Campaigning – street cred or academic cred?

Skimming the current (April) issue of NCVO’s Voluntary Sector magazine, which has a focus on Campaigning, I was intrigued by a quote: “Many people forget that campaigning is a relatively new discipline. We need to foster credibility and legitimacy.”

This is from Chris Stalker, who is to head up NCVO’s new Campaigning Effectiveness Programme, launching in May. My immediate reaction was a thought that the Chartist Movement, trade unions, anti-slavery campaigns and more date back to early 19th Century if not before. But maybe I need a better understanding of what a ‘discipline’ is in this context – perhaps it means a professional career option?

Having been involved in a variety of campaigns in my time, I can’t say I look forward to the passion and excitement of volunteer-led campaigns being sanitised by respectability from a “10 week certificated course” and other developments. But perhaps I’m just showing my age (not quite an ageing hippy).