100 Campaigns that Changed the World

Steve Tibbett

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SOCIAL SCIENCES
EVERY TWO WEEKS

100 Campaigns that Changed the World

A podcast showcasing the best advocacy campaigns from past and present. Learning the lessons from social and political campaigns that have made an impact. A tool for campaigners and those that are interested in how change happens. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

31 OCT

The Corn Laws

The Corn Laws were a series of trade restrictions and tariffs on imported grain (wheat, oats, barley and rye – not corn) that were in effect in the UK from 1815 to 1846. The Passed by Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in response to a strained post-war economy, they were intended to favour domestic agriculture by making it more difficult to import grain. Campaigning on the laws focused on the Manchester-based Anti-Corn Law League. The goal of the League was the ‘immediate and total abolition’ of the Corn Laws, the wording deliberately echoing the successful anti-slavery agitations, but the broader aim was to promote global free trade. Free traders used abstract reasoning to argue that their policy was in the national interest. They also used masive public petitions. One further outcome of the campaign was the founding of The Economist magazine. Our guest in this episode is Dr Henry Miller, Vice Chancellor's Fellow, Northumbria University. He is an academic historian researching and teaching on modern Britain and is an expert on the Corn Laws and the Anti-Corn Law League. Henry offers some interesting and surprising observations and lessons for current campaigners from the League's operations nearly 200 years ago. Image courtesy of East Lothian Museums / Creative Commons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

32 min
10 OCT

Stop taxing periods. Period.

The guest on this episode is Laura Coryton, a British campaigner, feminist activist and author who started the "Stop taxing periods, period" campaign in 2014, while she was still a student. The campaign sought to abolish the 'tampon tax' in the United Kingdom by making menstrual products exempt from VAT. The campaign and petition on Change.org successfully pushed the UK Parliament into establishing the Tampon Tax Fund in 2016, through which almost £100m was donated to female-focused charities. Her campaign finally succeeded in 2021, when the tax on all period products was axed. Loads of great insights from a campaigner who started from scratch and changed something important through determination mixed with strategic direction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

29 min
4 OCT

Dumb Animals

Lynx began their anti-fur campaign back in the mid 1980’s. By using innovative advertising and media campaigns such as the famous David Bailey ‘Dumb Animals’ poster and cinema commercials, consumer attitudes towards the wearing of fur in the UK changed dramatically. Most department stores used to have fur salons and fur could be found almost everywhere on the high street. More and more department and high street stores started to adopt ‘fur free’ policies such as the Fur Free Retailer programme and the wearing of fur is no longer seen as acceptable. Partly thanks to the campaign, fur farming has been banned in England and Wales since 2000 and in Scotland and Northern Ireland since 2002 In this episode we speak with Lynx co-founder Lynne Kentish, who recalls the campaign, what made it successful and also how it was brought down by the industry that it helped bring to an end. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

32 min
6 SEPT

Climate Change: Senior Swiss women vs the Government

In a really fascinating example of litigation-led campaigning, a group of senior women in Switzerland argue that - because they suffer more from frequent and intense heatwaves - Switzerland must do its bit to keep global heating below 1.5ºC. KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz (Senior Women for Climate Protection) is a group of elderly women in Switzerland, initially formed by a group of 40 in 2016, but now numbering more than 2,500. After exhausting all national options, they took their case to the European Court of Human Rights. The Court’s decision this April (2024), has set a crucial legal precedent that establishes States’ human rights climate change obligations.. The interview is with KlimaSeniorinnen's Elisabeth Stern, a retired ethnologist who worked at the Pestalozzi Foundation Children’s Village for intercultural education. She taught ethnology at the University of Zurich, worked as a research associate at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare and as a Senior Lecturer for intercultural management competence at the University of St. Gallen. She was the co-director of an environmental company for the financing of environmental projects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

38 min
30 AUG

Stop Funding Hate

Stop Funding Hate is a pressure group which asks companies to stop advertising in, and therefore stop providing funds for, certain British newspapers that it argues use "fear and division to sell more papers". It was launched in August 2016, by a group of people who came together online to highlight how some British newspapers were using hate and division to drive sales. This was a time of unprecedented amounts of negative headlines about migrants and refugees in newspapers: particulary the Sun, Daily Mail and the Express. The guest in this episode is Richard Wilson who is the Director and co-founder of Stop Funding Hate. He previously worked for Amnesty International UK and the Child Poverty Action Group, and has been involved in human rights campaigning since 2001. Richard is the author of two books – Titanic Express (2006) and Don’t Get Fooled Again (2008). Richards highlights some important lessons about what the campaign has done, its effectiveness, what success looks like and also about the campaigns longer term plans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

37 min
21 MAY

Uber drivers: Yaseen Aslam

Yaseen Aslam is a great example of a 'lived experience' campaigner. He started working as a private taxi or ‘minicab’ driver in London in 2006 and moved to taxi firm Uber when the company launched its Uber X service in 2013. Between 2015 and 2021, he and other Uber drivers campaigned to ensure that the company treat its drivers as “workers” which entitles them to more rights than independent contractors. Uber had a position that the drivers were self employed 'contractors'. They maintained this position throughout years of legal proceedings and appeals that took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. Eventually, in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Uber drivers and allowed them the entitlement to a basket of rights such as the minimum wage, working-time protections and holiday pay. As a result, the company has been forced to announce new benefits for drivers including a pension plan and holiday time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

33 min
3 MAY

WASPI Campaign

This spisode features an interview with Angela Madden, the Financer Director and Chair of WASPI - the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign. In 1995 the John Major government raised state pension age from 60-65 to bring in line with men. In 2011, a new Pensions Act was introduced that shortened the timetable to increase the women's pension age to 65 by two years but also raised the overall pension age to 66 by 2022. Both the 1995 and 2011 changes came as a shock to many, with women discovering that they would have to wait up to six years longer for their state pension, potentially affecting their retirement plans. In 2015, WASPI was formed by five women to argue for the government to provide transitional payments to women born in the 1950s receiving their pension after the age of 60. They also call for compensation to women who now receive a state pension but had to wait longer. In March 2024 the Parliamentary Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that WASPI women should get apology and compensation. The women are still waiting for any compensation and the campaign continues. Find out more at https://www.waspi.co.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

36 min
28 MAR

Marcus Rashford Free School Meals

Marcus Rashford is a professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Manchester United and England. He has launched and been involved with quite a few campaigns, most notably on child food poverty. in this episode we talk with Jo Ralling, who helped to run the feed the future and the #EndChildFoodPoverty campaigns for the Food Foundation, where she is head of campaigns. She previously worked with Jamie Oliver on various food campaigns including Sugar Smart. The Food Foundation spearheads the End Child Food Poverty Coalition which consists of a group of more than 30 organisations supporting the call from Marcus Rashford for the Government to improve the diets and food access of children in low-income families. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

39 min

A podcast showcasing the best advocacy campaigns from past and present. Learning the lessons from social and political campaigns that have made an impact. A tool for campaigners and those that are interested in how change happens. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creator

Steve Tibbett
Years Active

2018 - 2024
Episodes

33
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Copyright 2018 All rights reserved.
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100 Campaigns that Changed the World