campaign can send a message to millions of people and empower them to stand up for their rights. Creating a human rights campaign can be a daunting challenge. For this reason, it is likely that many good ideas for human rights initiatives are set aside and labeled unachievable. Prior to beginning an internship with Jack Healey, former Director of and the successful leader of many human rights campaigns, I was occasionally guilty of such doubts. After many discussions with Mr. Healey about his past successes and current projects, it became clear to me that with a thorough understanding of the key elements, the situation requirements, and the past achievements and failures in successful campaigns, one can greatly increase the likelihood of success.

Jack Healey: A Leader in the Promotion of Human Rights

Jack Healey began working in the field of human rights following his break from the Catholic priesthood. He witnessed the strength and passion of significant personalities in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, such as Reverend

Martin Luther King Jr. and comedian . Jack was inspired to organize and lead numerous non-violent marches for civil rights, and he coordinated Dick

Gregory’s run across the USA to raise awareness about world hunger. He also led

Peace Corps operations in Lesotho during the turmoil of apartheid in South Africa.

Ultimately, this led him to the position for which he is best known. As Executive

Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), Jack was the driving force behind

2 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials the incredibly successful international concert tours, and

Human Rights Now! among others. Following his retirement from AIUSA, Jack Healey created the Human Rights Action Center to continue promoting human rights around the world. Even with a much smaller budget and workforce, Healey continues to lead the human rights movement with his efforts in projects, such as the US Campaign for Burma, and many others (Jack Healey, personal communication, June 2014). Jack continues to be an example of success in the often- difficult field of human rights advocacy and activism.

Merely listing some of Healey’s many success does not adequately describe the type of person that is likely to achieve success in human rights campaigning.

When asked how he built up the nerve to recruit superstars for his campaigns, Jack simply attributes it to his own passion and commitment to his cause (personal communication, June 2014). As said in an interview regarding Healey, he was

“this little guy speaking with such authority and passion, honesty, and it ceased to be an abstract concept.” (Rick Garson, video interview, Sting Interview on Jack

Healey) To the observer it is clear that Jack has a manner of speaking that commands attention and respect, inspiring others to empathize with those people whose rights he seeks to protect.

Lessons from an Incredible Personality

The average person might read this description of him and assume that Jack

Healey is a loud, imposing personality. While Healey may be powerful in his own way, his success in winning over the hearts and minds of superstars like ,

Bruce Springsteen, Jim Carey and so many more, lies in his dedication and

3 David Kornhauser determination. There are a couple key lessons that one can learn from Jack’s personal qualities that aid in his success. First, having a cause that you are passionate and well informed about is key to winning others to your side. Meeting with celebrities would prove useless without passion and understanding of the situation. Sting describes how Jack won him over, explaining that “it became very real, he met these people. He’d met relatives, he’d met survivors of this process

[torture] and was just totally galvanized by the need to just stamp it out in human history.” (Rick Garson, video interview, Sting Interview on Jack Healey) Without his understanding and belief in the cause, it seems unlikely that Healey would have inspired so many to join him.

A second important quality is the determination and bravery to say what you want without flinching. When asked how he was able to convince celebrities to assist in his campaigns, often at significant personal cost, Healey describes how on multiple occasions he simply told them what he needed from them. This is illustrated in a conversation he had with Mohammed Ali immediately before a boxing match. Healey’s goal was to have Ali join Dick Gregory in his cross USA run to fight world hunger. When asked by Ali, “So basically you’re asking me to do this run for free, and I’m guessing that you want me to pay for everything myself?” Jack simply responded “yes”, and Ali agreed (personal communication, June 2014).

Healey explains that celebrities are just regular people who appreciate and respond well when others have the courage to speak to them without a hidden agenda.

Above are examples of the types of qualities that have enabled Jack Healey to achieve his success throughout his career. As is the case with all campaigns, all

4 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials people are different and may require the activist to have other personal traits to be successful. While the qualities listed may prove more helpful to some and less to others, they are useful to consider when approaching a human rights campaign and should be modified on a case-by-case basis.

Steps to Success: Advice from a Veteran Campaigner

While there is no singular route to creating a successful campaign, when asked, Jack Healey provided a few key points to keep in mind (personal communication, June 2014).

