An idea came to me the other day, an interesting idea for these very interesting times. I believe that there is a
way that all of us, the people who are ruled, who are powerless to change the
world around us, can do just that. And I don't mean gradually, I mean quickly.
Very quickly. New laws within a month quickly.
The reason I say these bold things is
because there are two worlds now. The physical world, and the Internet. The
Internet is a completely different country, with its own language, culture and
even in some forms its own media and its own military in the forms of YouTube
and Anonymous. The truly remarkable thing about this shiny new land upon the
hill is it's government. Some people would say that's a stupid thing to say, that
the Internet doesn't have a government, it can't by its very nature, a
decentralised communications network. But I disagree, I think that by that same
nature it's method of government becomes apparent. Because the Internet is a
hive mind. It's the first true democracy, it's will generated and displayed by
the millions of content-generating nodes that make up its network. By us. We
ARE the Internet, as it is the sum of our thoughts and feelings that we wish to
share to others. It's almost a form of telepathy, the ability to send ideas and
concepts from mind to mind. After all, the Troll Face meme contains no words. Once
seen, we understand it instinctively. It doesn't need translating, because its
already in its own language, the first language. It's a digital cave painting,
a common feeling shared by all.
Like the feeling that David Cameron and
his government are unfit to rule us. That they are corrupt, pandering for the
favour of the very rich at the expense of everyone else. That they will lead
this country to ruin. That there will be more riots. That those riots will
probably happen during the Olympics. That the shame that will bring to Britain
will tarnish its name for decades.
This would be bad. And also unproductive.
Companies would see Britain as unstable. The money would move away. We would
become like Greece, with no one willing to invest in us. I don't like
capitalism, especially the crony corporate capitalism that we have in 2012, but
we don't have a choice. We live in that world. The corporations have the power
now. Lord Tesco, Rupert Murdoch and Richard Branson tell the government what to
do, not the other way around.
But that, in a way, is a good thing.
Because the corporations are beholden to us. They want our money, they need our money in order to survive.
Remember, a business is like a bacterium. It has only one purpose; to survive.
But we are the ones with the choice in this "free market". We can
choose one or another. Tescos or Morrisons. E.Coli or Salmonella. If we consistently
choose one, and boycott the other, starve it of resources, it will eventually
die. And then the survivor will be nervous, because they just saw a rival
become extinct. They will know the environment has changed, and that they will
have to adapt to the new factor, or die.
The good bit is that we decide what the new factor
is. Why did we boycott their rival? Was it because they had extensively used
oppressed unpaid labour? Or was it that they participated in a government
scheme that you disagree with? Polluted the entire Gulf of Mexico? Outsourced
to Chinese factories that have working conditions that force workers to commit
suicide? We have the power of choice. Just switch provider. Stop giving them your money. We tend to think of
cost, of price, as having to give someone else some of your money. But if you prevent
someone from making money, then that costs them too. And that's what we can do.
We can take from companies their lifeblood, their obsession. We can cost them
money.
Obviously this is a bit simplistic, one
person never ever using a BP pump ever again isn't going to do much. BP won't
notice the dint in their profits that one person can make, and they even know
why your refusing to buy their oil. This is where the Internet comes in.
The parts that Facebook, Twitter and the
Blackberry messaging service played in the August riots cannot be denied by
anyone. The government was so scared by this unexpected use of modern
technology that they considered a China-style Internet blackout in the event of
another riot1. That's how much they fear what is, for the Elite
trying to stay in control, the ultimate nightmare. The informed and educated
mob. If you're ruling a democracy, but are doing things that are unpopular, you
want the people to know as little as possible about those policies, because you
still want the people to vote for you, come the election. Come election time, there
as at the whimsy of our collective judgement just as much as the companies are.
But politicians tend to be infinitely more aware of this, because of the nature
of elections. We are each presented with a form, and given the explicit opportunity
to say "Fuck you!" and vote for the other guy. Corporations don't really
have this. Why would they? Who would create such a thing? What corporation or moneyed
individual in their right mind would create something that would efficiently
funnel power back to the people? Surely the motivation if you are in power is
in the other direction, hence why we've had voter suppression for as long as there
has been voting.
But you don't need money to start up a Facebook
page. You don't need a penny to create an online petition. You can even get
free hosting to build your own website. Communication is free now. And us
communicating, us organising is what they fear. We can, en masse, change the
minds of corporations. We can bully the wealthy until they do what we want,
instead of the reverse.
