Online activism in a fragmented world

Just back from Baristas (terrific vanilla latte) where George and the team proudly sport “Make Starbucks History” t-shirts (as captured by caffeine buddy Ed Mitchell).

This got me thinking…

First, I was reminded of something Heather Green wrote in the Business Week blog last week. Heather noted how activism “splintered” to pursue different interests during the 1980s and 1990s. But now, she continued…

Because of the Internet, the different activist groups and NGOs can still be dedicated to their specific cause, but can coordinate on broad goals or campaigns when they want.

So on one hand you’re seeing fragmentation, but on the other, you’re seeing effective coordination.

On a small scale, the Starbucks Challenge, takes the form of always asking for fairtrade coffee when in-store. On a much larger scale, the online activity behind Make Poverty History - one of the most widely supported and recognised campaigns in recent years - stands out as an example of how to effectively devolve the distribution of campaign messages to a supporter base… to build a movement.

There have been other interesting examples such as the Jubilee 2000 movement, which grew from small beginnings to become an effective international campaign. Not all coalitions are as effective; the Stop Climate Chaos campaign has (so far) failed to grab me… nor, more importantly, influence many headline writers. (Do movements need a figurehead? Discuss).

The issue of connecting dispersed supporters through new technologies was covered in more detail in the first of a series of ICT Foresight reports published by NCVO in October (and free to download from the NCVO website).

The inspirational Network-Centric Advocacy blog always has lots to say on such subjects. This caught my attention recently:

There is widespread recognition that positive change on a variety of big and small issues will need to be driven by loose networks of global and local activists connected together from global warming to the plight of trash pickers in the developing world…

…The raw components for transforming the way to “do” organizing are on the table and staring leaders in the face…

There is serious need to inspire a cadre of activists, strategists, campaigners and investors to shift real resources into this new model of activism. Our best thinkers need to move horsepower into thinking about networks, how to build them, how to assess them, training on leadership in a networked world, what can networks do and how to invest in them.

(Read the whole post; it’s worth your time.)

I organised campaigns in a previous life (Oxfam; 1988-91) and it hasn’t escaped me that I first think of global issues (at least before I became a Dad) before concerning myself with more achievable changes needed on my own doorstep. The age of connectivity is yet to make a serious mark on local politics and online activism. At least, not on my watch.

Local campaigns often start out with just one or two people determined to change things in their community, like the installation of a zebra-crossing.

We happen to need one at the north end of our village in North Somerset. To be honest, I’ve only recently become more aware of this since becoming a governor at my daughter’s infants’ school.

I thought that it would be relatively easy to find another local community which had already managed to get the authorities to install a crossing, perhaps as part of a safe routes to school campaign. Not so.

An obvious first place to look was the BBC’s Action Network, but there’s not an awful lot going on under the pedestrian crossings category. Maybe we need something like change.org, but for local issues. Looks like I may have to re-invent the wheel.

Finally (for now)… the always-readable Kathy Sierra posts her frustrations at how James Surowiecki’s “Wisdom of Crowds” concept has been twisted and abused to mean virtually the opposite: The Dumbness of Crowds.

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activism, coalitions, dumbness of crowds, make poverty history

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