Discuss: The Electronic Activist

The way I think about it is that WiserEarth is a supplement to offline activism.  WiserEarth has groups:

http://www.wiserearth.org/group/action/browse

That serve as a way for people to stay updated about their activism or cause, for people who may not have as much time to devote, such as people with other jobs, children, etc..

It is a good way to make activism more inclusive, and people who want to dedicate more time are encouraged to do so.

I see Eli Pariser’s comment “We’re still just beginning to figure out how you take online energy and turn it into effective, offline action.”

....from the other side:
“How do you connect your past and present offline actions with those of others separated by distance and time?”

This in my opinion, is also an important part of electronic activism. By archiving the things that works offline in the online world, it will reach many more, at present, and in the future. By being present online, you can find potential allies offline.

Not all offline activists do this. And those who do, can still be better at doing it.

Don’t you ever wish the eloquent speaker at that conference uploaded his presentation file somewhere for you to refer/use in the future?

Don’t you ever wished every single solution that has been tried and tested to fix parts of the social and ecological crisis we face be documented in one online space for all to learn from and replicate?

I think that the key to successful activism—to having a successful life, for that matter—lies in straddling the divide between the abstract and the concrete.  Find a way to put your ideals into action and then don’t hide your light beneath a bushel basket.  This is a tricky balance to achieve—that place between working selflessly (yet visibly) and being a raving egomaniac—but that’s where the power is.
It’s important to share and reaffirm our ideals and concerns with like-minded folks in far-flung places.  We need to mirror back to each other values and ways of thinking that are ignored or ridiculed by mainstream media-mediated culture.  But we also must put those ideals into practical application in the real world—and then share our experiences with our virtual friends.  Blogs work nicely in this regard, especially if they are given some emotional heft by the addition of visual images.  But don’t neglect the fine art of letter writing.  Put as much thought and effort into communication with individuals as you would were you writing for a wider audience.  I’m sure that articles that I’ve written and published at http://www.CommonDreams.org and my own website http://www.steadyfootsteps.org  have made people think—I know because they wrote to tell me so.  But the more in-depth, personalized correspondence resulting from those articles has led to concrete actions—some of my correspondents actually made the decision to come volunteer with me in an effort to improve the availability of rehabilitation for disabled people in Central Vietnam!

I don’t have any formula for getting people to care.  I do have a formula for pushing them away.  That is - support really bad choices like Moveon.org did last year.  I used to contribute but when they started behaving like the DNC I was no longer interested.  Isn’t that why we trash their emails?

While I totally agree that the cold-hearted orb of my computer screen is a poor substitute for the warm hug of a friend, I love the internet. I have been a publisher/editor/writer since the 70s. My most successful weekly alternative newspaper had a circulation of around 30,000.

Many years later I published an online magazine, Wildflower Stew, for a couple of years and before long I was getting 30,000 hits a month. The good thing about that was that no trees were sacrificed for it. Nor did I have to drive around in a car to distribute it or pay someone else to.

I have switched to a blog now at http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com and reach people all over the world. And I have time to get involved in more face to face activism where I live than I ever did before.

I must admit that I do miss holding the paper in my hand, though, and being able to walk into a cafe and see someone sitting there reading it. That’s the connection I miss.