Take the example of Rush Limbaugh, an
extreme right-wing American talk-show host. We don't really have his sort of
highly politicised preach-show in the UK (thank God), but put briefly he's a
bit like the radio version of the Sun. Lowbrow stuff, mostly designed to
inspire fear, racism, homophobia and other right-wing talking points. Heavily
endorsed by the Republicans (the American Tories) of course. His days on the
airwaves could be numbered however, because one by one his sponsors have pulled their
support and more importantly their funding for Rush's show. Big names, like
Ford and McDonalds. This happened in no small part because of two women, Nita
Chaudhary and Shaunna Thomas, who started an online feminist movement called
UltraViolet.2 They got pissed off with Rush calling women who wanted
to go on the pill sluts and whores. So they made a website where you can click
a button and add your name to a petition. The petition for Rush's advertisers
to cease their support garnered over 160,000 signatures within a few days.3
This sort of speed is unheard of in the
world of politics. Usually change needs money, and time. Usually so much time
that someone with more money has drowned you out with spin and propaganda.
Not any more, though. You don't need a
soap box or a megaphone to spread your message any more. You don't need a
legally accessible public space for people to protest, that could suddenly
become illegal and inaccessible at the ruling of a judge, at the behest of a city's
corporate doppelganger. You don't even need people to turn up. After all, its
2012. You don't need to take the day off and get on a Union-paid coach to go to
London to protest. Today you can protest while at work, with your Blackberry in
your 10 minute cigarette break. You can do it through the TV, when you've got
the baby asleep. You can do it in the pub, and get all your mates to join in.
You no longer have to stand up to be counted, you just have to click the button
to sign the petition. You just have to threaten to boycott the right companies.
Back in February, within a few days of
people finding out about Tesco using unpaid slave labour, there were protests.
As the online storm grew, plans for greater protests were made. Before the day
of protest even arrived, Tesco buckled, and pressured the government into
removing all the involuntary aspects from their Work Experience Programme. The
people's oppressor had became their champion, and this epic flip-flop was
caused simply by the threat from social media, of the people en masse, the big
fish made up of little fish. Us
This isn't traditional activism, in the
sense of the Occupy movement. This isn't online Hacktivism, of the sort
demonstrated by Anonymous. This is something else, passive online activism.
Activism on the Internet, through your phone, or TV, or tablet, accessed by a
Facebook app. Apptivism.
Step 1) Be annoyed by something. Decide
to make a change.
Step 2) Find the companies sponsoring it.
Target them. If there are no direct sponsors, then find out who is making it
happen. Who is involved? Who does the authors of your discontent socialise
with? Target them.
Step 3) Make the Fuck You button. This is
the most important step. Create an online petition, that people can click to
sign. Or make a template e-mail, that people can click to send to whoever is in charge after adding
their name. Or start a Facebook group that people can like or join. Do
combinations. Make it a maximum of three clicks for anyone who sees your Fuck
You button to utilise it. You want to make it as easy as physically possible
for your target audience to use your button.
Step 4) Share the Love. Spread your
button across the length and breadth of cyberspace. Post it everywhere. As a
statistical geneticist I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that a
minimum of 4% of people who randomly see your button will click it. 10,000 page views = 400 people. Think big. Get as
many friends to share the button as possible.
In the era of social media, politics is a
different animal. Our information is now coming to us unfiltered and uncensored
by any agenda, from dozens of sources, and we are actively encouraged to
interact, to like or dislike, to shape the news and what comes next. The
Murdoch ways simply don't work anymore, they're just too slow. This becomes
painfully apparent whenever a politician appears on TV with a polished smile
and a carefully prepared speech. People can watch the video embedded on their
friend's Facebook page, Google it, fact check, and be talking and Tweeting
about it themselves within minutes. We can disassemble the spin, re-parse the
sentence, analyse the true meaning, and post it online so fast that the people
watching the video on YouTube won't even have to scroll.
How long do you think the Government can
lie to us about the unemployment figures and about the taxes of big business?
How long do you think they will try to keep sabre-toothed tigers in bags too
small for kittens, like privatising the police force and the NHS?
People are beginning to wake up, to lose
their tolerance for deception. You can fool some people sometimes, but you
can't fool all the people all of the time. Especially if they all have Internet
access.
