Ok, so I just couldn't wait to post this for you all. As most of you would know, Himself works for Greens Senator Rachel
Siewert from Perth. Another of his good friends, a man I'm lucky enough to have seen work up close and personal, is Senator Scott
Ludlam. Scott is one of the nicest, most respectful, hard working people you're likely to find anywhere, let alone in parliament. Recently he's been slogging away against the thoroughly moronic proposed
"mandatory internet filter", and is the only politician to strongly campaign against it, pressuring Senator Conroy at every stage.
Now, you should also know that I'm a
twitter addict. I find it invaluable for being in touch with people all over the country (you can be in contact with people all over the world, but I like keeping my focus local) and finding out about what is going on in their literal or metaphoric neighbourhood. I've met some amazing people, have talked to industry leaders... and most recently used it to keep up to date on the
No Clean Feed campaign, which I'm passionate about. In keeping an eye out for the issue, hearing about campaigns in each state, seeing what kind of action people are taking as a group or individual, I came
across this:
It is but the
first strip in a web series dedicated to depicting
characters Jeff,
Rork and of course, our very own Senator
Ludlam and the Australian Greens, fighting
teh evil Conroy and his terrible plans.
I have to tell you, I find it
hilarious. Scott has now become the hero of his very own cartoon. He's portrayed here as one of the lone warriors, where he is responsible for an almost
singlehanded defense against Conroy's lame attempts to filter our
internet. Scott, saviour of
teh interwebs! Yeah! After all, he's already been portrayed as the
Indiana Jones of the movement, a rogue challenger.
I'm glad Scott's getting recognised for all his hard work, and in a way I find it even more touching that his recognition is being celebrated in true web style. They're expressing their appreciation in cartoons, emails/tweets of support, mash-up pictures. He really is the poster boy of this campaign after really grilling Conroy in Estimates, and they love him for it.
It's days like this I love our online community here in Australia. There are so many arms, so many interests... but we are all passionate about our democratic right to use it in the way we see fit. We don't want, or trust, an idiot like Conroy (who has just started a 'blog' and can't even get his office to respond to direct emails to his office promptly).
Twitter has been responsible for a campaign where users selected a particular day (during a sitting period, no less, the busiest possible time), signed up for a
timeslot, and called Conroy's office to voice their objections. There are rallies on in
every state this weekend.
GetUp have launched their own campaign. What campaigns have you seen encourage such passion and action lately? How lucky we are to have our very own hero to keep up the good fight.
