Short summary:
In a world where powerful entities use money and influence to silence peaceful protest, Greenpeace leveraged intimidation tactics like SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) to galvanise its global movement and prove resilience.
Full description:
Powerful companies, often with Billionaire backers, are using the legal system to try to silence the Greenpeace network and other activists through legal intimidation tactics such as SLAPPs.
SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. It is a brutal weapon used by corporate bullies and their billionaire backers to intimidate people who dare to stand up for the truth. SLAPPs are designed to effectively chill free speech by making it too risky and expensive for people and organisations who are exercising their right to protest to continue to do so.
These and other tactics of bullying and intimidation to maximise profits and silence those who would oppose them are being seen all over the world in recent years. Greenpeace in the US and Greenpeace International were recently sued by US-based fossil fuel company Energy Transfer. Unbelievably, the case resulted in a jury verdict against them of more than US$660 million.
This is a perilous moment in history, but Greenpeace has never been a movement that shies away from big fights. We’re experts at taking on power, and thanks to the independence and the people’s power we have, which has represented so many supporters from all over the world, we’ve got the appetite for meeting these risks.
The Greenpeace entities in the US and Greenpeace International are awaiting the final judgment from the trial court on the jury verdict and have already expressed that they will appeal any adverse judgment, but this case was never about justice. It’s a deliberate attempt by Big Oil to silence Greenpeace organisations and anyone else who stands in their way. They want the Greenpeace movement to be devastated by this jury verdict, but we’re not giving up. We are not faint of heart.
So we looked to use this moment to galvanise Greenpeace organisations all over the world. We created a responsive campaign team and developed the TimeToResist campaign to build people power and raise donations to galvanise supporters, new and old, around this key issue.
Our opponents thought they could sue us into silence, but we were going to prove them wrong.
We created new acquisition and retention fundraising materials to show supporters that their donation helps level the playing field. Big Oil, their billionaire allies and other powerful corporates are making obscene amounts of money from destroying the planet. They have very deep pockets and powerful legal teams. We can’t outspend them – but with our supporters, we can outlast and outmanoeuvre them.
We are still in the midst of the campaign, but we are already seeing it resonating with supporters all over the world and by September, we will have more detailed, quantifiable learnings to share.
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