Culture Jamming the 2004 Australian Federal Election!
Thursday, September 09, 2004
It's a really strange day when I start thinking "I'm so glad a federal election is looming"! Now, before you all think I've gone completely mad, let me explain: on Monday I'm giving a lecture on Virtual Ethic entitled "Resistance is Furtile" (yes, bad Borg pun there). One of the premises of this lecture is that culture jamming, resistant media and guerilla marketing have all ceased to be novelties and have now entered the mainstream of political activism. (Not to belittle earlier culture jamming efforts, there, just to suggest they weren't immediately recognisable or understood by the mainstream.) A month or two ago when I started searching out material, I found a lot of great material, but the vast majority was US-centric (such as MoveOn.Org or the increasing number of political simulation games relating to the US elections). However, with the onset of the massive media campaigns by all parties involved with the Australian Federal Election, a lot of amazing resistant media is suddenly much more visible and so it's much easier to make my case using aussie examples, not just US ones. A few of the highlights:
- DearJohn.Org - A campaign by those who claim to rarely campaign, but who are more motivated by the idea of getting rid of Howard than they are restrained by apathy! This is a great, media-rich website and has a fantastic array of tools in their culture jamming arsenal, from screen-savers to printable posters and buttons.
- Donkey John - A fantastic little game which shows our PM in the role of King Kong, stealing the oil from East Timor (and being motivated by oil profits and control; *cough* Iraq).
- GetRidofHoward.Org.Au - A nexus point for the various anti-Howard online efforts.
- JohnHowardLies.com - The most well know and controversial anti-Howard website which documents the many, many broken promises during Howard's years as the boy who (after many, many years) would be king (also, check out the small but effective John Howard Lies Video [wmv]).
- John Howard's Blog - A satirical blog "written" by the PM! (Not updated all that often, though.)
- Troy Rollo - Also of interest is that one of the few (only?) candidates blogging their campaign is Troy Rollo who is standing as an independent against Howard in his electorate of Bennelong!
[Posted by Unknown] [3:20 pm]
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