Overcoming Obstacles In The No Casino Gettysburg Movement

One of the biggest obstacles in the No Casino Gettysburg movement was to convince people that victory is possible. The local people have this notion that only the people with money and power have the last word and do not believe that they do much to make any difference. That's a very anti-democratic attitude. We should believe that we do not live in a dictatorship and there will be powerful people in every community. Hence, the people didn’t wasn’t to make a fuss, even though they felt we were right, as they felt that they couldn’t win.

According to Susan Star Paddock, the Chair of No Casino Gettysburg, it was also important to stress the importance of polite yet firm advocacy. People wanted to boycott the investors. So, Paddock aimed to fight an idea, not the people behind it.

Technology too played a great role to in overcoming obstacles in the No Casino Gettysburg movement. Both critics and supporters of the casino posted over 25,000 messages on the No Casino Gettysburg website. Thus the web helped open communications between those for and against the new casino. These were people who had millions of dollars at stake and weren't really interested in any dialogue, so it was really hard to remain a peacemaker in that sense.

Exposure in various media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian and Australian Broadcasting also played indispensable roles in spreading the story of No Casino Gettysburg to locations both near and far.

The No Casino Gettysburg led to over a hundred testimonies against the casino and 65,200 signatures on a petition against the casino, amongst other laudable accomplishments. Such a success story has been achieved only after overcoming obstacles in the No Casino Gettysburg movement. By employing the aforementioned strategies: igniting activism, laying a firm foundation, building a support network, making the best use of technology and transforming naysayers and critics into active participants.