Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Two Articles on Using the Internet for Organizing

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Two Articles on Using the Internet for Organizing

There has been a fair amount of internet discussion lately about the uses of the internet for organizing action campaigns. Here are two useful articles:

A Response to Mark Engler's 'The Limits of Internet Organizing' by Jamie McClelland
The author makes some very important points in this response to an earlier article by Engler.

This mass movement of the world's population to the Internet, in a quest to communicate and connect with others, hasn't been missed by the corporate class. Facebook, Twitter and others, are investing millions of dollars in an effort to profit from this movement, control the Internet so it can more predictably produce profits, and restrain it's open and democratic nature.

Engel's piece not only fails to address this dynamic, but he dangerously equates the Internet with these corporations, depoliticizing the Internet as if it were just a hammer. Unlike a tool, the Internet is a fast-developing universe of political struggle. We are engaged in constantly shifting battles over whether or not the software that will increasingly control our lives should be free and open or owned by a for-profit company; who should control and have access to our data; whether our communications should be accessible to our governments; whether our ability to communicate is a right or a privilege.

Organizing in the Internet Age by Mark Engler
In this more recent article Engler provides a review of the discussion about the use of the internet for organizing and other constructive purposes, clarifies concepts related to organizing, and provides examples to illustrate the concepts.