The Progressive Netroots Settle in for the Long Haul

The Progressive Netroots Settle in for the Long Haul

Paul Adler: The Progressive Netroots Settle in for the Long Haul

Those needing some antidote to perceptions, common in the media, that progressive online activists spend all their time crafting new ways of denouncing Democrats as ?sell-outs,? or who worry that that the relationship between the party establishment and activists has descended into a cold war, could have done worse than attending this past week?s RootsCamp 2010.

RootsCamp is one of those important yearly political meetings you may never have heard of. It is one of two annual conferences organized by the ?netroots,? that loose assemblage of progressive bloggers and online organizers, best known for sites such as Daily Kos and groups like MoveOn.org. Complementing RootsCamp is the more prominent Netroots Nation, a splashier affair, which brings together legions of activists and Democratic politicians wishing to curry favor with them (including party leaders such as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi).

If Netroots Nation is the equivalent of a giant house party, RootsCamp is more akin to a potluck and games night. No politicians, just practitioners. While numerous progressive groups sponsor RootsCamp, the real driver for the conference is the New Organizing Institute. NOI has emerged in recent years as a crucial piece of the netroots? infrastructure; it conducts trainings on using new media effectively and provides activists with tools both for online organizing and for political work more generally. Much of its approach is modeled on the tech world, where many of the ?first generation? of online activists came from. Organizers label RootsCamp a ?un-conference,? in part because no prearranged agenda exists; any attendee may propose and conduct a session.

I attended RootsCamp 2010 interested in gauging the mood of progressives, which I expected to be a mix of resignation and a bit of anger. After all, many of the attendees were the very activists whose frustrations with Obama and the Democrats have grown through the fights over the stimulus, the public option, and now the tax compromise. As if to compound this disenchantment, President Obama had, only days before, scolded progressives for supposedly valuing the ?satisfaction of having a purist position? over tangible policy victories. Even without these internal conflicts dampening activists? spirits, RootsCamp was also one of the first progressive conferences held since the ?shellacking? of the 2010 midterms.

Conference speakers certainly did not paper over these challenges. At the opening session, acknowledgements that ?times ahead will test us? mixed with encouragement that activists should not resort to ?thinking small,? but instead ?think big and go on offense.? Some sessions seemed to fit the media?s ?angry liberals? frame?the first discussion I attended was titled, ?Venting Session: Why Democrats Are Sucking.? Here complaints flew about the Obama administration?s habit of ?pre-compromise? and the general lack of Democratic backbone. Sharp criticisms were also aimed at Organizing for America (OFA), the grassroots organization built by the Obama campaign and now housed in the DNC. Along with some logistical matters, these speakers emphasized larger concerns that a group such as OFA served to channel grassroots energy away from efforts that included challenging the Democrats from the left.

That said, attendees at RootsCamp seemed little interested in wallowing. While defining a movement?s ?mood? by attending one conference is somewhat foolhardy, my sense from RootsCamp is that, moving forward, progressives are mostly concerned with improving their organizing abilities and approach the future with a healthy recognition that social change is measured in fights over years and decades. This sense was partly reflected in the topics of the sessions; for every ?Why Democrats Are Sucking,? several others focused on practical skills, such as ?Social Media Metrics #2 (Issues and Persuasion)? or ?The Future of Campaign Tech.? Many sessions (including the ?Venting? one) reflected an introspective current, with activists analyzing successful and unsuccessful uses of technology and campaign tactics, as well as rethinking how the netroots movement approaches politics. For critics such as Malcolm Gladwell, who see online activists as ?cram[ming] every stray fact and experience into their new model,? it might come as a shock that these activists are, on many occasions, their own sharpest critics.

In part, this relative lack of pessimism may arise from the fact that the netroots increasingly encompass a range of movements, campaigning on an array of battlefields. Attendees came from across the liberal spectrum; one could easily find sessions attended by staff from Organizing for America and more radical organizers fighting mountaintop removal mining, united by a general liberal impulse and the desire to learn practical skills from one another. During the conference?s opening, one of the loudest applauses erupted upon the announcement that half of the participants came from ?outside D.C.,? and there was much talk about varieties of local organizing (for example, running candidates for offices such as state utility commissioner).

Another mark of the movement?s growth could be seen in the focus on issues of immigration; several sessions centered on the DREAM Act and immigration reform. Among the ?Most Valuable Organizer Awards? given out at the conference?s close included one to Promise Arizona, a grassroots organization advocating on an array of racial justice and immigrants? right issues. While none of this signifies that the netroots have overcome the challenges in building a truly diverse movement, such steps show that there is an awareness of these issues and a desire to tackle them.

If no final answers were found at RootsCamp (and anyone who thinks one conference can solve these dilemmas is simply naïve about social movements), the ability for reflection and growth suggests the netroots will play an important role in the ongoing struggle for a decent society.