'The People's Climate March' – just another corporate multi-million-dollar fundraiser by 350.org and Avaaz

From Counterpunch, WEEKEND EDITION SEPTEMBER 19-21, 2014, How the People’s Climate March Became a Corporate PR Campaign—Business as Usual in Manhattan

It starts out this way, Anthony, with the author saying that they invoked the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street protests to get people to attend, but ultimately describes how it’s a multi-million-dollar fundraiser and PR campaign for the two sponsors Avaaz and 350.org:

I’ve never been to a protest march that advertised in the New York City subway. That spent $220,000 on posters inviting Wall Street bankers to join a march to save the planet, according to one source. That claims you can change world history in an afternoon after walking the dog and eating brunch.

Welcome to the “People’s Climate March” set for Sunday, Sept. 21 in New York City. It’s timed to take place before world leaders hold a Climate Summit at the United Nations two days later. Organizers are billing it as the “biggest climate change demonstration ever” with similar marches around the world. The Nation describes the pre-organizing as following “a participatory, open-source model that recalls the Occupy Wall Street protests.” A leader of 350.org, one of the main organizing groups, explained, “Anyone can contribute, and many of our online organizing ‘hubs’ are led by volunteers who are often coordinating hundreds of other volunteers.”

I will join the march, as well as the Climate Convergence starting Friday, and most important the “Flood Wall Street” direct action on Monday, Sept. 22. I’ve had conversations with more than a dozen organizers including senior staff at the organizing groups. Many people are genuinely excited about the Sunday demonstration. The movement is radicalizing thousands of youth. Endorsers include some labor unions and many people-of-color community organizations that normally sit out environmental activism because the mainstream green movement has often done a poor job of talking about the impact on or solutions for workers and the Global South.

Nonetheless, to quote Han Solo, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

The author, obviously a concerned climate person, notes,

That is what I find most troubling. Having worked on Madison Avenue for nearly a decade, I can smell a P.R. and marketing campaign a mile away.

[…].

But in an email about climate change that Avaaz sent out last December, which apparently raked in millions of dollars, it wrote, “It’s time for powerful, direct, non-violent action, to capture imagination, convey moral urgency, and inspire people to act. Think Occupy.”

Here’s what seems to be going on. Avaaz found a lucrative revenue stream by warning about climate catastrophe that can be solved with the click of a donate button. To convince people to donate it says we need Occupy-style actions. [But] when the moment comes for such a protest, Avaaz and 350.org blocked it and then when it did get organized, they pushed it out of sight.

Author Arun Gupta explains what they are doing:

Branding. That’s how the climate crisis is going to be solved. We are in an era or postmodern social movements.

The image (not ideology) comes first and shapes the reality. The P.R. and marketing determines the tactics, the messaging, the organizing, and the strategy.

He asked an insider:

When I asked what the metrics for success for, the insider told me media coverage and long-term polling about public opinion. I was dumbfounded . . . . Avaaz has pioneered clickbait activism. It gets people to sign petitions about dramatic but ultimately minor issues like, “Prevent the flogging of 15 year old rape victim in Maldives.” . . . . Avaaz has turned social justice into a product to enhance the liberal do-gooding lifestyle, and it’s set its sights on the climate justice movement.

Gupta says that Avaaz sent out an email last December headlined “24 Months to Save the World.” He writes, “Telling people there is 24 months to save the world is odious, as is implying an online donation to Avaaz can save the planet. The same overblown rhetoric is being used for the People’s Climate March.”