How Bloggers bring about change

[Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati]

Hi,

Blogging may be still considered by most as another Techno age craze,but
it can also be an instrument of change.If you aren't sold out on my idea
of blogging then have a look at Slashdot, its the biggest community blog
till date. ;o) 

The news article on BBC News Site states that blogging 
"In terms of grassroots power, (blogs) have been an enormous force,"



Bloggers take on European elites 
By Kevin Anderson  
BBC News website  




The French newspaper dubbed Marseille law teacher Etienne Chouard "Don
Quichotte du non".

Mr Chouard did not much care for the EU Constitution, but instead of
simply voicing his upset to his neighbours, he wrote an essay and set up
a blog to explain why he was voting 'Non'. 

Just ahead of the vote, his blog was getting 25,000 hits a day and his
anti-constitution broadside had been photocopied, faxed and blogged
about across France. 

Despite overwhelming support for the constitution by the governments of
both France and the Netherlands and a huge media campaign by political
leaders in both countries, voters have rejected the constitution. 

And just as the media and political establishment in the US found during
last year's presidential election, European elites have now felt the
sting of these online upstarts, the bloggers. 

An 'enormous force'

Mr Chouard, the teacher turned blogger, has become a folk hero for the
'Non' campaigners who rebelled against what they saw as an out of touch
political elite.

Fans posting to his blog have asked where they can send contributions to
erect a statue of him in Marseille,

He took issue with the 66,000 word constitution saying that it would be
difficult to amend and that it did not lay out the separation of powers
between agencies. 

The "Yes" campaigners argued that the blogs were perpetuating myths and
half-truths, French internet consultant Stanislas Magniant told the
BBC. 

But those opposed to the constitution found the internet in general and
blogs in particular as one of the ways to get their message out, he
said. 

"Proponents of 'No' have said the mainstream media have been shamelessly
in favour of the 'Yes'. They said the internet was the main area where
the democratic debate can take place," he added. 

But it was not just Mr Chouard, Nicolas Vanbremeersch of the blog
Publius actually expected more online activism than took place in France
after the role of blogs in the US presidential campaign last year. 

But he told the BBC News Website that both "Yes" and "No" campaigners
used the internet and weblogs extensively.

However, the "Yes" side's internet efforts were too late and too
little. 

"The 'No' side, the extreme left, was very organised on the internet.
The 'Yes' side has been late in taking up blogs as interactive tools,"
he said. 

The political left already had many internet sites ahead of the
constitutional campaign and they quickly launched blogs for the
campaign, he added. 

Mr Magniant is not ready to say that blogs were a determining factor in
the referendum, but he does believe that blogs dramatically lowered the
barrier to entry to take part in political debate. 

"In terms of grassroots power, (blogs) have been an enormous force," he
said. 


-- 
arky

Rakesh 'arky' Ambati
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Blog [ http://arky.in ]
Member FSUG-Bangalore [ http://bangalore.gnu.org.in ]
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