FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
March 30, 2006
How to Organize a Protest
On Monday, around 500,000 people in Los Angeles turned out to protest proposed federal legislation that would tighten U.S. immigration law by making it a felony to cross the border illegally and help those trying to do so. Immigration issues aside, I found interesting two LA Times articles about the protests, and how they were organized and gained momentum through both new- and old-school methods. The bulk of the protesters were mobilized through the work of Spanish-language DJs who put aside their differences and mobilized half a million people in the Los Angeles area. At the same time, the nearly 40,000 students in southern California who walked out of school to protest the proposed laws were mobilized through e-mail, instant messages, and MySpace.com postings.
Two very different, but very effective methods that further illustrates the increasing power of social-networking sites like MySpace, but that the old lion of terrestrial radio is still one of the most effective means of getting your message out.
Posted by Michael Prospero at March 30, 2006 10:50 AM | Category: news + current events |
9 Comments
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It s USA felony .
Ask french people !!
As someone who has their eyes on a future political career, I have to say that I heartily approve of civil disobedience.
If you get your message out loud and clear, and if nobody gets hurt, it was a good protest. MLK Jr., Henry Thoreau, and Gandhi still have a lot to teach us about applying political pressure via peaceful protest.
Does it still work today? Ask Eduard Shevardnadze, ex-president of Georgia in the former Soviet union. He resigned in the midst of a bloodless revolution in 2003, where the protesters won over the nation, even won over the President's own army. A shot was never fired, a coutry was forver changed.
Considering the all of this great radio press, wouldn't you think the "right" would have paid a little more attention and had thier infamous "imigra" show up?
Its a good thing they are so self absorbed to have noticed a little thing like Spanish Radio.
Viva Mexico!!!
I'm tilting windmills but here goes: In Yuma Arizona the local police had a solution to student protests -- the locked up the students within their own High Schools. I heartily approve. Second day, same story. Third day, locals came down hard on the school principals to make sure APPROPRIATE PUNISHMENT falls on the shoulders of the students who did walk out of one of the three local HS. For you see, dear far left wing wackos, here in Yuma, AZ, we have the highest rate of HS drop outs in the US of A. We also have the highest infiltration rates of illegal aliens crossing our borders. Yes, dear friends, 140,K last year and so far in 06, we're 25% over that. And last year was a record. So opine all you want, BREAKING IN THE BACK DOOR to barge to the ahead of the line is still a punk way to do it. The "Amnesty Law" in 86 was a load of crap...didn't work..and another one now won't either, and you know it.
Interesting post.
As a member of Unitefamilies.org [URL: http://www.unitefamilies.org] I have been trying hard to reach out to Legal (Read: LEGAL) Permanent residents of United States who are unable to be united with their spouses because of a loophole that can be fixed by the reinstatement of the 'V Visa' We have tried the media articles and 'new technologies' blogging etc...with little luck! I guess we are just slipping through the cracks...
I find it very interesting that Mexicans should protest against US laws with a "Viva Mexico". What is so "Viva" about Mexico if they had to leave there to get work?
The bottom line is: for whatever reason(s) the US provides jobs the other countries don't. You moved from wherever to the US because "wherever" didn't have jobs for you. It's your self interest that the US remains doing whatever it's doing right and not copy whatever "wherever" has been doing so badly. If immigrants insist on importing the same bad policies they are running away from they will be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Disclosure: I'm a legal immigrant to the US and think it's blatantly unfair that others skip the formal procedures to get jobs.
Ditto to XelaQlito. My wife and I were married and we had to wait while 16 months for her visa to be approved because illegal immigrants were choking the system (the process typically takes 6 months.) I am a third generation American who’s Great Grandparents came through Ellis Island. I was told by Senator Dick Durbin’s office the cause of the delay in processing her Visa was due to the backlog of illegal immigrants and their children.
The il in illegal is Latin for "not". Too often today liberals and conservatives are dropping the illegal from the immigrant duping the populace into thinking the debate is over immigrants. In truth, we are discussing undocumented workers that are here illegally by breaking what is a civil law.
As a former teacher of English as a second language I know personally that other countries take their immigration policies very seriously. Why? To prevent trafficking of drugs, prostitution, and seditious activities that undermines the moral fiber of their countries and challenge authority.
The USA is a nation of laws; as such it is important that immigrants to this country and the citizens that are descendants of these immigrants acknowledge that we have immigration laws in place not to hinder but to facilitate the legal movement of people to America. Without laws and proper security of our borders we allow those that would undermine our countries social, legal, and civil security. In return, we permit those that would immigrate here legally to wait exceedingly long wait periods while illegal immigrants skip to the front of the line burdening our system further.
We tried to use radio in Fort Worth for our Anti-Illegal Alien protest, however, between the radio stations and the news media HOWEVER, TALK RADIO AND NEWS MEDIA DID VERY LITTLE TO ANNOUNCE THIS. OUR LOCAL PAPER DIDN'T ANNOUNCE UNTIL THE MORNING OF THE PROTEST. THIS ISSUE OF ILLEGALS IS CLEARLY ONE-SIDED.
We need professional volunteers to assist in getting our next protest off the ground. I am certain millions of Americans agree with us, it was clear today when they drove by in their vehicles and honked there horns and gave us a thumbs up.