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| Papers From: Jeff
Richardson <tahomaactivist@yahoo.com> "Workers' Technology and Class Struggle" and will touch on blogs, increasing access to digital technology, and mass action through computer connection. "Internet
Action: Defining Opposition to the Powers that Be Through Direct,
Sustained Digital Resistance"
The time has come to turn that model on its ear. Labor has an opportunity, in this critical time for our nation's workers, to stand in the gap between the rich and the poor and to stand up for working people in every venue that we can. Digital media, though it still remains largely in the hands of a wealthier white elite, can and should be vested in the hands of ordinary people, and their resistance can and should be guided and shaped by the forces of organized labor, to improve their lives and define the direction of their activism. During the rise of the internet age, we have seen several organizations spring up, True Majority, Moveon, DFA, among others, that have attempted to unify opposition to the right, but none has captured mass attention due to their marginal position within American politics. Organized labor, on the other hand, is gaining increasing respect with each passing day, and yet, our internet strategy is haphazard at best. This has got to change. I have seen the impact that media activism has on a community. I have been there as bloggers, journalists, and other media producers have come together and found common cause in the broader struggle for social development. This is a model that can work, with workers volunteering their time to improve the responsiveness of local media. All it takes is for a few groups to come together and develop shared media strategies. It's my suggestion that every Central Labor Council in America can take the lead on this, creating a Media Committee and working with progressives and liberals in their communities to create volunteer networks that expand the reach of labor media. But it goes beyond simply incubating media, labor has to create media as well. We have to create websites, simple blogs and networking channels that bring ordinary workers into the web and offers them outlets for their outrage. Blogs have sprung up in recent years that highlight the importance of political activism. These blogs have impacted mainstream media as well as pushed politics into a more socially responsible direction, but labor, sadly, has remained largely aloof. The AFL-CIO blog is written by a faceless editor and merely recounts stories from different states. Confined Space is great, but has next to no outreach plan. There is no central hub from which to locate workers and union activists who are writing blogs, so there's no way to separate the defenders of labor from the advocates for capital and increased globalization. The time has come for a change. My recommendations for a new internet strategy for labor are as follows: Create centralized networks of concern for workers' issues, beyond organizational websites, new hubs where workers can go to see what's happening in the world of labor and to get involved Develop a robust shareware platform that workers can use to create their own free websites, blogs that are customizable yet retain a similar shape and feel (somewhat like Myspace but with strict rules of conduct and an enforcement mechanism that works) Use all available forms of media, including indymedia, local newsweeklies, and other channels to advertise our services, and using our growing clout to develop a buzz around worker-created media - this will draw attention to our blogs and bring in workers to see what the excitement is all about And lastly, expand the reach of broadband internet access to include all workers. Fund free internet stations for workers in locations throughout our cities, in community centers, in coffee shops, in union halls. Offer broadband internet access at a discounted rate through special non-profit programs, available through the Central Labor Council. By expanding internet access to working people and people of color we will be expanding the character of internet activism, making it more egalitarian and thus more accessible to ordinary people. By taking these steps, we can ensure the survival and the increase of labor as a force for social change. We ignore the rapid growth of the internet at our peril. If we can develop a social network on par with Blogger or Myspace, and pair it with the e-activism possibilities of groups like Moveon and True Majority, we can make labor an integral component of the movement for social change. If we choose not to go in this direction, however, I fear we will quickly lose our relevance with young people, who are increasingly looking to the internet for all their information. We need a channel of our own. We need a way of getting through to those who have lost faith in the mainstream news. We can do this, if we do it soon. Jeff Richardson
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