GERMAN INDUSTRY TO USE NGO CAMPAIGN TACTICS

Since Seattle European business has chosen to leave the task of tackling
WTO critics to politicians like EU Commissioner Lamy. However, there are
now strong indications that this strategy is about to become more like
that of US business and that European industry will engage in various
forms of counter- campaigning to undermine the perceived growing powers of
NGOs. A leaked strategy paper from the powerful Association of German
Industries (BDI), shows that German industry is planning NGO-style
campaigning to win public support for corporate-friendly international
trade and investment policies. The paper, entitled "NGOs - a challenge for
business" and written for an industry seminar on NGOs and trade policy,
also points out the potential for weakening NGO campaigns by luring the
opponents into ‘dialogue’.

The BDI paper complains about the growing influence of NGOs on public
opinion. Their power, the paper states, is based on the widespread
credibility and trust enjoyed by NGOs like Amnesty International and WWF,
as well as the advanced international networking, through which "NGOs have
gained an advantage in knowledge and mobilization". The campaign against a
WTO Millennium Round is mentioned as an example of how fast NGO campaigns
can spread and how effective they can be. It is exactly the fact that NGOs
have taken on topics like international trade and foreign investment that
worries the German employers organisation. These issues used to be the
exclusive terrain of corporate lobbyists, who now have difficulties
responding to these new "important competitors". This is why BDI has set
up a working group on how to deal with the NGO threat. The working group
collects information about membership, financing and structure of the most
important NGOs and which develops strategies how to counter criticism. One
strategy proposed is to copy NGO tactics and carry out campaigns targeting
public opinion, a style of working which was until now very rarely used by
German business.

Emphasis will be on controversial issues like genetic engineering and the
impacts of globalisation. The BDI also plans to establish a European
network of corporate policy experts which will directly target politicians
and the EU bureaucracy. Internal communication will be through email lists
- a classic NGO tool. In case of conflicts with NGOs, BDI distinguishes
three different options: non-reaction, confrontation and dialogue. The
strategy of non-reaction boils down to simply ignoring all criticism and
was for many years the preferred option for German business. BDI however
only recommends this strategy in the rare cases where the opponent is too
unknown, powerless or ideologically extreme to be a real danger. The
strategy of confrontation includes for instance the threat of court trials
as well as discrediting the opponent. This strategy tends to be counter-
productive because of the "David against Goliath" effect, which shifts
sympathy to the attacked NGO and might damage the company’s image.

Therefore BDI recommends its members to consider engaging NGOs in
"dialogue": an effective strategy to evade conflicts – "without giving up
own points of view." Indeed, the BDI paper does not in any way acknowledge
the problems resulting from corporate-controlled international trade and
investment policies. Instead, it clearly states that industry through
"dialogue" with civil society hopes to gain the upper hand in the conflict
and improve its public image. Among the benefits for business is the
possibility to gain insights into the strength of the NGOs and their
arguments, learning from their expertise as well as generally "taking the
wind out of the sails of their opponents."