Activist Toolkit

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http://www.shambles.net

Activist Toolkit
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Peace 4 the Missing
http://peace4missing.ning.com/
A workspace social network aiming towards bringing peace to missing persons and all those who most miss them.

Activism, Advocacy, and Social Movement Resources
http://tinyurl.com/3o6go7
Activism, Advocacy, and Social Movement Resources

The Art of Propaganda
http://www.doshdosh.com/the-art-of-propaganda-seven-common-techniques/
The Art of Propaganda
Seven Common Propaganda Techniques
The study of propaganda has greatly advanced since the early 20th century. This list of 7 techniques is an early model of propaganda and is by no means comprehensive, although I think it’ll give you a good initial introduction to how propaganda functions in the social sphere.
I’ve written a brief description of each propaganda technique but omitted any information on how you can use them for your marketing/branding campaigns because its fairly easy to pick up these tactics and apply them on your own.

Counteract TV
http://counteract.tv/
Counteract TV
Volunteer, independent WebTV with a personal focus.
Counteract.tv is a volunteer and independent WebTV. Counteract.tv brings truth and injustice to light, through films where people and not politics are the headlines.
If you have something important to say, – get a free account and share your videos and blogs, or just comment and discuss others!
You decide whether your message is best told through text, or as a fictional- or documentary film.

Change
http://www.change.org/
Change ... Aims to transform social activism by serving as the central platform that connects like-minded people, whatever their interests, and enables them to exchange information, share ideas, and collectively act to address the issues they care about.
Change.org is a social network for social activism, incorporating nonprofits, politicians, and people across the globe.

The Knight Citizen News Network
http://www.kcnn.org/site/
The Knight Citizen News Network is a self-help portal that guides both ordinary citizens and traditional journalists in launching and responsibly operating community news and information sites.
It seeks to help build capacity for citizens who want to start their own news ventures and to open the doors to citizen participation for traditional news organizations seeking to embrace user-generated content.

Politics and Tech Tools
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct06/Gordon-Murnane.shtml
Politics and Tech Tools - Blogs, Aggregators and Tracking Tools
Are you a political news junkie? Do you follow the political campaigns, both national and local? Do you want to know what the right thinks about news events? Do you monitor what the left thinks about the latest revelations from The New York Times about the Bush administration?
If you do, then you are in luck. Ways to track, monitor, and participate in political campaigns have exploded. Dynamic, exciting, and wide open political blogging is playing an active role and has an aggressive voice in shaping political discourse.

J-Learning: How-To Site for Community Journalism
http://j-learning.org/
J-Learning: Your How-To Site for Community Journalism
The Institute for Interactive Journalism.
J-Learning is your how-to guide for hyper-local community media.

Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542
Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents
Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure.
Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.
Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation.
It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.

Electronic Frontier Foundation's Action Center
http://action.eff.org//
Welcome to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Action Center! Here you can contact your representatives on impending legislation that will have a direct effect on your civil liberties online.
You can also subscribe to our action alerts as an RSS feed, or sign up to receive EFFector, our regular e-mail newsletter.

Working Families Activists Toolkit
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/toolkit/
Working Families Activists Toolkit

The Working Families e-Activist Network
http://www.unionvoice.org/wfean/home.html
The Working Families e-Activist Network (USA)
The Working Families e-Activist Network is one way you can do that.
As a network subscriber you receive occasional action alerts when your voice is needed. With one click you can send a fax or e-mail to a key decision maker in Congress, at the White House or an employer who isn't respecting the rights of workers.
E-Activists have made a difference for workers all over America and done some amazing things in the fight for good jobs, overtime pay, health care, Medicare, fair trade policies and hundreds of fights for workplace justice.

