On this day, May 8th, 2008, the news brings to our attention bloggers for Burma, Internet fund raising as means of life support, tips for sustaining an online community by Flickr, the swelling of the social networking community, meditations on the destruction of the “netizen” by way of gadgetry, zany acts of hilarious consequence, and more.

• Apparently, the Facebook community hates Microsoft.
• Internet fund raising is reportedly keeping Sen. Clinton in the race.
• Online community membership “swells” as the market for social networking software triples.
• Flash Mob, noun, “A sort of secret event where a select few are told to gather and perform some zany act of hilarious consequence at a random place and time.”
• Burmese blogs help to mobilize fund raising efforts in response to cyclone-related destruction.
• George Oats of Flickr very generously discusses how to Internet communities best flourish.
• Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, assets that that our “tethered appliances” like iPhones and Blackberrys create two classes of Internet-user, and this gets in the way of positive netizenry.
• Finally, if your local paper is shutting down due to layoffs, entrepreneurs like Rich Carr might suggest that you start your own news source online.

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Ray Rogers‘ name is a legendary one in the world of grassroots organization, and he is especially well-regarded in the world of labor activism. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1967 at the peak of the golden age of modern American organization. In conversation he consistently returns to Saul Alinsky’s seminal work Rules For Radicals, explaining that it has forever been an important resource for him. At present, he is the director of the Stop Killer Coke

In the 70s, Rogers coined the term “corporate campaign.” He is the director of Corporate Campaign Inc. and he has since successfully put the tactic into action against several substantial corporations, including Campbell Soup Co. and J.P. Stevens. He has a background in both social and political organization, the latter of which he cites as a great experience to constructively inform the former. In his early 60s, Rogers is exceedingly energetic and is still very excited to take almost everyone on, from Exxon Mobil to American Airlines (which he campaigned against in the 80s). In the middle of the conversation, he took excused himself to take a call on the other line. When he switched back, he said emphatically, “I’d love to find a way to zap these outfits that send you pre-recorded messages about whatever.”

A corporate campaign is a collective bargaining campaign that focuses on the importance of comprehensive research,coalition building and varying forms of political pressure. According to CCI’s website, a corporate campaign “develops strategies and tactics and structures campaigns in ways that strengthen internal union solidarity, maximize membership and family involvement and generate favorable media coverage.” Rogers ads that it is a lens through which a campaign can be seen as a whole, and where tactics stop being seen as ends and are turned into effective and moving means.

Here, Rogers explains what drove him to go after Coke, what he could be doing better, the steps he takes into consideration when planning action, and how he wishes he were better using the Internet. campaign,which is working to mobilize consumers against the Coca-Cola corporation.

Why Coke? What drove you to go after them with such intensity?

Killer Coke was set up to go after the Coca-Cola company and to hold them accountable. That is the main reason we became involved. I was hearing more and more about cases of systematic torture that were happening to unionists in Columbia and it sounded like a replay of what had happened previously in Guatemala. The issue was one of life and death and people were coming to me, asking what should be done but no one really had any resources to move it forward. Just what I need, right? Another issue and no resources [laughs].

At that point, I had been looking at going after Exxon Mobil, but what I needed was real financing. However, the things that people were telling me about Coke were so horrible. I am not naive and I have been taking on corporations for many years, so I did my own investigation and research. What I found was that the situation in Columbia was as bad, if not worse than it was being reported to me. It was a replay of what was happening with the company in Guatemala in the 80s. So I began to look at how to build a broad case against them that looked at all of their weaknesses. I researched sensitive issues around the company and then I came up with one sentence to describe them:

“The world of Coca-Cola is a world full of lies, deception, immorality, corruption and widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses.”

I have put that out there as a challenge. I have toured it around. If it’s wrong or misleading, then they can go ahead and sue me.

When putting together a campaign, what are the steps you put together before putting it into action?

There are two basic things that you need to consider if you plan on being successful against a major target or adversary. First, you need to determine where you are coming from conceptually and analytically. You need to be able to lay out a strategy that goes from Point A - the starting point - to Point Z - total defeat. We’re not out to annihilate anyone, but the idea is that you know that as you get closer to point Z, the target will begin to reach a breaking point and there is then a willingness to compromise.

Second, you need to come at it from an organizational level. You must ask, “Can I mobilize the necessary forces to reach my objectives? Can we force these companies and political mechanisms to the breaking point?” I don’t mean that you figure out if you can make them make concessions that look good in the papers? In the case of Coke, real people are dying. Animals are dying. The environment is dying. Spin is no replacement for actual progress. So you need to know if you have the tools necessary to get closer to that breaking point. Can you generate the money? The drive? The person power?

