Social movements show how people can use distinctive means of expression to set their own development agenda.
Social movements of people living with HIV and AIDS have generated solidarity and mutual support, and developed resistance identities to challenge their marginalisation. The second in our ‘spark’ discussion series focused on what we can learn from HIV social movement communication.
“Internal communication within social movements allows people with a shared identity (be it race, gender, HIV status etc) to talk to each other. As well as the external communication used for advocacy purposes these internal spaces are a crucial element and strength of social movements, and much can be learned from it.” Spark participant
The session opened with presentations from:
- Fiona Pettitt – an activist with experience from the International Community of Women Living with HIV or AIDS spoke about communication and gender aspects of social movements.
- Alessandra Nilo from Gestos – a Brazilian gender and human rights NGO – shared Gestos’ learnings around communication and how they work with local and national media.
The discussion focused on the ways in which social movements communicate among themselves, with each other, with the media and with policymakers. Barriers to effective communication, gender inequalities and possible effective ways to support social movements were also highlighted.
