Left New Media Forum #2
As I mentioned yesterday, last night was the second meeting of the Left New Media Forum, or such parts of it as can reach London. A statement from the group will be forthcoming soon, but in the meantime the group approved draft notes last night laying out its purpose.
First, a network for new media activists to come together to share information and ideas, perhaps involving an annual bloggers’ conference. Second a new media arm for progressive campaigns, and a way to launch and implement campaigns of our own, tying together multiple political groups. Third, a technical means of support and training.
In order to actually get structures organised instead of being a talking shop for the next month, we’ve already chosen a project to concentrate on: this will be a ‘new media’ response to the G20 summit, which is to happen in Watford on April 2nd, 2009. Broadly speaking, we intend to arrange a series of web-casts, to be focused on one website (altG20.org, which we will run), from around the world – especially from the G20 nations.
We shall be aiming for individual participations as well as group efforts, so that on the website there will be video interviews, recordings of events around Britain and personal testimonies to the effects of capitalism upon people. At the next Union Co-ordination Group meeting in January, we’ll be asking for union support for the endeavour, especially as it may have a cost.
To that end, I’ve been appointed treasurer of the group, to oversee a Paypal account and document all incoming and outgoing expenditures, so that we are an accountable body. To whom are we accountable? Owen Jones has been appointed to set up an email list of blogging supporters, and I have suggested maintaining a parallel email list of sympathizers, who may have something to contribute even outside of blogging – e.g. information from around the country.
It is my hope that once a firm body politic is established, we’ll be able to move from meetings in London to meetings in cyber-space, to allow greater participation from non-Londoners, and our physical meetings will then be at the events we want to publicize, or at an annual conference of bloggers, our associated techies and media specialists.
Discussed last night were also some side issues: the use of Unionbook, the concept of video-tagging using a projector that we can move around London, immediate campaigns such as the Welfare Reform Bill and the very necessary involvement of groups such as Stop the War, and the various political parties to the left of Labour. These will all be of relevance when the time comes to actually create the spectacle of a counter-summit to the G20 event in April.
If I might be allowed a dalliance into Gramscian territory, a ‘new media’ campaign is essentially a war for position. As the capitalist economic situation pushes people to a greater realisation of the deficiencies of the system (at least, pushes Western people, since the people of the global south have hardly been in doubt!); our aim should be to break out of the received wisdom of the implicit capitalist ideology.
The most important thing, of course, is to match this ideological war for position with a physical struggle: one-off protests will not be enough. As the anti-war movement showed, simply protesting eventually peters out. This is why the January meeting of the TU co-ordinating group and their endorsement of us is important, and why bringing the SP et al on board is important. We must have the werewithal to absorb the people we convince into a movement that has the ability to reach into every city in the country.
I will also be pushing for our coverage to have an explicitly socialist angle: that our focus is on the economic consequences not simply of the credit crunch but of capitalism itself. This is very visible if we look outside of western Europe and North America – but even within those boundaries, there are the victims of Sarkozy’s ‘reform’ in France, in Germany the high number of unemployed due to businesses crossing borders. These are the stories we need to reach.
They are stories which will touch home across the UK and this will be the goal of the Left New Media Forum over the next four months. In the meantime, I’ll be interviewing journalist Sunny Hundal on this blog, to discuss the Abortion Rights campaign that ran concurrently with the HFE Bill discussions in parliament, and what lessons bloggers can take from that.
Hi Dave
Nice to meet you last night. I’ll forgive you for overlooking me this one time :p
Just so you know, I have set up the websites I said I would – leftnewmedia.org and altG20.org.
I was wondering if you could drop me an email – I need to set you up with an @leftnewmedia.org email address for PayPal purposes.
Cheers
Kit
Sounds very interesting, and i admire the synthesis of idealism and practical get-up-and-go from afar. I’ll do my PayPal duty in due course.
Though not the kind of event I thought might get concentrated on first up, I can see where you’re coming from on it.
My fear, if I have one, is that, despite the initial energies and get-up-and-go (and there really does seem to a lot here) is that this and whatever comes next will be a huge time commitment, and will cost money you as a Forum (or should that be we?) don’t have at present, and that things may tail off and disappoint rather than envervate.