Step 1 – Get to know your cause

Before contemplating ways to raise money for a campaign, take time to consider what the problems are, and how your efforts can best help. It is important to recognize that there are certain circumstances in which raising awareness and public sympathy is more effective than raising money. Start as you would with an essay: research everything that you can find on your cause. Ask yourself who the key individuals/groups are, and what other related issues are involved. Develop an understanding of the history of the region; while many current conflicts and human rights violations may seem only relevant in the present day, the root of a problem may lie in historical prejudices and disagreements.

Additionally, never assume that your initial point of view is the only correct position to take. It is important to research all sides of any situation and try to understand and empathize with all parties. In many cases this will help a

5 David Kornhauser campaigner understand not only the problems, but also the desires of the offending group and how they may be addressed. In some cases, this approach may lead to abandoning the project because involvement in the chosen cause may put yourself and others in danger.

If possible, after researching the cause, make contact with people actually living in the area. It may be helpful to first get in touch with an organization in your own country that is affiliated with the group you are trying to aid. These individuals or organizations may have an interest in assisting you and may be able to provide specific contact information for your research. The more personal the interactions with people on the ground, the stronger your connection to the cause, and the more they will trust and believe in you. Modern communication technologies such as video calling are effective methods to connect with others as well. During a conference run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington,

D.C., the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Damascus (who spoke to the audience in Washington via video calling at the event, The Burgeoning Human Crisis in Syria and Its Neighbors on June 12, 2014), Mr. Yacoub El Hillo, described the use of Skype technology to negotiate between various parties within Syria, currently entering its fourth year of civil war. He described the use of Skype technology to communicate between various parties to negotiate things such as protection of humanitarian workers and transportation of supplies (June 12, 2014). Evidently, this type of program is a way to connect with individuals who live in dangerous regions without much personal risk.

6 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials

Contacting people living in the desired region via these communication methods are helpful, however they are limited by problems of computer and telephone access. Ultimately, the best way to engage with citizens of the area you seek to help is to go there in person. This may be restrictive due to travel expenses that inevitably accompany such a trip. Additionally, there may be concerns regarding the safety of those traveling caused by political instability, social dissatisfaction and a host of other reasons. However, if such a visit is possible, it gives the most accurate view of the present realities in the region and what people need most. A prime example of how such a visit can help to decide on a cause is illustrated in Jack Healey’s trip to Burma to meet with . Despite difficulties determining when to visit and speak with the future focus of his campaigns, Jack was able to arrange to meet with her and gain a strong understanding of Suu Kyi and whether this was a cause he should support. Visiting an area where there are issues of human rights violations can be difficult to accomplish, but is the most effective way for an activist to truly understand the issues they are trying to fix and who will be affected by the aid.

Step 2 – Decide who should hear your message and how to do it

Having communicated in some way with the people you are trying to help and determining what type of aid they require, one must decide to whom they should market their campaign. Different causes call for various audiences and campaign styles. If a campaign requires your government to put pressure on the leadership of a particular country, you should focus on creating a campaign that will appeal to government officials and is easily promoted among them. Though general

7 David Kornhauser public support for a cause is important, a direct approach targeting high-level officials may lead to quicker, more effective action. Making connections with these officials can be as simple as sending a letter, making a call, or arranging a meeting to discuss your concerns. If they agree to advocate for your cause, the more connected and influential they are, the greater the chances that your voice will be heard. This approach may be helpful in certain cases but not others that require a different type of campaign.

In cases where you seek to spread a message or you want society as a whole to cry out for change and mobilize support in the form of rallies or marches, a more widespread approach may be necessary. Jack Healey is a strong advocate for the use of media and celebrity to spread ideas. He is known to tell the story of the first time he saw Elvis Presley on television and was captivated because he immediately understood the power celebrities hold to affect the public. Healey understands that audiences are more likely to respond well to campaigns that use their favourite celebrities because they value the opinion of that celebrity, and therefore feel a stronger connection to the cause then to a campaign that simply pushes its own agenda. This understanding has led Healey to run human rights concert tours around the world, create television broadcasts and produce three music albums in support of various human rights initiatives. The use of film and music are a time tested method for spreading a message to the public in a way that is easy to understand and enjoyable to view.

As technology continues to develop, so do the many types of humanitarian activism. It is common practice for campaign videos to be shared on social media

8 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials websites like YouTube and Facebook. The social media elements that are commonly required today provide new ways to share information, but also add more challenges. These technologies can be used to spread a message without much cost.

