(If you around you should try and make it. – promoted by Julia Rosen)
The demonstrations against Prop 8 that have been organized using Facebook and wikis are promising signs of an opportunity to build a stronger, grassroots-powered movement for marriage equality. The “Please don’t divorce…” photo project is a fabulous grassroots action to help people build a personal connection to and empathy for people who are hurt by Prop 8.
As Julia Rosen, Madprofessah and others have written, one of the great weaknesses of the No on 8 campaign is that it did not take advantage of the opportunities for online organizing and grassroots organizing. Also, the campaign made a big strategic error by hiding the faces of gay people, when we know that personal heart connection is what moves many people to change their minds about supporting gay rights.
The Web has changed organizing; it will never work top-down again. The Web has shown us how to bring people together to make change. EqualityCamp is a pilot event on January 3 in San Francisco to bring together netroots organizers and Web 2.0 geeks who know the lessons of the Web well together with activists for marriage equality and equal rights for gays.
More on EqualityCamp below the fold
The actions of the last six weeks are a great start – and there are many more opportunities to weave together a grassroots, netroots, people-powered movement. There are opportunities for people working on bottom-up initiatives to coordinate together. There are opportunities to take advantage of the power of Web 2.0 technology to empower grassroots organizers and younger activists who live online.
EqualityCamp on January 3 in San Francisco is a “BarCamp” style event that will bring together netroots, grassroots, and technologists to help coordinate efforts to repeal Prop 8 and support marriage equality. The people with the most power aren’t the people in a few organizations. We all have power. That means you, too. We’re organizing a way for you to exercise it easily. At EqualityCamp you set the agenda. We discover what we want and we teach each other what we need to know.
Themes and topics at EqualityCamp are expected to include:
- connecting “netroots” and traditional organizing
- using “Web 2.0? tools to support a grassroots movement
- bringing effective practices from the Obama campaign into the movement for marriage equality
- digital video concepts to share stories and build support
Come to EqualityCamp and flesh out your ideas to use your networks, organizing and tech skills to support marriage equality and help repeal Prop 8. We are dedicated to making a people-powered marriage equality movement work from the bottom-up.
Join us!
January 3, 2008
Citizen Space
425 2nd Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94107
For more information: http://equalitycamp.com/
Registration (you’ll need a ticket to attend): http://equalitycamp.eventbrite.com/
If you cannot make it to San Francisco for January 3rd, then visit EqualityCamp.com to learn how to make your own in your town. Please comment if you have any more questions.