Social movement needs strategic narrative

MOSAIC-INDONESIA.COM, JAKARTA — Purpose Indonesia's Country Director, Longgena Ginting stated that the most meaningful impact of social movements is what is built together through a story-based approach, communication, and community action.

“Social movements are the pulse of systemic change, and strategically built communication is the weapon,” explained Longgena at the event  Cerita untuk Cipta: Dari Narasi Menjadi Aksi, held by Purpose Indonesia on Tuesday (3/6/2025) in Jakarta.

He explains that the power of narrative is the foundation of Purpose to build strategic communication in the spirit of movement generosity, that is, the spirit of sharing experiences, and strategies.“Although the ways change, the essence of communication remains relevant in the movement,” he said.

Several campaign initiatives and public movements for environmental issues have been undertaken by Purpose. Through MOSAIC (Muslims for Shared Action on Climate Impact) Purpose initiated a community empowerment program to encourage climate action in Indonesia through the Sedekah Energi, Forest Waqf, and Umat Untuk Semesta scheme. Purpose also launched “Jogja More Bike” to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions.

While in Bali, Purpose collaborated with governments, businesses, and the public to drive a narrative about reducing emissions of Bali's tourism industry through Kembali Becik. While on health issues, Purpose initiated Choose Recover and Misninformation Clinics to increase public confidence in the Covid-19 vaccine.

In the social and political sphere, Purpose initiated #PilahPilih, which invites young people to voice environmental issues in deciding their choice for elections and regional elections in 2024.

High risk

Environmental themes are judged to be a high-risk issue to voice given that they are linked to the diverse interests of political oligarchs. Therefore, Evi Mariani, General Leader of Project Multatuli, mentioned that there was a drought on the issue so that it became a voice that was not heard. On the other hand, he explains, there is a flood of information from buzzers so that there is an imbalance in the ecosystem of public information.

“It's a challenge for journalists, social campaigners, and content creators to voice voices that are ignored and issues that are not heard,” he said.

He expressed the need to map out anyone who could collaborate strategically. “The power of civil society is the small forces that link up and work together,” he explained.

Actor and environmental activist Nicholas Saputra revealed naturally a campaign focused on a single issue would be easier to do. “It's hard to make one specific issue relevant to millions of people, but working with small communities is easier because it's an issue we really know about,” he said. He explained that campaign patterns like this would be a kind of antithesis of the dominance of social media algorithms. “Yet there is still a temptation to be di-like by two million people,” he said