Here is a section of my article from about '96 when I wrote a paper for my mass communications class on Olympic security. At that time, the world wide web had within a few months been introduced to the campus computers and activists were trying to figure out how to use it to organize street actions. Also at the time, the established media had established toll stations at every point of communications so that individuals had to pay and pay and pay to communicate laterally with other citizens and residents. And at every opportunity, the mass media would carve out another section and erect more tolls and charges, or would restrict the access of those who did not meet their approval. The cheapest and most accessible communications of the day was through the post office. In this interview you can see the seeds of the current uses of social media. It's not so much a new idea, as it is simply an old need served well by current offerings on the internet.
The whole article may be seen at:
backwaterart.tripod.com/id29.html

The Black Fist Collective, of Houston, Texas, in association
with other organizations, is planning to engage in resistance
activities in Atlanta during the Olympic games.
Sometimes using the media is a good thing, you can use
it to reach a lot of people. But there are a great majority
of people that go out to a demonstration who don't know how
to use the media. They end up being a product. You have this
minute of fame and you use this minute to scream in somebody's
face instead of trying to get across your message.
(Attracting the attention of the press means you have to
address your activities to the press rather than to the people.
A lot of activists get sidetracked on whether or not they made
it to t.v.)
I know lots of people like that. Hell I used to be one
of those kids at one time or another. It was a cool thing.
Its cute and all that but fine, what happens after that? Once
you're off camera, once your little minute on t.v. comes, what
have you done. Nothing.
There's a lot of activism that doesn't use or need any
media. I work with a program here in Houston that basically
goes into abandoned homes in the Chicano community here and
renovates the houses and sells them back into the community
and helps them create cooperative housing. We've never had
a story written up about us at all. You don't need that. There's
so much that you're able to just go ahead and do, by word of
mouth.
That's one of the problems that I have with the leftists
in general, nobody is into word of mouth anymore. No one wants
to talk to anybody. They want to stand on a soapbox. You miss
so many people by not talking. This is just because of the
education system in America, a lot of people are illiterate.
A lot of people don't understand these broad concepts that people
want to get across in their little newspapers or whatever else,
and they (the people with the little newspapers) don't want
to talk to anybody. You get across so much by showing people
through example and through your action, what you're about and
then you're able to talk to them. But few people are willing
to talk, few people are willing to lead by example.
(Activists I knew during the sixties claimed to loved
everybody in the whole world, they wanted to feed and liberate
the whole earth's population. But they hated nearly everyone
they actually knew. Their parents, the police, their teachers.
People they actually met and could have done something for,
they hated.) Its easy to go ahead and love somebody who's far
away. Its easy to go ahead and idealize somebody but most of
the people who are like that are just condescending as shit,
honestly. They think they have some kind of lock on advancement
and knowledge, blah blah blah, and they can't relate to anybody
on that level, they can't relate to another person within their
proximity on their level. There are still all kinds of people
like that. 'Let's go help the ...' whatever. I could give
examples til the cows come home. Its easy to go ahead and
idealize somebody who's far away. Its even easy, especially
if you're a white leftist or whatever else, to idealize somebody
who's right here. Its easy to idealize the Black Panthers or
its easy to idealize the people of the Black Liberation Army
who are imprisoned right now. Its easy to idealize that because
its not part of your experience. Those people are so far removed
from you, you're not involved with that community and you
can't necessarily criticize that community or realize that
there are faults within that.
(I spent five years as 911 dispatcher and my son works
for Americorps ... we compare notes sometimes, and people who
are badly in need of help are the least lovable people on the
face of the earth) Yes, exactly, and they're the least able
to idealize. Everybody wants to idealize. Everybody wants
to idealize the Panthers, everybody forgets that quite a few
of them were completely fucked up and strung out. And there's
nothing wrong with that, that's a symptom of the society that
we've been raised in.
(People in need are often busy trying to save themselves,
often in ways that are conterproductive to their own progress.)
Exactly, and the Zapatistas are a perfect example. Its easy
to go ahead and say oh, they're wonderful, we support them,
whatever. Its easy to go ahead and say that because you're
not part of that struggle and you don't understand the
complexities of what they've had to go through, and you don't
understand that they've had to stumble and struggle a lot to
get where they're at right now. They've been doing that for
over ten years, this is not something that has automatically
popped up. Its been on the horizon for a long time. Its easy
to idealize people because they're at a certain point, without
understanding that they have had to struggle for a very long
time. You can't relate to that if you've not been in that
experience.
(It would be really hard for the media to capture that
struggle and development. They don't want to capture it.
Media can't change the situation. The more media that show
up, the more freaks that are going to show up just to get the
attention. Its not their fault its really not.
(What do you expect, regarding to political demonstrations,
in Atlanta?) Lots of people marching around, lots of people
carrying signs, lots of people going home afterwards. That's
pretty much it. Pretty much a standard thing. Your standard
leftist demonstration; people walk out, people hold signs and
people do chants and people leave. Few people are actually
able to do something, walk out of here with something
substantive.
(Having said that, he told me that he still engages in
public protest activities. He is a regional coordinator of
the Chicano Moratorium in his community and plans to attend
a march in August.)
(What about the plans his people are making for
demonstrations in Atlanta.) Its still kind of up in the air,
they're still working on a couple of things at this point.
(Will this be a major demonstration to the world or a solidarity
move for the participants?) Maybe a combination of both. They
have come up with a bunch of plans that they've thrown out.
I think they've been a bit stymied by the security and at the
same time they've been just trying to motivate people.