Peacefire (USA)
http://www.peacefire.org/
Peacefire.org was created in August 1996 to represent the interests of people under 18 in the debate over freedom of speech on the Internet.
Peacefire is a "people for young people's freedom of speech" organization, not a "young people for freedom of speech" organization. In other words, you can join at any age if you are against censorship for students and people under 18 in general. Peacefire used to be more of a "teens only" group, but we realized that there was no point in excluding what any potential members had to offer, simply based on their age.
In October 1998, we added pages to Peacefire.org about how to disable the different censorware programs.
Advice to get around your blocking software .....

WebActive
http://www.webactive.com/
WebActive
WebActive Directory: An annotated, searchable directory of 1,250 progressive groups that are online. Users can input a key word, and quickly use hyperlinks to find their way to the progressive sites that best respond to their interests.
Soapbox: The "Op-ed" page of WebActive, this feature provides a mix of weekly commentators using RealAudio to inform an opine on topics of their choice.
Democracy NOW!: Democracy NOW! was launched by Pacifica Radio in 1996 to open the airwaves on a daily basis to alternative voices traditionally excluded from the political process. The hour-long program is available every week day.

Singing Bear : Activist Art
http://members.tripod.com/~SingingBear/
Singing Bear : Activist Art
A community for all using the creative arts for social change .. includes a gallery.

Postering, Tabling, and Propaganda Distribution
http://aia.mahost.org/comm_table.html
Postering, Tabling, and Propaganda Distribution

NetAction's Virtual Activist Training Reader
http://www.netaction.org/training/versions.html
NetAction's Virtual Activist Training Reader
"Using the Internet For Outreach and Organizing"
Download the Virtual Activist Training Reader

The Virtual Activist 2.0
http://www.netaction.org/training/index.html
The Virtual Activist 2.0
A Training Course developed by Audrie Krause, Michael Stein, Judi Clark, Theresa Chen, Jasmine Li, Josh Dimon, Jennifer Kanouse, and Jill Herschman
The Internet is a powerful tool that allows us to expand our networks by identifying and communicating with like-minded people anywhere in the world. It enables us to disseminate information widely, cheaply, and instantaneously.
Although you'll need some special skills to build and maintain a Web site, email is easily mastered even if you have little or no technical expertise. If you can read and write and your computer has a modem, you can be a Virtual Activist!
With its blinking graphics, streaming video, and interactive capabilities, the Web gets a lot more attention than plain old text-based email. But don't let email's simplicity fool you. For activists and nonprofit organizations engaged in advocacy, email is the tool of choice.
In this virtual classroom, NetAction will teach you how to use email and the Web as effective, inexpensive, and efficient tools for organizing, outreach, and advocacy.

e.thePeople
http://www.e-thepeople.org/
Welcome to e.thePeople, the place for intelligent and diverse discussion and political action.
Our technology promotes intelligent, diverse and deliberative discussions, both here and among a network of sites around the Internet.

Finding Elected Officials in the USA
http://www.e-thepeople.org/letter/write
Finding Elected Officials in the USA

Say it on the radio
http://www.protest.net/activists_handbook/radio.html
Say it on the radio
If you're part of an activist group, talk radio is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. The opportunities afforded are unparalleled.
Did you know that there are 2,000 radio hosts in the United States? So, if each one hosts a weekly two-hour program, and has one guest for each hour, then 4,000 guest slots need to be filled weekly. Of course, while some hosts interview guests five days a week, others, such as Rush Limbaugh, prefer not to share their time.

How to Write a Press Release
http://www.infoscavenger.com/prtips.htm
How to Write a Press Release

An activist guide to exploiting the Media
http://www.fraw.org.uk/gs/handbook/media.htm
An activist guide to exploiting the Media by George Monbiot

Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI)
http://www.clpi.org/
Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) (USA)
Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) (USA) promotes, supports and protects 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy and lobbying in order to strengthen participation in our democratic society and advance charitable missions.
CLPI works to remove barriers by expanding the advocacy capacity of nonprofit networks and seeking to increase awareness of the important role of nonprofit advocacy.

