the internet and slacktivists

[veganwitch]

i was looking at pictures of the california fires and the website from which they were hosted was weatherunderground.com.

does that name ring any bells?

in the 70s there was a organisation (today would be considered terrorist group) called the weather men and took direct action against the state. there is a documentarty called the weatherunderground

and then there were the peace marches against vietnam, woodstock etc.


all done without the internet. but still they were able to draw the crowds and get shit done.

and now that the world is more connected as ever, i feel impotent and isolated. if an organisation doesnt have a website, i have no way to contact them. lately, as my boyfriend/best friend is out of town for a while, my need for real human activist contact is at a desparate level.

im not accusing anyone here of not being involved or uncommitted. im just wondering if the vast information we have is drowning out real action. it seems like everything i see starts with the clause, "i was talking online...." i know more online then in real life.

so much was done with so little before, and now it seems that so little is being done with so much. at the rally, all speakers gave their websites, thus causing this big mass of people to once again isolate themselves together online. i wonder what potential was lost by not engaging in the people all around you?

does this make any sense?

[papau]

1. Weathermen were a sub group of 1962-63 SDS - Their parents made 30k+

It was a "joke" but it was also true that the SDS kids who had access to money via parents (the parents made 30,000 or more a year in 1968-71) were the ones who not only felt that SDS was too law abiding in the face of corporate and political law breaking - albeit with conservative court approval (leading to the definition of "law" as that which produces decisions that prevent violent unrest in the community), but also convinced themselves that they could accomplish something by breaking the law with violence against (____ ____ fill in the blank).

The right wing turn of the courts that the GOP is demanding may lead us once again in that direction - The USSC stolen 2000 presidential election was a large push in that direction - but I do not see us there yet. Let's see what happens in Nov 04!

:-)

[veganwitch]

2. im not denying...

that WM were a bunch of privileged white kids.

nor am i denying that i am not the same. (in terms of being white and fairly privileged).

however, i suppose, and marketing has already started siezing this, activist-chic has spread mostly through internet and that it doesnt really require much effort or sacrifice on yourself.

im not looking, or asking, for a complete, pure, aesetitic lifestyle. i just ask that you give as much as you can, and through the internet, you have much more opportunity to do three second activism that really doesnt ammount to much other than making you feel good about yourself. (not to say that longer actions dont do the same).

[CivilRightsNow]

4. Speaking of SDS

I found their Port Huron Statement the other day:
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/SDS_Port_Huron.html

As a 25 year old, Id never read this before and it made me see such amazing cycles in the world. It made me feel less like we were starting from scratch and more like we should be building on the past.

I feel alot less alone, alot less impotent and alot more enabled by many of the things on the Sixties project and these stories carried to me on the internet, from the past.

Im dressing up as a wounded soldier for halloween and going door to door to hand out the Pledge of Resistance from notinourname.net 's site along with the soldier's interviews from that site.

That's my activism for this week. Im curious to see how it will be accepted.

Nah, I dont want any candy... I want you to WAKE UP!

[MaryBear]

3. veganwitch, I don't know where you are,

but hereabouts there is way more to do and people to meet than can be squeezed in. Have you checked out "Code Pink" in your area?

[info being]

5. I agree with you

All the analysis of every detail of every story being pumped through the info pipeline is a full-time job that leaves no time for any real action.

Another example, I published a document: http://infobeing.blogspot.com that proposes a real alternative...posted it to many "activist" type sites, and so far have gotten 0 feedback.

People aren't interested in an alternative. They aren't interested in forming real relationships...they just wanna be right about what's wrong.

[raysr]

6. Slacktivists

I agree. Unless we resort to the same tactics as the other side they will most certainly defeat us. They count on liberal complacency. However, the activism that has sprung up against them has taken them by surprise. The shit should have hit the fan big time in 2000 in Florida. Al Gore should not have conceded, we all should have taken to the streets and made this right. DeLay's bunch didn't have any trouble raising hell.