IT SEEMS that the revolution will not only be televised. It will also be blogged, twittered and Facebooked. At least that was the message last week from a panel of eminent online campaigner-types who I happened to be chairing in discussion with an audience of largely offline social activist types at an event run by Operation Black Vote, the voter-registration pressure group.
The title of exactly what we were meant to be discussing kept changing. I was initially tempted in by the promising-sounding “Representation 2.0: Engaging the Obama Generation”. The bit after the colon was later changed to “Using New Technology to Make Waves”. Finally, and on the night, we had “How to Develop Your Social Networks and Mobilise Communities for Action”.
As Barack Obama is assessed on his first 100 days in office, his presidency is being hailed by all and sundry as a model to which other politicians should aspire. Obama’s admirers include Tory leader David Cameron, who is presumably keen to demonstrate that he, too, could be a new broom sweeping out some tired old cobwebs. But “new” Labourites are fans, too. They are now queuing up to heap praise on the man that they scorned and ridiculed when Hillary Clinton was still in the running for the Democratic nomination.
In his opening remarks at “Representation 2.0”, veteran blogger Sunny Hundal of the Pickled Politics site mentioned working on the Obama campaign. In the question and answer session, audience members were keen to find out what exactly he’d done. It was proof – if proof were needed – that just about everyone is after a bit of “Yes we can”.
Many people are full of wide-eyed wonder when it comes to the advent of new technology. I remember hearing Tom Watson, the country’s first blogging MP who is now a Cabinet Office minister, describe the blog as the most radical change in the power of communicating the written word since the introduction of the printing press.
Certainly there is great liberation potential in the wired world and its younger wi-fi brother, but those attending the OBV event outlined the other side of the story. One contributor asked for suggestions for getting high-falutin’ discussions of this nature across to the kids who attended his youth club. Some of the panellists seemed to be answering a different question, applying the logic of citizen journalism to the question. So we got a description how it was people at the grassroots who had brought to the attention of the world to Ian Tomlinson’s assault at the hands of the police shortly before he died of what we initially informed were natural causes.
While that’s a powerful point, I think the questioner had more in mind the old question of how to level the playing field between what people a decade ago used to worry a would turn into a stark divide between the “information rich” and “information poor” in our society.
Others worried about quality control, given the sheer amount of junk on the worldwide web. The question of responsibility for posting was also raised. Discussion on this turned to unfortunate emails Damian McBride sent to Derek Draper. I suppose, to paraphrase a 1980s soft-rock classic, the accusation we could lob those who use the internet for muckraking gossip is: “You give blog a bad name”.
Barack Obama’s triumph showed the positives of what is possible in politics with the internet. The answer to the question: “How did he win?” is that he relied on mixture of strategic tactics and progressive politics. In 2008, the potential of new technology was truly harnessed. Many have remarked on the first about black man in the White House, but he is also the first BlackBerry President. A special super-secure version was developed for presidential use.
After a tub-thumping speech by Operation Black Vote director Simon Woolley, who remarked how pleasantly surprised he had been to find the seminar not just one for the nerd, the evening was rounded off by a comedy turn from John Prescott. It seems that after years at the heart of the Labour Government, he is a convert to all things to do with a new technology vein.
The former Deputy Prime Minister struck a serious note when he reminded us that he came from a trade union background and said that trade unionists and socialists must move with the times. As a case study, he described his involvement in his e-petition to stop bankers getting huge bonuses. He spelled out the advantages of new technology in being instantaneous in its impact – terming his band of 4,000 Facebook friends – “I’d be lucky if I had a dozen in the Labour Party”, he joked – “cyber-warriors”.
He also alluded to some of the colourful incidents in his past. On the time when he threw a punch at the man who had thrown an egg at him, there was justification. “I said to Tony: “Well, You did say I had to connect with the electorate’.” His evangelism for his hand-held portable communications device, proudly waved around for all to see, was evident in further quips.
The moral of the evening seemed to be that the internet is a tool with great enabling powers to give a voice in society to those on the margins of society. However, there remains suspicion among those for whom it has not yet been “normalised” into everyday life. The spread of the internet has been uneven – a state of affairs that needs rectifying.
Of course, the meeting was being twittered to my left and right with instant reaction being spewed out across worldwide channels. Nevertheless, the packed-to-the rafters venue and challenging questions raised by an astute audience underlined that there is still a role for good old-fashioned public meetings in dusty halls – even in these technologically advanced times.
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