20/20 Vision (USA)
http://www.2020vision.org/
20/20 Vision makes grassroots activism easy for busy people.
We give citizens the information and tools they need to get involved on important issues like reducing air pollution from cars and power plants, keeping dangerous pesticides out of our food, limiting nuclear arms and making our country more secure.
Our alerts tell you how to contact politicians and corporate officials and quickly and easily tell them you?e watching them on an urgent issue.Best of all, we engage activists through creative online and offline strategies and make it fun!
20/20 Vision promotes democracy by involving the public at critical decision points.
20/20 Members members receive a welcome packet with a Guide to Effective Activism, the latest 20/20 Vision Alert and newsletter and more.

NetChange
http://www.ibiblio.org/netchange/index.html
NetChange is a World Wide Web project designed to increase the presence of progressive students activists in Cyberspace.
Initially, NetChange will serve the online progressive community in three ways.
email bulletins | database | journal |

Community Toolbox Resource Links
http://www.ezec.gov/toolbox/
Community Toolbox Resource Links
Key Principles of Community Empowerment | Implementing Strategic Plans | Nonprofit Start-up & Management | USA |

Designing Effective Action Alerts for the Internet
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/web_action_alerts/alerts.html
Designing Effective Action Alerts for the Internet
An action alert is a message that someone sends out to the net asking for a specific action to be taken on a current political issue.
Well-designed action alerts are a powerful way to invite people to participate in the processes of a democracy.

Citizen Science Toolbox (Australia)
http://www.coastal.crc.org.au/toolbox/index.asp
Citizen Science Toolbox
The Citizen Science Toolbox is a free resource of principles and strategies to enhance meaningful stakeholder involvement in decision-making. Stakeholders include not only communities, but also scientists and decision-makers. Meaningful involvement of all stakeholders occurs through a commitment to social learning - learning on the part of communities, other stakeholders and institutions.
One of the key elements of using the Toolbox is that strategies need to be tailored to fit unique issues and stakeholders.
In many cases, a combination of different tools is required to effectively involve all stakeholders in decision-making.
The Citizen Science Toolbox was a Coastal Cooperative Research Centre project and was an initiative of Professor John Fien.
Case Studies |

Civic Practices Network : Tools
http://www.cpn.org/tools/index.html
Civic Practices Network : Tools
Manuals and Guides | Course Syllabi | Civic Dictionary |

A Guide for Recognising Political Control
http://www.actionpa.org/activism/controlgame.html
A Guide for Recognising Political Control

The Citizen's Handbook
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/
The Citizen's Handbook
Guide to community organizing on the web.
We've separated out local information so it will be useful to people living in other places.
Community Organizing | Community Building Activities | Full Text Articles | The Citizen's Library | Short Case Studies |

Campus Organizing Guide for Peace and Justice
http://www.ibiblio.org/netchange/cco/
Campus Organizing Guide for Peace and Justice Groups
There is a rich tradition of organizing for peace and justice on U.S. college campuses, but too often students have no access to the wealth of experience and skills accumulated by previous generations of activists. Each year, hundreds of students "reinvent the wheel" by struggling to learn basic activism skills from scratch.
The purpose of this guidebook is to provide a missing link, to get campus activists of the 90s started more quickly, building upon the work of their predecessors and of students at other campuses.

Just Cause Law Collective
http://www.lawcollective.org/
Just Cause Law Collective
In the United States, far too many people are imprisoned, and far too many of the prisoners are low-income people of color. The purpose of this website is to even the playing field, by providing extra legal information to people who can? afford private criminal defense lawyers.

Activists Handbook
http://protest.net/activists_handbook/
Activists Handbook
The articles in this handbook are republished from Activism 101 and the Freedom Writer. They tend to be amero-centric, and some of them talk specifically about countering the religious right in the US but even with these biases they are a pretty good practical introduction to being politically active.

