[E-rundbrief] Info 1069 - M. White: Activism after Clicktivism

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1069 - Micah White (USA): Activism after 
Clicktivism; A Vision of Post-Clicktivist Activism. Get innovative for 
#OCCUPYWALLSTREET (Auszüge)

Bad Ischl, 12.1.2011

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

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Als Ergänzung zu unserer Aussendung "Kritik an Avaaz und seinen 
Online-Unterschriftenkampagnen", E-Rundbrief 1068; 
http://webmail.horus.at/pipermail/e-rundbrief//2012/001132.html .

Matthias Reichl

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Activism after Clicktivism

Micah White

http://www.micahmwhite.com/

17.11.2010

For more than a decade revolutionaries and culture jammers have been 
paralyzed by the computer screen. Trusting the promises of technocrats 
and digital visionaries, dazzled by the viral hype surrounding MoveOn 
and the like, we’ve come to rely far too heavily on a particular form 
of internet organizing. Believing that clicktivism could spark social 
change, we deployed market-tested messaging, glitzy Ajax websites and 
social networking apps. We entrusted our revolution to San Francisco 
techies and put our faith in the methods of advertising. But we have 
become so dependent on digital gimmicks that our revolutionary 
potential is now constrained.

Clicktivism is the pollution of activism with the logic of 
consumerism. Activism is debased with advertising and computer 
science. What defines clicktivism is an obsession with metrics. Each 
link clicked and email opened is meticulously monitored. Subject lines 
are A/B tested and talking points focus-grouped. Clicktivists dilute 
their messages for mass appeal and make calls to action that are easy, 
insignificant and impotent. Their sole campaign objective is to 
inflate participation percentages, not to overthrow the status quo. In 
the end, social change is marketed like a brand of toilet paper.

The fundamental problem with this technocratic approach is that 
metrics value only what is measurable. Clicktivism neglects the vital, 
immeasurable inner events and personal epiphanies that great social 
ruptures are actually made of. The history of revolutions attests that 
upheaval is always improbable, unpredictable and risky. A few banal 
pronouncements about "democracy in action" coupled with an online 
petition will not usher in social transformation. As Malcolm Gladwell 
put it recently, "activism that challenges the status quo – that 
attacks deeply rooted problems – is not for the faint of heart." 
Clicktivism reinforces the fear of standing out from the crowd and 
taking a strong position. It discourages calling for drastic action. 
And as such, clicktivism will never breed social revolution...

Auszug aus: http://www.clicktivism.org/

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/93/activism-after-clicktivism.html

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A Vision of Post-Clicktivist Activism

Get innovative for #OCCUPYWALLSTREET

Micah White , 26 Jul 2011

http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/blackspot-blog/vision-post-clicktivist-activism.html

Clicktivism is a Trojan horse, a tactical malware, deployed by a dying 
American empire. What better way to cripple the revolutionary 
potential of a whole generation than to embed the logic of the 
marketplace within the very tools that would-be revolutionaries use? 
Forget infiltrator "Anna" and the plague of agent provocateurs. The 
cop we need to worry about is residing in the computer code.

If #OCCUPYWALLSTREET fails, it will be because we've blindly adopted 
"best practices" put forth by wealthy Californian techies turned 
reformist campaigners. Their methods now dominate the way many 
organizers believe activism should be done, privileging a 
data-obsessed, metrics-oriented, technocratic approach which is closer 
to advertising than resistance...

Former and current MoveOn employees have colonized activism 
internationally with behemoth second-generation clicktivist 
organizations, like Joan Blades’s MomsRising, Eli Pariser’s Avaaz, and 
Ben Brandzel’s GetUp and 38 Degrees...

How are we going to make #OCCUPYWALLSTREET happen? Not with 
clicktivism... not with fancy eye candy websites... not with waiting 
for others to organize for us... and not by following the tired 
tactical script that hasn't worked in a decade. Instead, it is time we 
risked being totally creative.

Look at #OCCUPYWALLSTREET upside down. What if it was a real world 
game, played by thousands, whose sole objective was to slip past the 
police lines (double points for parachuters) to touch the Wall Street 
charging bull on September 17? What if it was the largest synchronized 
flashmob ever organized? Or if #OCCUPYWALLSTREET was an aesthetic 
experience in the heart of the financial district -- a masked ball, a 
zombie walk, or a costume party in 18th century attire? No one can say 
in advance what will make the occupation last. So, may it be all these 
tactics and more...

Auszug aus: 
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/93/activism-after-clicktivism.html

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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