We get it

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 22 March 2010, 06:36

Yesterday's Observer was a joy to read. There was considerable coverage of the HOPE not hate campaign in the large feature on Barking & Dagenham and we even made it into Andrew Rawnsley's comment piece.

In an article about the pros and cons of online campaigning, and how the British political parties are attempting to copy Obama's lead, Rawnsley wrote:

"As importantly, if not more so, Obama's team used the internet to turn well-wishers into active advocates. That is how he made three million people important to his campaign. Some British campaigners have got it. 'Hope Not Hate', the anti-BNP group, has only four full-time staff members and yet has managed to organise the hand-delivery of more than 3m leaflets, by using digital networks to organise volunteers and mobilise them on to the streets."

Praise indeed. I should mention that the distribution of three million leaflets and newspapers would not have been possible without the fantastic team of local volunteer organisers and activists we have around the country. Our online campaign has brought 140,000 people into our orbit. What we have to do is to inspire them into offline – traditional grassroots – campaigning.