The fightback begins online | Netroots UK

22 December 2010 ~ 5 Comments

The fightback begins online

The event

PRESS RELEASE: 22 Dec 2010. For immediate release

2011 will be a crucial year for the many individuals and organisations determined to protest and mobilise public support against the government’s programme of public spending cuts.

The broad scope of the cuts, and their severity will have a catastrophic effect on most of the causes and issues at the heart of progressive campaigns. To help activists and organisations learn from each other and form broad-based alliances to better resist the cuts, an event – Netroots UK – is being organised in central London early next year.

On Saturday 8 January, hundreds of bloggers, tweeters and online campaigners from around the UK will be coming together face to face for a day of campaign strategy, training and networking. Over forty speakers – including politicians, journalists, bloggers and online campaigners, from the UK and USA – have already been confirmed for Netroots UK, which runs from 9am-5.30pm at the TUC’s Congress House in London’s Bloomsbury.

The online activists in attendance will hear presentations from a range of speakers including Stella Creasy MP, Ari Rabin-Havt of US media monitors Media Matters, the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee, Brendan Barber of the TUC, Nick Lowles of the Hope Not Hate campaign, Alex Wilks of Avaaz, and Jess McCabe of The F Word.

Scheduled workshop sessions, including ensuring that the media delivers for progressive campaigns, raising funds for campaign projects, turning online activity into offline action, spreading campaign messages virally through humour, and video-making for campaigners will take place throughout the day.

Bringing together people from the worlds of progressive politics, tax justice, international development, unions, and community organisations, the event marks an important step in the development of a more coherent and effective progressive movement online in the UK – one that mirrors the groundbreaking work of the annual Netroots Nation conference which has been so effective in the States.

Clifford Singer, campaign director of new anti-cuts website False Economy, said:

“2010 has seen great advances in online activity in the UK, with left wing blogs increasing dramatically
in popularity. This has combined with high profile campaigns against government policies like cuts to
science funding and increased tuition fees, successes against the far right in the May election, and high
profile direct action against tax avoiders on the high street. However, much of what is going on is still
fragmented.

“To mobilise hundreds of thousands of people behind anti-cuts campaigns in 2011, we’re going to
need a more co-ordinated effort, learning from good practice in each other’s areas, and helping the
public to see the links between issues, and the case for the alternative.”

• Download this release as a pdf

Tags: netroots uk, press release

via netrootsuk.org