However, this can be problematic if the organizer is unprepared for the possible results of their efforts. A potent example of this is the Kony 2012 video, created by an organization called Invisible Children and which went viral with over one hundred million views. While the success of the organization was unprecedented and greatly increased their budget, they had no way to maintain it. After one single massive influx of funding and expansion of the organization, the success of the video dwindled and Invisible Children was unable to adequately fund their newly enlarged organization. Invisible Children made the mistake of creating a video capable of mobilizing huge numbers of people, but were unprepared to maintain their success and momentum with other initiatives. While the Kony 2012 video did an incredible job spreading the word of the issues involved, it was ineffective in actually stopping

Kony who continues to evade capture (Sanders, June 14, 2014). Social media continues to evolve and shape the way people communicate, however it is important to understand the limitations in addition to the capabilities of such technologies.

There are many ways to connect with large groups of people today using the available media technologies. It is always important to ensure that as a campaigner, you are as knowledgeable about your target audience as you are about your cause.

An example from Jack Healey’s experience can be seen during his search for prisoners of conscience, “people who have been imprisoned because of their

9 David Kornhauser political, religious, or other conscientiously-held beliefs” (Amnesty International

USA [AIUSA], 2013) to accompany the Human Rights Now! world tour. He found that while a majority of donors tended to be middle-aged women, most prisoners of conscience were men. In order to appeal to the sympathies of the large group of female donors, prisoners of conscience were chosen to include a significant female group rather than mostly men who were statistically dominant. By understanding how to appeal to his prime audience, Healey was able to maximize the effectiveness of his campaign.

Another example of Healey’s effective understanding of his target audience is evident from his success during the Walks for Development campaigns. While many humanitarian efforts rely on college students for support, Healey realized that they might not be the most effective audience to target. He realized that while college students might join a protest or demonstration, they are unlikely to discuss it with their family members and gain support and funding from them. High school students, Healey believed, were more inclined to discuss the initiatives with family members who would donate to the cause in support of their children. For this reason Healey promoted these twenty-eight mile walks to high school students, and he was ultimately successful in raising awareness and funds through his audience.

Focusing on a specific demographic and looking for the best way to get their attention will provide valuable marketing information and bring people closer to your cause. Communication and empathy is key. By understanding your audience’s needs, the way they spend their time and the type of initiative that will affect them most, you can create a campaign that caters to them. The best way to discover a

10 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials method that specifically targets a certain group is through open communication and feedback.

Step 3 – Organization, Planning and Flexibility

Knowing what will influence your audience will enable you to create an organized blueprint for your campaign. A key point to keep in mind is that flexibility is key to success. The following review of the Human Rights Now! campaign by

Amnesty International clearly shows that when working with groups or individuals outside a tightly controlled organization, variables will almost certainly create difficulties. The management and lifestyles of those assisting in promoting your message may be in contrast to the way the organizing group traditionally functions.

For example, some organizations may not want to agree to contracts that are set in stone to allow flexibility over time. It is the responsibility of the campaigner to find a mid-point, where the original goals of the campaign are met while satisfying the needs of the parties who may be donating their time and resources to assist the cause.

An important factor to keep in mind when planning your initiative is to create a platform for your cause. This means that a campaign should look for ways to make its audience remember the messages and understand the seriousness and importance of the mission. There are several ways to establish such a platform. One way of doing this is by creating videos that outline the cause and its supporters, which can be distributed to gain further support. Another method is by organizing events that span large geographical areas, thereby reaching many people and impressing the significance of the cause. An example of this is the campaign Walks

11 David Kornhauser for Development, where supporters marched twenty-eight miles rather than an easily forgettable shorter distance, to show their dedication to end world hunger

(Jack Healey, personal communication, June 2014). Finally, another way of getting across a message is by spreading the word over a long period of time, such as with

Healey’s campaign 30 Days for Burma. While each of these platforms require different methods of organization and planning, they all create a basis for which the public can easily understand the campaigns message and goals.

The organization of any campaign will depend on the group running it, the cause they are promoting and their target audience. For this reason, it is difficult to suggest one single method or approach to create an effective campaign. Despite this, one may analyze the strengths and weaknesses of past campaigns to better understand how future events might be improved.

