Anti-cuts campaigners (& activists from Netroots US) meet to debate next move (at NetrootsUK summit)

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Student and union activists join with anti-tax avoidance and anti-racism campaigners to discuss tactics at NetrootsUK summit

Matthew Taylor| Tuesday January 4 2011 17.33 GMT -

Hundreds of online activists, student leaders and union officials who have been at the forefront of anti-government protests over the past six months are meeting this week to co-ordinate the next stage of their anti-cuts campaigns.

The conference, which is modelled on the successful Netroots Nation campaign in the US, will take place on Saturday and aims to link local campaigns with anti-tax avoidance groups, student protesters, unions, and anti-racism activists. The NetrootsUK conference has been organised by bloggers, backed by the TUC (Trades Union Congress).

Sunny Hundal, editor of the leftwing Liberal Conspiracy blog, is one of the organisers. He said: "There is widespread concern over what the coalition is doing to our economy and in recent months we've seen an enormous buildup of energy from across the country to do something about it. But most of it has been in separate campaigns. What we're trying to do here is bring together veteran campaigners with new movements so we can learn from each other, and use social media to keep on top of what works and what doesn't. It's the first time we have seen anything like this on such a scale."

Over the past year prominent campaigns have used social media sites to mobilise tens of thousands of people. In June, the Hope Not Hate campaign helped defeat the British National party in Barking, east London, by adapting online techniques from the US. Over the past few months, student protesters have taken to the streets in their tens of thousands to oppose the increase in tuition fees after organising on Facebook and Twitter; while in December the tax justice group UK Uncut closed down scores of high street stores accused of avoiding tax after organising a nationwide campaign via Twitter. Organisers from all three groups will be taking sessions on Saturday.

=snip=

Activists from the Netroots Nation, the annual meeting of progressive bloggers in the US, are travelling to the UK for the conference.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/04/anti-cuts-campaign-summit-next-move

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Looks like the beginning of a symbiosis that will hopefully develop into something really beneficial for activists on both sides of the pond.

Embedded links at the original article, including...

http://www.netrootsuk.org/

http://liberalconspiracy.org/

No links in the article but these guys' sites are also worth checking out...

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/

At the same time as making massive cuts to public services, this government is letting rich individuals and corporations avoid billions of pounds of tax. Join UK Uncut’s Big Society Revenue & Customs (BSRC) and become part of an army of citizen volunteers determined to make wealthy tax avoiders pay.

http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/actions | http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ukuncut