Political Hacktavism

[WantDaChronic]

Hell yeah, lets do some doorknocking too, and we'll even go around with a staple gun stapling information on cannabis to peoples foreheads.

 

would have put that in a quote but my browser is being a cunt and when i press any of the buttons it dont do shit

 

anyways instead of doing that maybe u could just get a few ppl from every local area that support mj legalisation to staple phamplets stating both side of the mj war (more positive facts tho ) to every1's front door every weekend...instead of waking upto the sunday paper they can get a big lecture about weed so next election they can make an informed decision :

 

would also really piss me off if i kept getting the same phamplet week in and week out...should put at the end that these phamplets will stop production when mj is legalised

[Guest niall]

maybe u could just get a few ppl from every local area that support mj legalisation to staple phamplets stating both side of the mj war (more positive facts tho ) to every1's front door every weekend...instead of waking upto the sunday paper they can get a big lecture about weed so next election they can make an informed decision :

 

would also really piss me off if i kept getting the same phamplet week in and week out...

I'm all for mass emailing our Politicians - not a deluge of spam but maybe setup an automated web system so that people could go click a button to send an anti-prohibitionist message to every MP in their State. I could set something like this up very easily and quickly if people are interested - I'm happy for MA to take the heat on your behalf but it has to come from MA itself and not people just putting MA on their own emails and posters, has to be approved and official...

 

But spamming the public is not a good idea, and I don't think doorknocking and leaving brochures in people's mailboxes would be very cost effective.

 

Canada and the US are having tremendous success - look at what they're doing. They have visible representatives - both Politically, medicinally, in the headshop scene... They use the democratic system - they're in regular contact with their MPs and they meet them in person, write to them personally, try to win them over and lobby them like any other special interest group does. They take every opportunity they can to get on TV and radio talkback - this is the most effective way to get the message out there. They have their own media - magazines like Cannabis Culture, previously High Times, Pot-TV, websites, forums, mailing lists... They have activist communities and focus groups, they have hundreds if not thousands of people at their disposal on a national level - with just one email they can rally a group of people on very short notice to show up at a Political/televised event and make their presence known.

 

We don't really have *any* of this. This is why it's not an issue here in Australia - it's not in the public eye.

 

This is what I want MA to help build - a community focused on cannabis law reform at every level. Growers and users who don't want to come out of the closet can still help, there's so much to be done but no-one is really volunteering to help or coming up with projects and ideas that they can contribute to. Everyone has skills we can use, just think about what you do for a living, what you're capable of, basic skills that you might have like writing or proof-reading or coming up with ideas or planning or organising or talking to people on the phone or in-person people skills... it's all useful to us, we just need people to put their hands up, pick something they can do to help, and do it.

 

I don't have much spare time myself, but I manage to newshawk WA for MAPinc, write LTEs, meet up with sympathetic MPs, run MA and install new things like our new Live Chat, and I'm in the planning stages of a magazine and I've started sketching out a book on a workable model for a regulated cannabis industry. It only takes a few hours a week, but if everyone pitches in and does what they can - even if its only behind the scenes, there's nothing we can't achieve. Just look at Canada!

Edited April 7, 2004 by niall