The International Intifada of Greece by Cassandra Troy is incredibly important. Hats off to her for a terrific exposure of an under-reported threat and an aggregation of significantly related articles. Why is this information important to Conservative activists? It has to do with rapidly developing a firm appreciation of the power of technology to propel social movements - for better and for much, much worse.
I'll begin by recapping the most salient feature of Cassandra's post:
Over the coming days, the rioters that numbered between 1,500-2,000 people (30% of those immigrants-mostly Muslim), were able to move from one part of the city to another in a quick way using a variety of methods, such as public transportation in small groups, motorcycles or even riding taxis alone and gathering in a specific "meeting place".
Lastly, they used extensively the internet, mobile phones and instant messaging services to alert against police and gather information of what the media were transmitting. In a few words, they were trained in a fashion that distincts them from the usual "Athenian rioters". They seemed to have international experience and plenty of hideouts within the city centre. (...)
Modern technology and communications such as large television screens, the internet, and cell phone text messages allowed Yushchenko to rally support despite the fact that much of the media was controlled and censored by authorities.
Unless you were under a rock or suffering from poverty and had no TV, then you heard about the terror attacks at Mumbai. Evidently, the mode of communication was relatively simple. While we would never big up terrorists (unless its one of our homies terrorizing the box, or gals going all rodeo queen on some poor sap) they had to show some creativity to go with a not well laid out plan. Once the party started, the rumor is that they jacked cellies to stay in communication. Research in Motion, or RIM, should be happy to know that they went with Blackberrys.
Today's activists, both violent and nonviolent, are applying technology to tactically deploy resources such as supplies, weapons, people, transportation and media coverage to strategic geographic locations at strategic times to achieve very strategic goals. Most significantly, they are achieving extraordinary results - like, say, the non-violent overthrow of governments, the disruption of major economies and the ability to marshal forces to win national elections. On our shores, we can look to the Obama campaign as a premier example. When Obama drew 75,000 attendees in Portland, OR was it specifically because that many voters wanted to hear Obama, or did it have as much to do with the vastly under-reported but extremely popular punk band (the Decembrists)? It doesn't matter - once the perception of the ability to attract hundreds of thousands was created, it influentially drove the next event toward a similar goal. We also know that the Obama campaign was ever-vigilant at collecting the cell phone numbers of millions of attendees as well as attracting them to the campaign website.
There is always a master plan behind these events, and when the participants follow it they can achieve spectacular results.
Conservatives must not only analyze technology-related public activism, we must adopt it. Like it or not, the time is coming when Conservatives will, in fact, have to seriously put aside our natural reticence to take to the streets for the purpose of driving the news cycle and influencing public opinion. The alternative is to risk being permanently dominated by others who are not afraid to take to the streets and drive the news cycle themselves. This may be especially true for College Republicans because the public tends to sympathize with youth activists, although it's just as effective for the rest of us.
Case in point: Saul Anuzis and the Michigan Republicans staged a small but extremely radical (because it was so Conservative!) demonstration in Ann Arbor during the summer of 2008 to protest Nancy Pelosi's book signing after she shut down the House while House Republicans were in the midst of an energy debate (Drill Here, Drill Now, #dontgo). When you see these pictures of what everyday Michigan Republicans were willing to do for this cause, imagine what a coordinated group of Conservative activists can do using professional organizing methods and high-tech communication. The photos of people who look like Mom and Dad with the Kids taking to the street in business attire as well jeans and t-shirts is powerful, relevant, and is going to be absolutely essential to our future survival because we cannot survive unless we can recruit and proliferate our values. Compare that image to those of violent RNC anarchists with their faces covered (organized by a group called "United for Peace and Justice" LOL!) creating chaos and mayhem, and the branding potential is absolutely brilliant. It's Mom, Dad and the Kids versusThe Creepy Anarchist Bandits from Hell.
Republicans also protested Nancy Pelosi's book signing in Florida, which was covered not in the news but in the Miami Herald's blog (Naked Politics). No photos were included. Even though people took to the streets this was obviously seen as weak, non-newsworthy filler. To be sure, the Michigan Republican protest was primarily covered by the blogs, and barely covered by the local news. However, this YouTube video should have been virally proliferated using a coordinated email/cellphone/blog strategy and circulated to the YouReport websites for Fox and other national news affiliates.
All you have to do is re-read Cassandra's article and all her links very thoroughly and see the consequences of inaction. The future is ours to create, BUT (and that's a BIG BUT) we must prepare to engage in marrying technology with committed in your face, in the streets activism in order to make the news that influences the people to help us create it. Either get ready to go, or get ready to get out of the way and let others take command of public opinion while we sit back and passively watch the fruits of their labor create far-reaching changes to our culture and politics.
And then, if you want to have some fun and see something totally inspiring in the way of using Web 2.0 for conservative causes, go out and see what the youth and future of Conservative Activism looks like. Check out Angelique's MySpace page for Newt Gingrich. When Conservatism becomes the Counterculture, that's when everything changes. Young conservatives like Angelique are doing for the Republican Party what it cannot do for itself - yet.
