People Power(ed)

My son, Michael, went to the anti-prorogue gathering in Vancouver yesterday. The Facebook group, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, has 214,067 members as I write this (I'm one of them) and there are another 89 groups with the word "prorogue" in them - statistically highly unlikely to be unrelated - with probably another 20,000 members total.

Barack Obama's presidential campaign proved that the internet is a political powerhouse - and Stephen Harper just proved he doesn't understand its power.

Barack Obama's YouTube channel has 1887 videos. Stephen Harper doesn't have a YouTube channel that I can find (there is one but it isn't him)

Governments and politicians all over the world are either embracing or trying to stifle the internet. What happens is up to us, the people who use it - especially those who use it to show governments and politicians that we're watching what they do, commenting on it, and gathering others of like mind to aid or oppose as the case demands.

Everyone has their pet peeve or pet project. The best thing you can do about it today is to tell others - others who may also share your peeve/project and who might tell others - and others and... pretty soon you have a movement. This of course works in "meat space" where you actually talk to others - but it works even better in the social network space.

Don't be put off if you don't get a ton of notice the first time you bring up a subject. Bring it up again in a different light, at a different time (even literally different times of day can make a difference) and if you really believe in it be persistent.

And of course if think we can be of help - tell David Ingram and me and we'll see about doing something on Around the World

Tag: youtube barack obama stephen harper politics