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Source: ONE News -
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Sam Mclean, a senior campaigner for the political activist group
GetUp, leans on the tabletop football game in the group's inner
Sydney office and motions towards an election poster of John
Howard.
Placed strategically beside the poster of the grinning former PM is
an oversized cardboard cheque addressed to big industry polluters
for the sum of billions of dollars.
"I think it's a nice reminder of the different stages of GetUp and
the kind of issues we've dealt with over the years," Mclean
says.
GetUp's website claims the organisation has more than 330,000
members, and the group is at the forefront of online political
activism in Australia.
It harnesses the energy of its largely technology-savvy members,
encouraging them to sign online petitions and email local MPs about
issues of concern.
They are not alone.
Online activism has also found a home on social media like Facebook
and Twitter.
More than 28 million Facebook users have accessed the website's
Causes application to support particular movements, from the
Tibetan Freedom Movement to Save the Tassie Devils.
But some critics have labelled this kind of activism slacktivism,
or slacker activism, saying it amounts to a token activity that
might make us feel good, but achieves nothing.
They say that social media and e-petitions have given us an outlet
for our political views, but question whether the decision makers
are listening.
In June this year, Sydney video journalist and comedian Dan Ilic,
27, tried to use Twitter to make a difference.
He added a green overlay to his Twitter display picture to
support the pro-democracy protesters in Iran, joining a forest of
his friends online.
But he is no longer sure he helped that much.
"I think initially it was to show solidarity (with the
protesters)," he says.
"But in the end... all it proves to the six hundred people who are
following me is that I'm a raving lefty.
"Its not like the Ayatollah will go: OMG, I've got no idea so many
people in Twitter cared so much about democracy, LOL, Im going to
do a recount hashtag election."
Raena Jackson Armitage is the technical editor and manager of
social media operations for a Melbourne-based technology news
website.
She says that Twitter is more effective as a tool for her mother to
stalk her than as a device for political change.
"I just question the value of some people saying: yep, I'm totally
interested in this, when the only action they've taken is put it on
their Facebook and then gone back to talking about what they were
doing on the weekend or whether or not they ate a cheese sandwich
today," she says.
But Ross Monaghan, a social media expert at the School of
Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University, believes
Australian politicians can be responsive to slacktivism.
"I guess I was a slacktivist about six weeks ago," Monaghan
says.
"Somebody sent me an email saying: if you are concerned about this
type of cancer, click here to email your Member of
Parliament.
"And you know, in about four weeks, my local member, Jenny Macklin,
sent me a personal letter informing me about what the government
has done," he says.
But John Watkins, former NSW deputy premier, isn't sure that
slacktivism can seriously influence the Australian political
process.
Watkins says although he always responded to petitions and generic
emails, he didn't class them very highly.
"But if you got a dozen handwritten letters about a particular
issue that were all different ... then you knew that this
particular issue was resonating," he says.
Jim MacNamara, a Professor of Public Communication at the
University of Technology in Sydney, says 'slacktivism' shouldn't be
a pejorative term.
"It's a busy world, we just can't get ourselves involved in
everything we care about otherwise, you just get worn out," he
says.
MacNamara says the idea that the entire population should
participate in hands-on activism is unrealistic.
He says a September 2009 report by the Pew Internet Research Group
found that people who most often use the internet as a political
tool are the most politically active offline as well.
And engaging in slacktivism doesn't necessarily mean a person is
uninformed, he says.
Sam Mclean from GetUp agrees.
He says that GetUp volunteers call up members and invite them to
attend campaign events, but many people can only be politically
active sitting in front of their computer screen.
"The number of people who say - `you know what? - I would
love to'.
"But I'm 80, and I can't go and walk the streets and knock on
doors, because I physically can't do it," he says.
McLean says that many GetUp members are too busy working or taking
care of their kids to go doorknocking, but still contribute any way
they can online.
As John Howards poster-face grins over the cluttered office, Mclean
says: "I mean, politicians can choose to ignore social movements if
they want...
"I think they do that at their own peril, though."
