Distributed Activism

All the members and associates of the Feminist Bloggers Network should pat themselves on the back for the work we were able to accomplish yesterday.

We did it. We won

We were able to pool our networks and resources to avert the disaster that would have been the firing of Amanda and Melissa from the John Edwards campaign.

Take a bow and pat yourselves on the back. All two million of you.

When Jill posted Two Million Strong, quoting me as estimating our combined constituency, it created shockwaves through the backrooms of power. I had not only sent this missive to my fellow feminists through our mailing list, but in my attempt to get straight answers from the campaign, I flexed my networking muscles yesterday and reached out to people in my networks in a manner I had not done before.

I didn't do this just for Amanda and Melissa, I did it for all of us. Honestly, this incident was bigger than their jobs. This was about nipping from the bud an increasingly virulent trend in the United States of using the internet and every technology running through it as a means to suspend our constitutionally protected civil rights.