David Sirota is a political organizer and journalist based in Colorado. He has helped to organize/worked for Bernie Sanders, the Ned Lamont for US Senate Campaign, and other populist, grassroots movements. His columns have been published in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, and many other well-regarded publications. Sirota recently authored The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington, a book he is presently promoting.

Considered to be an expert on this emerging movement towards a new kind of revolt (lubricated in part by Internet technologies), Sirota explains to us the difference between grassroots politics and populist grassroots politics. Further, he answers:

• What gets in the way of collective action with regard to grassroots politics?
• What regions are more conducive to making collectivism work?
• Why is territorialism a big issue with movement building on the left?

Please enjoy our MSHcast with David Sirota:

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[And a special thanks to Connecticut-based Waiting For Sully for providing the opening song.]

-Filed in People

Here’s a quick gander at/guide to some of the great folks we look forward to talking to and/or profiling this week:

Beth Kanter

Imagine if you held so much Internet power, you were able to Google your first name and your very own website were the first to come up. Beth Kanter is able to do just that.

It is impossible to describe Kanter accurately without wholly offending a large bloc of people, but here goes: Beth is God. There. We said it. Beth Kanter is God. Dare you you disagree? Have you ever seen this woman at a conference? Faced with her, you’re rendered awkward, graced, and feeling somewhat irrelevant by comparison of accomplishments. Back up a little bit and observe those around you; they’re all trying to figure out how to get involved in a conversation with her, how to somehow connect with her. In [the extremely approachable] Kanter’s 25+ years of involvement in web-based organization, she has seen it all and she graciously shares slivers of her brain on her blog every single day.

David Sirota

Having been employed by the likes of Ned Lamont and Sen. Bernie Sanders, it is easy to understand why the New York Times has described David Sirota as a “populist rabble rouser.” Sirota has appeared on countless television and radio shows as an all-around sage on all-things political and civic engagement. Further, he has written for The Huffington Post, and The Nation and he serves as senior editor of In These Times. The Uprising, his new book, has won the praise of Bill McKibben, Tom Hayden (legendary Students for a Democratic Society organizer), Naomi Klein, and Matt Taibbi, and it outlines how the netroots can lead a populist rebellion. Also, he is sort of beautiful. But then again, he is also married, so he [unfortunately] wont be appearing in a most-eligible-netroots-activist section any time soon.

Check out this talk at STRAND Books featuring Sirota discussing The Uprising.

Scott Heiferman

Every evening, Howard Dean slips into his PJs, kneels before his bed, folds his hands and thanks Scott Heiferman for everything he has. Dan envisions the great Scott Heiferman and says, “Scott. Thank you so much for helping to get my name out there. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. Sure, I lost the Democratic nomination ‘04, but here I am at the head of the party. Not a bad consolation prize, sir.”

I bet you didn’t know that about Howard Dean.

Through creating Meetup, Heiferman essentially put into action one of the original bridges of Internet and grassroots organizing, helping to breed and popularize the term “netroots.”

Oh. And his “notes” are also awesome.

David All

Of Barack Obama, David All recently praised the candidate’s appreciation for “people-powered revolution.” All is especially interested in making this revolution fruitful for the American conservative movement. In the context of the 2.0 activism world, he is essentially the Little Conservative That Could, as he works his tail off to catch the Republican Party up with the left when it comes to Internet political organizing, and he is doing a darn good job at doing so far. Further, All is not only an advocate with respect to bringing the netroots to the right, but also by bringing the entire process to the netroots. He is an all-around advocate of Internet people power.

-Filed in People

On this day, June 5th, 2008, the news brings to our attention the offering of a manifesto to political guerrilla warriors, the triumph of activism over sexism in Sen. Obama’s win, a look at this year’s National Conference for Media reform, the syndication of computer hackers, Twitter tools, and more.

• Bibi van der Zee explains how to campaign effectively.
• A look at the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform.
• Computer Hackers syndicate!
• Egyptian jail Twitter guy tries to Tweet his translator to freedom.
• A transcript of a talk with David Sirota on The Uprising, his book on eActivism.
• Open Left: Activism, not sexism elevated Sen. Obama.
• Gerry Nicholls offers a manifesto on how to wage political guerrilla warfare.
• Apparently green advocates are more likely to be tech savvy.
• Micah L. Sifry, co-founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, discusses the upcoming conference.
• Having trouble putting Twitter to work for you (when it’s actually up and running)?
• Post-quake, China re-tightens media limits.
• Lincoln, Obama, and Rove: Organization matters
• And finally, LA Times readers respond to the Guerrilla Gardener.

-Filed in News

On this day, June 2nd, 2008, the news brings to our attention flash mobs (everywhere), black bloggers fighting for a voice, YouTube as the great political organizer, David Sirota on his book The Uprising, and more.

• More on My Chemical Romance’s march — It sounds like it was a bust.
• Flash mob (Critical Mass) in Sofia!
• Flash mob on the Underground (and in jail)!
• YouTube: the great political equalizer.
• Black Bloggers are trying to put their voices out there, especially with regard to the DNC.
• And Finally, David Sirota talks about his book The Uprising on CNN:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=B5bROFU_y84[/youtube]

-Filed in News