What’s the point?
We need our politicians at any level to truly represent us. The vast majority of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza and all of our cities ought to be calling for a ceasefire. Cities like Chicago, Oakland, Detroit and Moorhead have already done it, with other cities in the works. This toolkit will be a guide on getting your city council to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
At any point you can set up a call with Danaka from CODEPINK to talk through campaign plans, just email [email protected].
What you will need:
- A Demand: For this campaign our demand is for our city councils to pass a resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. Can’t picture what a resolution looks like? Here’s Oakland’s (click “view legislation”)! You can use this as a template for your city too.
- A group of friends & neighbors: This can’t be done without constituents demanding the city council introduce and pass a resolution. Get ten friends/neighbors together to work on this with you. Chances are, they have friends who can join too!
- The Support of CODEPINK: Maybe you don’t need us! But we are here to help. We can help you find people to work on your campaign with you. We can answer questions. We can help strategize! Also, we love talking to you. You can email Danaka at [email protected].
STEP 1:
See if there is already a resolution in your city/town by doing a quick Google search.
STEP 2:
If there is no resolution- find the coolest city council member in your city! Get a group of friends together to do some research- what member has been good on social justice issues in the past?
Step 3:
Attend City Council meetings and sign up for public comment sections. We did this in Fargo & Moorhead as a first step for expressing the community’s desire for a ceasefire resolution. See what it looked like here!
STEP 4:
Request a meeting with the coolest city council member! Meetings usually go best when you bring a small group of people from the member’s constituency & affected communities.
STEP 5:
If you get the meeting, ask advice for introducing /passing the resolution. Do they think you should talk to anyone else? Do they have any advice about the process of introducing a resolution? Any messaging they think would work best with their colleagues?
STEP 6:
Ask someone to introduce it - if no one will, it’s time to escalate! See our Escalation Guide below.
STEP 7:
After it’s introduced - it’s time to rally support for the resolution. Have calling parties, have meetings with every city council member. Make sure everyone you know is calling their city council member and mayor to support the resolution. Show up at every city council meeting - whether a ceasefire is on the agenda or not to give public comment in support of the resolution.
STEP 8:
Be in contact with your main sponsor to make sure there aren’t delays with the vote and that you know when the vote will happen. When it happens, make sure you have as many people who support the resolution there. Be prepared to give public comment and flood public comment section every time the resolution is discussed or voted on.
STEP 9: City Council votes on the resolution.
Reach out to CODEPINK for help with day of media support ([email protected] & [email protected] & [email protected])
STEP 10: Celebrate or Escalate!
If the vote passes, celebrate and say thank you! If the vote fails, regroup, and see our Escalation Guide below.
Social Media Tips & Tricks
- Set up a group chat with your organizing friends and neighbors
- Send the links to the tweets you make about the campaign with your representative tagged
- Like and retweet all tweets made by your team
- Reply to the tweets made by your team
All these things will help you get visibility!
So, your city won’t introduce a ceasefire resolution or they failed to pass it. Here’s what’s next!
It’s time to escalate to get your demands met. Escalation has to done deliberately, organized and carefully. Please consult us, or local organizations at any time in this process.
Escalation can look like:
- Increasing calling campaign efforts
- Protests outside a certain city council members office until demands are met.
- Disrupting city council meetings and stopping “business as usual” until demands are met.
- Civil disobedience.
- Regrouping and reorganizing for a new ceasefire resolution.
- Organizing large marches