With this in mind can I recommend a funding application to the Amiel Melburn Trust (deadline 02 January, decision 29 January) to cover at least costs, but also potentially ‘freelance fees’ which is a specific budget line in the application form. You are as a group a bunch of excellent wordsmiths and I think you could bash out a crakcing application, with real ownership taken by all of you, in good time for the deadline. See http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/ for details. I’d be tempted to pitch a bid this sdide of £10,000 which should give you enough ‘technical’ money and freelancing fees to really pull this first venture off.
Beyond that, and still connecting back to Amiel Melburn (and stick it in a bid), I think it might be worth (maybe via john McDonnell) establishing links with the Holland-based Transnational Institute (http://www.tni.org/), the link to AMT that Hilary Wainwright is both a Trustee of AMT and a fellow of TNI, and Tariq Ali is a Trustee of AMT and supporter of TMI). I think they’d be interested in what might be done at a pan-European level if it was ‘pitched’ right to them. Certailny I think there’s enough ‘scholar-actvist’ feel about this G20 thing to excite them.
By the way, if you’re looking at German involvement, ‘altG20′ will mean ‘OldG20′ to Germans, won’t it?
These are very useful Paul! I shall have time over the next few days to look over all of these – then I’ll post details on the Left New Media Forum, which is now a Yahoo group. Shall I submit your email to the group?
Yep, email away. I have a fuller post in mind having chewed over the G20 idea a bit, though it revolves around one simple question: is this a left blogger venture, or is it journalists and wannabbee journalist doing stuff for free? What links it back to blogging? Is that necessary or is it ok to go off a tangent.
I’m supportive, just starting exploring
Well, I’m neither a journalist nor a wannabe journalist. I don’t speak for anyone else – though I’m quite disappointed that the writing side of things seem to be dominated by the young and upwardly mobile. Susan was the only writer of many years’ experience – the others were techies, excluding John McDonnell of course.
I think that’s all I mean – I meant ‘video-journalism’ dominating written output. ‘Interviewing people on the street’ (I think I saw in Owen’s short thing)about what they’d like to see happen is all fine, but it’s hardly likely to start ideological shifts happening overnight. So I think we’re agreed?
Yes, I think so. I mean, the idea of video-journalism appeals to me on the basis that a short five minute video, with a few interviews, or a viral video campaign that doesn’t even need words, can reach an audience that is not especially literate.
The risk of course is that this not especially literate audience is not the same not-literate audience that dominates the workplaces we might expect the ‘forward battalions’ of the proletarian movement to reside: retail shopfloors, transport, government offices etc. I think this risk is doubled by the age gap of the LNMF.
There is no one there in their thirties, for example; we’ve essentially skipped a generation.
As to whether all of this will start ideological shifts, no probably not – but as Ricardo from the Morning Star posted on the group last night, there is a big hole in our ability to gather, process and disseminate information – one we need to fill radically. This can be a start to it. My task, ideologically speaking, is to ensure that, because we are internet based, that ‘internet warrior’ issues don’t predominate to the exclusion of real workers’ interests.
For this reason, I see the involvement of the trade unions and the Left parties as necessary.
Yes I was heartened by Ricardo’s contribution and apparent understanding about the need to establish a core bank of information from both without and within the G20 portals, being passed over by the MSM, for bloggers both writing and vidual to draw on. I also liked what he had to say about local gaps, which is actually where I thought things would start for the Forum (and how I suggested) though I’m not against going in and testing wits at G20 spatial level.
On the written/visual issue, I sometimes feel the literacy element is a bit overplayed. While there is 30% functional illitercy in the UK, that still leave 70% decent literacy, and local opinion formers will be part of that latter group as well; my experience of on the ground campaigning is that if you dumb down your audience get dumbed down – treat a readership with respect, and they’ll read stuff if they think it has a relevant starting point. I think central Labour material is often at fault like this.
On the age gap, I know what you mean, but never fear – I’m mid 40s as an activist but only 20 in my intellectual development, so that sort of make me in my 30′s.
Hi David, yes have calculated I am the oldest blogger there ( Dave Osler is a couple of years younger than me but could not make the meeting Monday) which makes a change from Labour Left events where am still a young whipper-snapper. A harsh reality check!
I think we need to get more left journalists on board – I know plenty in the NUJ ie Jeremy Dear. So once we get the next meeting date confirmed will contact those I know and maybe get a broader spread age-wise. We also need to firm up a solid programme of action and delgate tasks so people don’t get discouraged…….