Swarthmore has one of the earliest student divestment campaigns. They started with the common tactics: meeting with the administrators (nothing) and meeting with board members (nothing). The college refused to divest.

They decided to try new actions to build awareness, like getting a petition signed by the majority of the college campus! They dropped banners across campus. They even organized a walk-out where students and faculty walked out of class and went to an all-college teach-in about divestment.

They kept escalating and building awareness, eventually getting the faculty to call for divestment from all fossil fuels.

In the end, they never won on divestment. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t win. Their campaign encouraged other students to run divestment campaigns — and at each step they persuaded and educated new people about the problems with the fossil fuel industry. They got faculty, students, and hundreds of people understanding that the fossil fuel industry is wrecking our climate and our planet.

In that way, their “loss” was more important than if they had quickly, but silently, won without having to convince as many people!

Swathmore student divestment protest, USA. Photo: Ian Holloway

Fossil Free Berlin had been campaigning for some time when they finally got the finance senator to agree to look into divestment. But they waited months and got nowhere.

Luckily a contact from the Green party told them that divestment had made it into a 300 page report for a political committee looking at working on new green energy for Berlin. It was only a small mention, but this gave them the opportunity they needed. The report was being presented at a meeting which the group attended. When divestment was mentioned, they all stood up and applauded, cheering, wearing their divestment t-shirts, and with more t-shirts which they gave out to councillors. It was a very positive confrontation which really helped them get over their hump, get their target’s attention and take things forwards.

The group went on to use the end of an elected term to ramp up pressure. They used tactics like printing out their petition onto huge bank notes, conducting a social media campaign, making connections with local NGOs and talking directly to the politicians themselves. And they won! The group is still going strong, moving onto other divestment targets in the city. They make sure to make time to eat and socialise together to keep their group strong and their spirits up.

Fossil Free Berlin

Universities have been a major thrust of the divestment movement. But groups may find that even after doing all of the above, it is not enough to move their institutions. Then we turn to direct action.

Take the University of Edinburgh. Students had presented a survey showing the vast majority of students supported divestment, and organised on campus with pickets, marches, rallies, banner-drops, and die-ins. But the university steadfastly refused their demands.

The university gave the typical response: they need more time, they’d rather engage with the companies, and that it’s not financially viable.

If they had jumped into confrontational tactics right away, they may have lost the support of their base and media. But they had exhausted all the traditional institutions (formal meetings, student council, etc) — and so the students decided it was time to escalate: They occupied the university’s management offices — and held stayed for 10-days.

It doesn’t always happen this way — often pressure needs to be maintained. But immediately after the sit-in, the university changed its mind. Three years after their campaign started, they won!

Divestment action in Edinburgh, Scotland.