Step 4 - Simplicity

Another important thing to keep in mind when planning a campaign is to keep concepts simple. The idea here is that using simple ideas such as phrases and key words, and focusing on specific individuals, helps your audience understand concepts more easily. In Jack Healey’s words, “You have to be able to put it on a shirt.” (personal communication, July 2014) By this, he means that the best way to create a concept that people will remember is by using a brief slogan or key phrase that brings to mind immediate and clear associations with your topic. Some examples of this include changing the word “holocaust” from a word used to describe any great tragedy into “The Holocaust”, which references a specific period in human history.

12 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials

Another effective tactic is associating key figures with a cause, such as Nelson

Mandela’s connection to the South African Apartheid. Additionally, if the chosen individual can connect their goals to a historically significant document, their ideas can be further strengthened. Jack Healey has made an effort to associate his own campaigns with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, just as Martin Luther

King Jr. relied on the American constitution to bolster the civil rights movement.

While others took part in creating change in these cases, these individuals and the documents they were associated with became symbols of the causes.

Additionally, it is very helpful to identify obvious dichotomies when possible.

It is easy to understand that there is a good guy and a bad guy or there is a clear singular or main problem and one main solution. An example from Healey’s 30 Days for Burma campaign is the clear distinction that was made between Aung San Suu

Kyi as the force for good, against Than Shwe, the corrupt, human rights abusing dictator at the time (Jack Healey, personal communication, June 2014). The more repetitive and simple the ideas are, the more easily the average person can remember them.

Step 5 – Utilize the power of media

One of the few things that Jack Healey advocates for as much as he does for universal human rights is the power of music to influence thought and emotion

(Jack Healey, personal communication, July 2014). Jack believes that a successful song can be as influential as a great campaign. He has seen this happen in several cases, including Sting’s song, “They Dance Alone” about the wives of men who had been killed in Chile. The message and power of this song became a rallying cry for

13 David Kornhauser people to speak out against the political situation in the region. In addition to songs, photographs can become the symbol of a movement just as music or phrases can.

Examples include that of a man standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square in

China, the crash of the Hindenburg and so many more. These songs and photos stand out in people’s memories and have incredible power to influence emotions.

While campaigns can be successful without the use of such media, Jack Healey strongly advises using music as a way to reach a target audience.

Reviewing and Assessing the Human Rights Now! Tour

Human Rights Now! was one of the largest concert tours that Jack Healey was responsible for creating. The campaign was ultimately successful in its goals of spreading awareness about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, emphasizing the importance of a universal standard for rights, and increasing Amnesty

International’s membership. However, there were many aspects that could have been approached differently, making it an excellent case study on this topic.

Following the tour, Healey was involved in writing a report that analyzed the successes and difficulties of the campaign. The final document submitted to

Amnesty International, Human Rights Now! World Tour – A Study in International

Decision-Making, provides insight into some important features of human rights campaigns that can be applied in many other scenarios.

14 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials

What was the purpose of the Human Rights Now! World Tour?

The Human Rights Now! World Tour was AI’s first internationally organized event. Human Rights Now! demonstrated the organization’s ability to use large-scale international projects to spread a message. The organizers of this event faced many challenges along the way, but ultimately the tour was successful and dramatically increased AI’s membership and brand.

Territoriality and Communication: An Issue throughout the tour

Party jurisdiction and authority were recurring dilemmas throughout the event. The committee of AI member-states assessing the feasibility of the project asked this question from the start: who will preside over the event and be responsible for the majority of decision-making?

Initially, two organizational models were proposed. The first option was to have the International Executive Council (IEC) organize and preside over the event, the advantage being that the IEC would represent all of AI member-states (Healey &

Neuwirth, 1989). The disadvantage of this would be that the IEC would be unable to make timely decisions and there was some concern regarding how well they would represent all AI offices. An alternative was proposed to have a coalition of a few member-states who would take charge, but the obvious concern was representation for the other members. In order to remain truly international AIUSA’s role was limited. However, it may have been more effective to give them a prominent position to increase organization and analysis. It was finally decided to create an independent foundation that would defer to the IEC (Healey & Neuwirth, 1989).

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By establishing a foundation focused on the running of the tour, AI could distance itself from controversial issues and liability. While the Foundation was created to make decisions on all issues for the event, AI was reluctant to allow full autonomy and required many issues to be deferred to the IEC (Healey & Neuwirth,

1989). This greatly slowed the decision-making process for the Foundation and caused confusion for partner organizations.

