Published Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 09:18
by
rikkeindenmark 
(514 views and 2 comments)
How do we turn our political ideas and visions into great campaigns?
In my view, this is the next big challenge that PES activists are up for! Since October last year PES activists have discussed the PES manifesto and what issues and ideas should be in it - 'online' on Yourspace as well as 'offline' at manifesto meetings all over Europe.
We have lots and lots of amazing ideas and I almost can't wait to get started on the campaigning! Before long we will have to pick from our ideas and select the issues which we would like to give special attention in future international PES activist campaigns. Are some issues more 'suitable' for cross-border, grassroot campaigning than others?
A few days ago I gave a presentation at the ECOSY summer camp (ECOSY is the European Young Socialists which gathers socialist youth movements from all over Europe) where I suggested four basic principles which, in my view, should guide the 'transition' from visionary manifesto process to succesful campaigning. Here goes:
It's pretty basic, but sometimes, after a period filled with big and visionary thoughts, 'back to basics' can be useful! Do you agree or am I just babbling here? :-)
In the presentation I also argued that social networking sites - such as Facebook or MySpace - can be very powerful tools for youth organizations. For three main reasons: Social networking tools are - for a large part - free to use, they're powerful means of reaching young people and they're based on dialogue rather than one-way communication. The latter is perhaps the more interesting point. With traditional media such as TV and radio audiences are passive and have no opportunity to respond. Social networking sites are interactive and allow people to answer to messages or to start a conversation with you as sender. Here, I would argue that socialist grassroots are important assets to their own campaigns! You are energetic and sympathetic campaigners - so using a communication tool which will allow people to meet and discuss with you will definetely be an advantage! It's attractive to be part of a network filled with energy and enthusiasm.
For those interested I have attached my hand-outs from Saturday's session at the ECOSY summer camp. Agree? Disagree? Comments are - as always - appreciated!
Tags: activists, campaign, youth
File:
handouts_ECOSY_26072008.pdf
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Comments
1. socialism will aways be international by kim
on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 14:15
Hi Rikke,
You are right, after the manifesto on Yourspace we need to start thinking how we are going to campaign.
This campaign will be a cross border campaign, tools like the internet will be essential.
As socialist we have the avantage that socialism is always been and will always be international. We have a network of comrads over the EU, and we should be able to support on it. Learning from each other, and looking at succesfull campaigne. Workshops like we got in Vienna and summecamp showd me what to aspect from the campaign, and I also I'm ready to start.
kim
2. Certainly by rikkeindenmark
on Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 10:47
Hi Kim - I agree, we should definetely take advantage of being an international movement! This makes a lot of sense, especially in an election for an 'international' parliament. And I'm sure we will have plenty of opportunities to campaign with a European dimension under the umbrellas of PES activists and ECOSY....To be able to post comments you need to be logged in. No account yet? Register here! Lost your password?