Every campaign has a different context, dynamic, and goal. Not every strategy or tactic should be used in every instance. Sometimes, even if the same tactic is used across campaigns, it may serve different purposes.

Many new organizers think campaigning is about copying what they see in high-visibility movements. They mimic social media posts, protests, slogans, even clothing choices, because that’s what they see and know.

Sure, some of these tactics are useful in some situations, and every situation calls for a different set of tactics. And timing is strategy too. Using the right tactic at the wrong moment can waste momentum or even backfire. 

Before you start participating in a campaign, ask yourself: What is the theory of change? What combination of tactics and timing will get you from A to B most efficiently, while leaving for room for movement-building?

You don’t want to spend all your energy on a massive protest when you could reach your goal through direct lobbying with elected officials. You also don’t want to rely on direct lobbying if the political climate is unfavourable or if you could be manipulated into an outcome you did not intend.

One time, a young cycling activist in Richmond asked me how to convince the City of Richmond to put in a specific bike lane that wasn’t a sure win in council despite funding being available. Should they host a protest? Go to the media? 

I asked: how many people on council will vote for the bike lane without convincing, and how many more do you need to get half plus one? In other words, a power analysis to get from A to B. 

The young activist counted and realized they only need two more votes and there are two on council that could be convinced. 

Okay, talk to those two, understand their blockers, and see if they could be solved. There’s no need to convince everyone. Half plus one is the minimum effort needed to win. 

A few months later, the bike lane hit a council block, made the news, and then passed without further friction. I asked the young activist how they did it. They said they counted the votes we needed and from whom, and helped address the two council persons’ issues with staff support. 

Another common mistake I see among inexperienced activists is “doing whatever you’re comfortable with.” Yes, everyone has skills they bring to a movement and everyone has varying comfort levels of what they want to participate in. Some are better at media, others at building ground relationships, others at disruptions, others at logistics, and some enjoy moving equipment. 

But it is not about doing whatever you feel like doing. It is about knowing the movement strategy and contributing your skills within that frame and context. Everyone should be rowing in the same general direction without compromising the collective strategy. It does not have to be the same tactics, platform, or even exact messages, because power finds it intimidating when people and organizations from many walks of life are aligned and unexpectedly saying generally the same thing without contradiction. This was how 105 Keefer was won in 2017 — through a loose coalition of unlikely allies all saying “No” to Beedie.

However, the tactics used by each party need to serve the same goal and complement each other. If they directly contradict each other, risks can be exacerbated, and mistakes can happen that neutralize collective community efforts and narratives, and at worst, advance the opposition’s goals and shift public sentiment away from the one everyone has been hard at work building towards.

Before you start participating in any campaign, understand your personal or organizational strengths and resources, talk to other organizers, do a gap analysis of the campaign, and figure out where your best fit is in consultation with others. 

New to organizing in a campaign or never done any organizing or taken leadership roles? Take time to observe, learn, and ask where you can be helpful. Spend time talking with people who’ve been in the movement for a while and understand where you can contribute. Sit in rooms of conversations, participate in poster making, move equipment, arrange for food, or bring seniors to the washroom. Learn, observe, do.

Campaigns are like a strategy game. Sometimes the game is a visible chessboard with rules, demarcations, predictable steps, and clarity on roles. A campaign to push back against a development in a civic process is procedural and has predictable gates and clear rules. A campaign that requires social psychology change would be less obvious and may require more exploration before a strategy or multiple strategy emerges.

But no matter the campaign, the main thing to remember is that it’s not about your ego, but the collective movement towards the desired change. Know your strengths, know your place within the collective and overall narrative, and most of all, know where everyone is rowing so you can move in the same direction toward the shared destination, even if you’re on different boats following slightly different routes.

Fighting spiteful billionaires and nepo babies with entrenched class interests, who control material resources in ways that are irreversibly harmful, is not child’s play. Real stakes are involved: lives, livelihoods, homes, and irreplaceable culture. Strategy, alignment, and clarity of purpose in a collective moment are not optional, they are survival.