Using the Internet for Activism
http://www.actionpa.org/internet/
Using the Internet for Activism: listservs and web pages
As for getting the word out in general, here are a few guidelines on how to use the net effectively...
Websites are not good for announcements of things because people don't keep going back to check the same website often. Email lists are good for announcements because a message sent to an email list will reach its subscribers pretty quickly. Email postings should be somewhat short and should point people to the website for more details.
Websites ARE good for putting long, in-depth stuff online that's not appropriate to bog down people's email with. They are also good for attracting new people to the issue (since they can search the web and find the site).

Spitfire Strategies
http://www.spitfirestrategies.com/
Spitfire Strategies provides communications solutions to promote positive social change.
Our passion is to help those bringing positive change find an effective voice to communicate their vision.

Grassroots Use of Technology June 2006
http://www.organizerscollaborative.org/
Grassroots Use of Technology 2006
OC's 7th annual conference has the theme "Making Technology Relevant to Nonprofit and Social Change Groups."
We aim to present tools that make the sometimes challenging tasks associated with nonprofits and organizing much easier to accomplish, so that our groups and movements can better achieve their goals.

Campus Activism Network
http://www.campusactivism.org/
Campus Activism Network
This interactive website has tools for progressive student and youth activists.
We built it, but you must provide the site's content. You can use it to start a campaign, share activism resources, publicize events, and build networks.
Or you can join an existing campaign, get resources, learn about upcoming activist events, and let people find you.

Community Tool Box
http://ctb.ku.edu/
Community Tool Box
Our goal is to support your work in promoting community health and development.
The Tool Box provides over 6,000 pages of practical skill-building information on over 250 different topics.
Topic sections include step-by-step instruction, examples, check-lists, and related resources.
Learn a Skill | Plan the Work | Solve a Problem | Explore Best Processes and Practices | Connect with Others |

Activist Toolbox
http://www.uhc-collective.org.uk/knowledge/toolbox/
Activist Toolbox
This CD is intended for people taking action. It aims to make it easier for new folks to understand what the hell everyone is going on about in meetings, how groups organise themselves without leaders etc.
It explains some of the tactics that have successfully been employed over the years - as well as some of the problems people have encountered.
As you might expect, there's a fair amount of legal information too.
Much of what it covers has its origins in the peace movement of the 80's, the anti-road protests of the early 90's and the more recent actions against globalisation.
Most of the information on the CD is culled from the internet, while other bits were scanned in from booklets and flyers. Almost all of it has been published somewhere before, by someone else. We wrote very little of it ourselves. We have credited the author and retained the context of most of the items we've culled.
May be freely copied

Backfence
http://www.backfence.com/
Backfence
Read and Post .... rants & raves, local news, events, photos, classifieds .... to build and work with a local community.
Backfence.com is a new way to find out what's going on in the world closest and most important to you: Your neighborhood. And the information is written by the people who know your neighborhood best: You and your neighbors.
free | web 2.0 | online |

Green Media Toolshed
http://www.greenmediatoolshed.org/join/index.acs
Green Media Toolshed is the only online community providing media tools specifically designed for environmental communications.

CivicSpace
http://civicspacelabs.org/
CivicSpace is an integrated and extensible platform of online organizing tools for all manner and size of activist organizations.
Our offering is in active development and in active use by over 150 organizations and activists.

Omidyar (hosting)
http://www.omidyar.net/home/
omidyar.net is open to anyone and everyone working toward making the world a better place.
We believe every individual has the power to make a difference.
We exist for one single purpose: So that more and more people discover their own power to make good things happen.
Network: Meet people with similar interests.
Participate: Comment on discussions or start your own.
Collaborate: Work with others to make your vision a reality.
This isn't a typical web site: its value depends on you. You help make omidyar.net useful to others. You help decide how it evolves. Many of you have already contributed greatly to making the world a better place.
Applications allow to you (free) set up you own groups and collaborate.