As we reported in the last issue of INK, the Netroot Nation held its convention in Minneapolis last week and for the first time ever help for the ailing labor movement topped the progressive bloggers’ agenda. According to attendees one couldn’t throw a rock without hitting something union this year, as union speakers, slogans, freebies and themes dominated the dais, workshops, strategy sessions and even the social hours. On the surface, many Netroot activists are tickled with the infusion of cash and sophisticated confetti cannon razzle-dazzle only union dollars can buy. But other progressive bloggers are deeply concerned for the loss of independence and “outsiderness” that comes with having wealthy friends with control issues. “I’ve been to every Netroots since the beginning, and it’s changed quite a bit. It used to be a sort of loose but energetic gathering of outsiders, and now it seems more like a rally for the Democratic Party institutions that the outsiders used to take aim at,” said Free Press Campaign Director Tim Karr. The first casualty of Big Labor’s wholesale takeover of the progressive blogosphere might well be the sacred cow of progressive wiki nerds everywhere – net neutrality. One major sponsor of last week’s festivities, the CWA, has long supported AT&T and its position on net neutrality, best described as the polar opposite of the Daily Kos. And once the dominant theme of every Netroot convention, this year the topic was tacitly taboo. “It’s not just disappointing—it feels like a betrayal of the spirit of the event.” Karr said. Wow. That didn’t take long! And finally, it hasn’t gone unnoticed, at least by In These Times, that when Big Labor brings the bat, the mitt and the ball you better start sucking up to the pitcher. “While SEIU President Mary Kay Henry was featured as a keynote speaker and SEIU Secretary Treasurer Eliseo Medina was given an award during the conference, labor journalist Steve Early, author of the book Civil Wars in U.S. Labor … was denied the opportunity to speak at the conference. While there were many panels on organized labor, there were no speakers on those panels who were critical of organized labor’s leadership in any way, shape or form.” Welcome to the labor movement, Netroots.
