Grassroots Organizing by Internet: An Example

At the Harm Reduction Conference last month in Oakland, California (see AIDS TREATMENT NEWS #253, August 23, 1966), we learned about a grassroots organizing project which could be a model for AIDS advocacy. No one to our knowledge is doing similar work in AIDS, and we believe that many organizations could use this approach to increase their effectiveness at little financial cost.

This organizing project is called MAP (Media Awareness Project); its focus is drug policy reform. It is working with other organizations to encourage discussion of alternatives to the current war-on-drugs approach. Its members do not necessarily believe in legalization, but want to end the current drug war with its massive violence, corruption, misuse of resources, and disrespect for law, with hundreds of thousands of people in prison for nonviolent drug crimes, and no end in sight after 82 years (since the first U.S. drug-prohibition law in 1914). The major issue which the drug-policy reform movement shares with the AIDS community is medical marijuana. This article, however, looks not at issues but at organizing techniques.

MAP focuses primarily on using the Internet to support people in responding to media coverage by writing letters to the editors of newspapers. Although MAP is just a few months old and has only one staff person, dozens of its letters have been published, many in major national publications. (Often a letter which can be sent in an hour will appear in a paper where an advertisement of the same size would cost thousands of dollars; the free letter will have more influence, since the letters section is one of the most widely read parts of a newspaper.) MAP members and supporters are also encouraged to contact politicians and public officials.

MAP differs from most such efforts by providing much greater support to its members. Computer communication allows it to do this economically. For example:

* Anyone can learn about this project through MAP's Web site, http://drcnet.org/map/. This site includes dozens of published letters which people can use as examples. It also describes other services of MAP, and tells how to use them.

* MAP tells people how to compose letters so that they are most likely to be accepted. Getting published is easier than many people realize. Many newspapers with 30,000 to 50,000 circulation get so few letters that they publish almost all they receive, provided that the letter responds to something which appeared recently in the paper, and/or has human interest due to the reader's own personal experience.

* MAP has an editorial board of professional writers and editors, who will help members who want assistance in improving their letters before they are sent.

* MAP's "NewsHawk" members alert MAP to media coverage of its issues, pro or con. In addition, MAP uses a professional research database to search hundreds of major newspapers throughout the U.S. every day for relevant articles (although it may miss local stories the NewsHawks can pick up). MAP then notifies its "rapid response" members, who respond on issues that matter to them.

* MAP maintains a database of 26,000 U.S. publications and public officials, so that letters can be sent to specific editors or officials when appropriate, and can be targeted to the requirements of a particular publication. MAP uses this database to improve the action alerts which it sends to its rapid-response members.

* MAP refers members, reporters, and others to a major online library of authoritative drug information.

* MAP also refers members to email discussion lists, where they can participate with experts in discussing various aspects of drug policy.

* Members can be anonymous, with their names not appearing in membership lists. (Anyone could accomplish much the same by using MAP's services without joining.) Confidentiality can be meaningful even in an organization dedicated to getting letters published, since people can pick the issues they are comfortable with. (For example, if someone does not want neighbors to know they are interested in AIDS, they could still call for increased funding for medical research in general. Organizations should provide such options, to increase participation.)

* Members report back what they do (often just by sending MAP a copy of their email). This allows evaluation of the organization's effectiveness, issue by issue.

* Behind all this is an advisory board, mostly composed of leaders of other drug-policy organizations. This board gives policy coherence to the overall effort, and avoids factionalism by focusing on those issues where almost everyone in the movement can agree.

Because it is based on email, MAP's communication is almost instantaneous and essentially free. And since newspapers often prefer to receive letters to the editor by email (which avoids retyping), members do not have to switch media when they respond. Members who take the time to follow the issue and act can be published in newspapers across the nation, not only in their own locality; even those who are homebound can have great influence. Activists can be equally effective no matter where they live -- from a big city to a small village to a remote cabin -- as long as they can make an occasional telephone call to exchange email. This greatly increases the pool of potential activists.

MAP's excellent coordination, preparation, and support, combined with the advantages of email, mean that this organization with a staff of one can deliver many letters quickly anywhere in the country when a publication misreports the drug issue -- or when it reports the issues correctly and needs support and thanks.

[For more information about MAP, contact Mark Greer, 73164.760@compuserve.com, or by phone at 800/266-5759. Or visit its Web site at http://drcnet.org/map/