Due to the tour being conditional on not diverting resources from AI, a proposal was made for corporate funding and the Foundation soon began discussions with Reebok. Territoriality was an issue here as well because the constant deferral to the IEC undermined negotiations and caused confusion regarding who was making the deal, Amnesty International or the Foundation. The goals of the Foundation and the IEC were different when analyzing the Reebok deal.

This was caused by the IEC’s reluctance to make certain concessions that the

Foundation would make because of their understanding of Reebok’s priorities gained through their negotiations. Much time, money and frustration could have been saved if there had been a better laid out agreement regarding the decision- making capacities of the Foundation and a simpler, quicker and cheaper method of communication between parties (Healey & Neuwirth, 1989). This demonstrates that advanced planning and communication can help to avoid conflict or confusion.

Matters of territoriality and communication arose on several other occasions throughout the tour, both positive and negative. Prior to the final decision regarding concert locations, it was discovered that there was no stadium in Belgium large enough to make the concert worthwhile. Thanks to the open communication

16 Building a Human Rights Campaign – The Essentials between the event organizers and the AI group in Belgium, an understanding was achieved that the tour would need to skip over the country (Healey & Neuwirth,

1989). In other cases, particularly in France and Argentina, increased communication could have avoided frustrations. In France, the AI group attempted to bring a message from the President that would have undermined the concert’s non-political stance. While in Argentina, the IEC had invited the President to see the concert without informing the local AI office who planned to have protesters at the event. This eventually led to involvement from the Foundation who was forced to mediate (Healey & Neuwirth, 1989). These examples illustrate the importance of communication between all parties in order to avoid stepping on the figurative toes of any partner organization or group.

Flexibility: An essential skill

Just as a lack of communication can lead to many serious issues in a campaign, so too can a lack of flexibility. Particularly in campaigns involving many different parties like the Human Rights Now! concerts, the ability to make changes when necessary is highly important. While the examples provided here stem from a large campaign involving personalities from several industries (musicians, human rights activists, business people etc), the ability to modify plans and adapt to changing scenarios is an incredibly important skill. There are numerous examples throughout the Human Rights Now! tour demonstrating the importance of flexibility.

Amnesty International faced several difficulties throughout the tour because of their desire to maintain a controlled structure. Within AI itself, there was a high degree of control over time, money, and commitments among other factors.

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Working with other companies and organizations, AI was faced with less controlled methods of managing affairs. For example, there were many people working with the musicians that were very generous with their time and money but expected the freedom to make changes and for AI to be flexible. There were multiple occasions when the tours may have lowered audience turnout or interfered with the schedules of some of the headline artists (Healey & Neuwirth, 1989). These problems were resolved thanks to the Foundation’s ability to adapt scenarios in order to meet the needs of all parties involved.

Conclusion

This paper has looked at the personal qualities useful for a successful humanitarian campaign, at the knowledge required and at the skills that increase the likelihood of attaining one’s goals. This has not addressed specifics that would vary from one campaign to another. The skills and attributes outlined above, including passion, determination, communication and flexibility, are assets in the development of a successful campaign. Each cause has a different history, political climate and actors involved. The campaigner must decide on the type of approach that best suits their cause. Utilizing the tools and approaches discussed in this paper, an activist, motivated and organized, will create optimal conditions for a successful human rights campaign.

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Works Cited

Amnesty International USA. (2013). Prisoners of Conscience. In amnestyusa.org. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our- work/issues/prisoners-and-people-at-risk/prisoners-of-conscience

El Hillo, Yacoub. June 12, 2014. The Burgeoning Human Crisis in Syria and Its Neighbors. Lecture conducted from Damascus, Syria and broadcasted in Washington, D.C. USA.

Garson, Rick (producer), video interview, Sting Interview about Jack Healey. Zzyxentertainment.

Healey, J., & Neuwirth, J. (1989). The Human Rights Now! World Tour: A Study in International Decision-Making.

Sanders, S. (2014, June 12). The 'Kony 2012' Effect: Recovering From A Viral Sensation. npr. Retrieved June 18, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2014/06/14/321853244/the-kony-2012-effect- recovering-from-a-viral-sensation

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