大象传媒

Sharing an experience about political involvement:A pilote project Bloglogue( blog plus dialogue) was launched on Global Voices.A topic/subject was proposed to be discussed by bloggers & non bloggers, such as "US 75 million help to promote democracy in Iran". result shows that bloggers & non bloggers who are involved with political trends, were the ones who got engaged in discussion.

The last couple of decades have seen both the collapse of Communism and serious flaws emerging in the conventional wisdom of global capitalism. Old identifiers such as "right" and "left" are increasingly meaningless.
Disillusioned with the false promise of all-encompassing ideologies, individuals adopt a pick-and-mix attitude to politics: a single potential voter might, for example, favour the environmental policies of the Greens, the immigration policies of the BNP and the tax policies of Respect.

Because such a blend is not on offer at the ballot box, these individuals choose a different avenue to express their views: blogging is just a natural development from 18th-century pamphleteering, Hyde Park Corner or letters to the editor. Their views may be incoherent or unfeasible or just plain wrong, but they're now in the open, in a way that is not possible under the electoral system.

It's obvious by the disingagement of youth and the falling voter turn out that the current electoral system is slowly failing and that the remit of politicians is becoming increasingly weak. This perhaps goes some way to explain New Labour's fetish for authoritarian laws and rules and their latest idea of making voting compulsary - this smacks of nothing more to me as a reflection of massive divide that is opening up between the powerful few and the powerless many and their attempt to keep hold of the power that they hold.

The interesting counterbalance to this is how the internet can be used to engage people in local politics and to create a system where the people's voice can be heard and to make sure that those who represent us are truly listening. Imagine for one moment communities all over the UK who use a specifically designed website combining blogs, issues to vote on, discussion forums etc.. to make their voices heard on issuesand to bounce ideas around. This would make a massive difference to the ations of MP's who would no longer be able to claim without any hard proof that they are speaking and voting on behalf of the people they represent. For too long voices have been disperate and scattered - the internet allows us to be heard as one and to sort through those problems as one.

The possibilities are endless when you open your mind as to what could be done. But as Ive said before on here we mustn't fall into the trap of believing that participation solely relies on tapping away at a keyboard, that can lure people into a false sense of belief and paradoxically, inaction.

Just as blogging and citizen journalism is spreading out the power and forcing media institutions to change their mode of operation the same can be done in the field of politics. Come on people, we've been shoved around for too long and told what to think and how to vote. Let's take the power back.

Blog power during the 2006 Canadian election was very evident.

is an article on the efforts of bloggers I wrote during the campaign.

What often happened was bloggers uncovered facts and details about stories in far greater depth than the main stream media.

While this could be due to partisanship, it is also because there are not the set deadlines for bloggers and citizen journalists.

James