It is important for people to understand the importance of breaking corporate power into manageable units so that you can challenge, attack, divide and conquer accordingly. It is important to be able to identify which tools work best. How do you get votes to the polls? How do you communicate? Is Internet, direct mail, handing out fliers, or other options going to work best? Considering how you will effectively communicate is obviously important. Without it, you don’t exist.

Where do you see some of the biggest failures in this sort of organizing?

Some well-meaning people, organizers and activists are unable to analyze the situation and make appropriate judgments based on their goals and actions. It is important to move forward concisely. There isn’t a lot of room, especially on a small budget, for trial and error. What happens a lot of the time is that people will demonstrate against something. They will organize a protest or a demonstration and then they will wait to see the response. There is no response. Then they organize a bigger one and there is no response and this keeps going. What happens? The plans get bigger but the attendance goes down because nothing is happening. This is because too often, people see demonstration as a strategy and not a tactic. That happens with all elements from time to time.

Sometimes, people don’t know who they’re trying to reach and that can create an opportunity to waste a lot of resources. Working in political organization taught me the importance of targeting. When McGovern was running - I was so wild about him at the time; I would have been likely to go out and flier and canvass an entirely conservative neighborhood because I was so on fire, but it wouldn’t have done any good. It would be like throwing the fliers in the trash, only worse because [the residents] would have been so angry about it that they would probably have been more likely to vote against him. You’ve got to know what resources you have, know where to direct them, and understand how to best put them to work.

How much does PR and negative publicity come into account when you are organizing a campaign like Killer Coke?

I look at publicity like the icing on a cake. If I were to give you a cake without icing, you might say, “This is nice, but where is the icing?” Then I might give you a plate of icing and you would probably say, “I wanted icing, but I really want it with the cake.” They both work together to make up what it is you are looking for.

Negative publicity causes concern for corporations, but they can weather that. In the case of Coke, this is a multi-billion dollar corporation. If the going gets tough, they can just buy good publicity. So you need to come at publicity as a component of something larger. Media relations is just one part of a multi-dimensional strategy.

It is important to have nice, eye catching literature and it’s important to do this so that you can control your message when putting it out there. But if you develop a great overall campaign, you’re in an especially good spot because the media can’t ignore that and they’re forced to tell the truth. There will always be elements in the media that try to undermine you, but if you develop something solid, it makes it hard for them to ignore. You will generate good coverage.

Where does the Killer Coke campaign need to improve?

The whole thing is obviously really time consuming. I spend much of the day and night putting together a case against [Coca-Cola]. I can easily say that over 20 thousand hours of time has gone into this. I have raised lots of money in labor struggles that I have been involved in in the past and we need to start to do that with this. We built this campaign from the ground up and I am doing a lot of organizing and putting together our strategy but we’re not yet in a fund raising mode. I am working day and night on organizing, but we haven’t done an adequate job raising money. We need to figure out how to do that.

In your experience, what are some good ways to move forward with a campaign on a limited budget?

If you don’t have much money but you need to get the message out there, you have to set up a website. Start to develop an organization and a network. You need to be able to find and reach out to those who are sympathetic to your cause or to people who have similar sympathies. Take all of this information and start a database of contacts.

If you need money, reach out to foundations who are willing to back something meaningful and well organized, put together a plan and ask them for help. Coming from a spot where we have very little of it, I can tell you that getting your hands on money is time consuming.

What is your experience with using the Internet for organizing?

Unfortunately, I am pretty ignorant with regard to that. It took me a long time to figure out what a fax machine was. And I finally got it and was floored by how much time and money it saved. Then the Internet comes along and I am learning a whole bunch of new stuff. People would ask me all the time if I had looked up KillerCoke.com, which had already been bought by the company. They bought it all up. And I know that I could be a very rich man if I were to sell them KillerCoke.org. Had I understood this game better, I would have gone in and bought all of it up before they had. I did not really understand how important a tool it is.

We now have a retired New York City school teacher who is doing the work on the site. I have relatives who know what they’re doing who tell me how to use it. The Internet is a powerful weapon. It is a great communication tool and it is critical to modern organizing. The downfall is that people get it into their heads that the Internet is going to stop the demand or need for grassroots, person to person organizing. Getting on the phone, direct mailing, canvassing, and just being out there in general is still very important. You can never replace that. But at the same time, we would never have this global campaign if it weren’t for the Internet. I wouldn’t be getting daily emails from people asking how they can help or giving me all of this information. In the end, it is a phenomenal tool.

And as far as strengthening democracy goes, and holding corporations accountable, the Internet is a powerful tool that will better benefit the underdogs than it will the overlords. If we had the resource to do so, we’d have an entire Internet division.

(Photo Courtesy: Indymedia Ireland)

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