Viral change

After the incident involving four college students from Christian Medical College brutally killing a monkey inside their campus in Vellore came to light, there has been an online campaign to rusticate them. Even in the case of Bhadra, the dog who was flung from a terrace by two medical students, the uproar on the internet ensured that quick action was taken against the guilty. 

During the struggle to get justice and give compensation to their Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) ex-workers in Kodaikanal who were affected by the mercury contamination, Jhatkaa, a campaigning organisation started a petition and even uploaded the now famous Kodaikanal Won’t music video and a petition. The video went viral with celebrities rooting for the cause. The online momentum ensured that those concerned took notice. Their global CEO Paul Polman promised quick resolution and after years of dragging its feet, the company agreed to give the workers a fair compensation. Hundreds of online campaigns are now giving fruitful results and online activism appears to have come of age. 

Change.org, a petition website, is one such platform where people garner support for a cause they believe in. It ensures that officials concerned hear the people’s voice. According to them, around 2,000 petitions are started on Change. org in India alone every month. Deepavali pollution and demonetisation, issues that impact a larger group of citizens, are some of the petitions being started. 

“In 2016, over 1,000 petitions were started from Chennai. Over 150 petitions were started just this month. The issues have varied from city infrastructure to allowing the Chennai Frisbee tournament to be held on Marina beach, to protecting the heritage of Guindy College,” says Nida Hasan, Campaigns Director, Change.org India. 

Some of the popular petitions from the city include one by a differently-abled student Suryaprakash, asking for inclusive bus routes. Over 43,000 people have signed for that cause. Suryaprakash studies in Vidya Sagar (school for special children) in Kotturpuram. He wants the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) in Chennai to make bus routes more inclusive for mobility- challenged persons. The MTC is now looking at possible solutions after conducting a feasibility study. “After a video of two medical students throwing a puppy off a rooftop became viral, Karthik TM started a petition asking these animal abusers to be debarred. Over 35,000 people have signed the petition. Also, 5,000 people have signed a petition asking the Chief Minister to take measures to save the Ennore Creek and Kosasthalaiyar River in order to prevent a repeat of Chennai Floods,” she explains. “Smaller petitions have also created an impact, such as the petition started by Ganapathy Subramaniam asking the ASI to allow sketching at monument sites. The petition received 1,000 signatures and was a victory,” she adds. 

Globally, a petition wins every hour. “In India, we have over 5 million users and one-third of them have been part of a campaign that has won. In many cases, even when those who start a petition have not been able to achieve the goal they seek, they have managed to build a community of supporters, achieve smaller wins and make an impact. This however would be difficult to quantify,” says Nida. 

The impact of these petitions is such that even big corporate houses cannot ignore it. “Back in 2013, an article was published saying that Mukesh Ambani was planning to start a non-vegetarian restaurant chain called “Chicken Came First” in India. An online petition was filed, reaching Mukesh Ambani directly and it had around 5,000 people supporting it. Reliance Retail released an official statement. “Reliance is not venturing into any chicken restaurant business nor is it planning or desirous of setting up any non-veg processing plant, thus asking the petition to be closed,” says Arun G. Arun Prasanna of People For Cattle in India (PFCI), quoting the statement.

The ban of camel and the ban of mass slaughtering of buffalos during the Gadhimai festival in Nepal are the impact of petitions raised online. Thappad, co-founded by actress Vishakha Singh, is another online platform that is thought provoking, opinion generating and positively democratic. Before the Olympics, they started a petition #Justice for Santhi Soundarajan, followed by a video. Santhi, a runner from Tamil Nadu had won 12 international medals for India. In 2006 she failed a gender test and her medals were taken away. Thappad asked her name to be included in the official records again and a permanent job to rebuild her life. The petition received 2,400 signatures. “Her story had become ‘old news’. We decided to take the case online. I wanted Santhi’s story to be revived. There was suddenly a lot of focus on our sports personalities in August. And we realised that this was the time to redirect attention towards her case. We made two videos and uploaded them with a link. The petition was started in August and in October she was given a permanent post as athletic coach,” says Vishakha. “We are staring a campaign against the rape videos that are sold in the country. Imagine the plight of the victim, who is violated, struggling for justice and her ordeal being circulated all over social media,” she adds. 

Social media expert, Sorav Jain says, “Online activism is very subjective with respect to who drives it or who are the initial supporters. I have actively used social media during Chennai floods and it has helped me raise funds and garner volunteers. My learnings have been that when people see genuine faces or organisations driving a campaign, it immediately grabs the attention of people and earn their interest. It’s the trust and the credibility that drives a campaign to the viral aspect.”

When a 6-year-old girl in Bengaluru was sexually abused by her teacher in school, Pavithra Shetty, mother of a toddler, started a campaign on Change.org asking the Education Minister of Karnataka to issue directives to impose security measures in all schools in the state. The signatures on her petition grew to a lakh and a half. Media started reporting about this and for the first time ever, guidelines for child safety in school were issued in Karnataka.

Sindhutai Sapkal is a beloved Maharashtra activist who runs several orphanages. When the state government asked her to shut down her children’s homes, journalist Sucheta Dalal started a petition on Change.org to save the orphanages. In less than a week, 20,000 people signed the petition to save Sindhutai’s orphanages. The Maharashtra CM was forced to take notice and respond. He assured that Sindhutai’s orphanages would be granted the necessary permissions and won’t be shut down. Union Minister For Women & Child Development, Maneka Gandhi also responded directly to the petition.

Rashmi, a 23-year-old, was sexually assaulted in a bus in Bengaluru. After the incident, she decided to reach out to redBus.in, the ticket booking site which she had used to book her ticket. Rashmi started a petition asking the redBus CEO to make travel safer for women and got the support of over 140,000 people. redBus agreed to meet Rashmi and after the meeting, they agreed to all of Rashmi’s demands. The company came out with a series of measures to make travel safer for women including staff verification, GPS tracking, CCTV cameras, displaying emergency numbers etc.