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 How the use the Internet for PR
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V I E W  P O I N T
What role does the Internet play in orchestrating protest?
 Whether you're an activist trying to rally the troops or a "target" trying to defend yourself, the Internet has radically altered the dynamics of protest.

Reports from Seattle dwelt on the incredible diversity and "internationalism" of the protesters - trade unionists were marching along with farmers, students, grey pony-tailed Boomers who remembered the 1970's fondly, the women's movement, European farmers opposed to cheap American food, etc.

The media appeared surprised at the size, vehemence and timing of the protests, but if they had carefully studied the role of the Internet in the rise of the environmental movement, they shouldn't have been. The old-growth forest protests that rocked the BC forest industry from the late 1980's on, owed their success to the international linkages of environmental groups and their aggressive exploitation of email and the World Wide Web for the purposes of:

  • Giving international prominence to previously "local" environmental     causes
  • Reaching out to financial supporters around the world
  • Organizing international product boycotts (such as the Greenpeace-     sponsored European boycott of wood products from Canadian "old-     growth" forests)
  • Magnifying international media coverage by "broadcasting" their story     over the Internet.

    More and more, the politics of protest is the politics of communication and networking - two things the highly "democratic" Internet, which is open to pretty much anyone - is very good for. The Internet gives "the people" a voice. (Before we go into paroxysms of democratic ecstasy, we ought to remember that "the people" include, not just people who wear Birkenstocks and worship trees, but every imaginable special interest group, wingnut, Skinhead, pornographer, bomb-building militiaman and religious fanatic. The Internet's just a pipeline. You can put anything in it, and it comes out the other end.

  • Are you telling your story on the Net, and telling it effectively? And,
  • Are you monitoring the Net to learn what your competitors and     adversaries are saying and planning? (If you're not sure how, consult our    Practice Guide, How to Use The Internet for Research).

    And as the Rabbi Hillel said, if not now, when?



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