Guardian UK: Wisconsin and the limits of web power

[marmar]

Wisconsin and the limits of web power
Digital technologies are great tools for activists, but you can't confront the realities of political power with just a wifi hotspot.

Dave Karpf
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 February 2011


As the Wisconsin labour protests enter their tenth consecutive day, with the latest development being a surprise vote in the state assembly by Republicans to put the heat on the senate (which has been deprived of a quorum by Democratic state senators absenting themselves), it is worth reflecting on exactly what is at stake. Though posed as a budget standoff, public employee unions have already accepted all of Governor Scott Walker's proposed cuts. The issue is over the future of collective bargaining in the state.

Scott Walker wants to take away the right to organise for any public employee union that didn't endorse him in the previous election. The fight is over political power and organising capacity. Or, put another way, it's about some of the things that the internet can't do.

....(snip)....

The web has played an augmenting role in these protests. There are the pizza orders, which are pretty cool. There's the Twitter- and blog-based information diffusion, meaning we don't have to rely on traditional news gatekeepers to frame the debate or decide which elements are newsworthy. There are the solidarity events planned around the country. There's the $400,000 raised by DailyKos, Democracy for America, Progressive Change Campaign Committee and other internet-mediated groups, to support the 14 Democratic Wisconsin state senators who have gone into self-imposed exile, in an effort to thwart Governor Walker gaining a legislative rubberstamping of his will regardless of public opinion on the issue. And, of course, the union organisers themselves are relying on a set of "mundane mobilisation tools" to coordinate protest activities.

But, just as the Egyptian protests were aided by social media, rather than caused by social media, the roots of this fight are really quite different. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/25/wisconsin-us-unions