A seriously motivated “selectorate” of youth and worker-based pressure groups in the UK went digital and radical to propel Jeremy Corbyn into the Labour Party leadership. Their strategy and tactics, and above all their tech-savvy energies, worked.
Modern party politics had turned them off.
“We have to and must change that. The fightback gathers speed and gathers pace”, said their new leader.
Result: They gave Corbyn the majority of 422,871 votes in the largest ever online ballot in the UK.
Nevertheless, with their unexpected strengths come predictable weaknesses. Here are some thoughts on how the fledglings can flex their cyber-muscles.
First, they must frame, canvas and project the views of voters and influence policy and decision-making. This means formulating a veritable cyber-warriors manual.
Second, to succeed, digital activists must unchain the disillusioned electorate so they can build badly needed social capital.
Third, cyber-warriors can harvest and share expert tips and how-to videos that move issues from single ad hoc protest to organised political action
Fourth, activists must network to build understanding and inspire unity with marginal voters and communities. They must accept that a relentless battle for race equality is fundamental to Labour’s future success.
Fifth, Jeremy Corbyn’s cyber-troops have a historic role. They can send the message viral: “Civic participation is what we want, and policies for equality and community renewal are what we demand!”
Finally, to be truly effective, digital political activists must keep the grassroots that elected Corbyn leader alive. Independent, worker-based community political action sustains democracy.
In this regard, continued success must include rallying like-minded African Caribbeans and Asian, minority ethnics, faith and rights groups - the proven front-runners in the emerging “participatory politics” movement.
*Thomas L Blair is an award-winning journalist, author and sociologist. He writes features for The-Latest and is well-known for his webloghttps.chronicleworld.wordpress.com
With degrees from USA and British universities, his e-books, May 2015 Digital generation shaping “people politics” and The Audacity of Cyberspace, are basic texts on community-based digital action. Further titles are available at his website Editions Blair .
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
latest comments