Comms for your action (internal)

When planning an action, you need to think about:

If you want people to turn up to your action, you need to win them over. That's a combination of selling the vision, reassuring people, and communicating the practical details. You need to thnk about the Action Identity (the design, branding, visuals, etc) - more on that in Vibe and Creative Elements.

There is loads of advice on how to run really good 'internal comms' here. You can also put out information about the action on your social media channels.

Mobilisation Messaging

So far in planning this action you have thought about the action's message - this is the message you want the action to send to the intended audience. But now have a think about the "mobilisation" message...this is the message you want to send to your members and supporters in advance of the action, to convince them to get involved.

Think about the narrative behind the action - what will get people excited and wanting to take part? And think about how they will sign up, stay connected, and receive all the key info. You need a simple, compelling message - including a clear call to action (a way to sign up or commit). This is particularly important for mass participation actions.

Comms Channels

This call to action can be communicated through appropriate channels:

For closed (secure) elements, you're likely to want a Signal chat for the organising team. It’s best to separate those who are at higher risk of arrest from those who are not, to protect them. (See Security section below.)

For public two-way channels, appoint at least three admins and keep on top of messages, replying to questions and keeping the vibe going.

If you are setting up a broadcast channel with UK-wide appeal, liaise with the XRUK Broadcast team to make sure the content plan works alongside and with existing XRUK broadcasts.

Recruiting new members

An action can also be a great opportunity to recruit new members into your group. It is an immediate, exciting thing to get involved in. Ten committed new people joining your next action is worth so much more than hundreds sitting dormant on a mailing list!

Always make it to be as quick and easy as possible for new people to join us at actions. What pathways are you offering to bring people into roles, further info/training or involvement?

Open Calls

XRUK M&M can offer technical and organisational guidance on how to hold an effective open call, with updates also being made to the Rebel Toolkit for info. Contact Mov.Comms@extinctionrebellion.uk

Security

Security and inclusion can become two ends of a scale. To make an action more secure often means making it less inclusive. There are ways to try to lessen this affect.

If you have a spicy element to your action, you need to take extra care to balance the info given to them so they can commit and feel bought into the action, without having more info than they need. Get a legal briefing from one of our legal reps and share this so they can weigh up the risks and potential consequences.

Read the Keeping group chats as secure as possible page for more info

For closed planning you will likely need to communicate with your planning team and any other rebels that need to know restricted details using Signal messaging app. Make sure admins are anonymous (via the settings). If you are seen as organisers you may put a target on your back for arrest.

The key thing here is to give information on a need to know basis. Encourage everyone to be super vigilant with this rule. Stagger giving spicy info like this - Eg. We’ve got this kind of action in late May, would you be interested? If yes, then give the date, are they available? If yes, then give the types of roles you are recruiting. If yes, then give the final details you are prepared to share.

The best thing to do to protect ourselves and XR is to use a process called 'Air-gapping' and is broadly used in government agencies, military and corporate sectors.

Air-gapping simply means we communicate any action planning and organising using a private channel or direct message and then send specific details such as car registrations, credit card numbers and addresses using an app that is end-to-end encrypted and self-deleting messages (Signal is best). This creates a gap between the planning and those specific details and ensures that if an adversary manages to get their hands on one account, they don't have all the pieces of the puzzle to sabotage an action, nor pair up individuals with a particular action plan, nor put faces to words with intent to commit crime (etc).

On Signal, turn on admin permissions for admitting new members so you know you only have trusted people in your chat. Remember that descriptions in the headers of Signal chats are visible to anyone, even if they are not a member of the chat. So be careful what information and links you put in there.

Use CryptPad instead of Google Docs. See Document Management

Comms to do list


Revision #27
Created 23 July 2024 17:55:57 by Risky
Updated 18 August 2024 17:28:49 by Br