Organize the South

If you attended the US Social Forum, then you probably met your share of wackos. If you submitted a workshop proposal, then you probably are getting email from said wackos. One of them is Rick White, and, to answer my question, he's a public relations guy in Atlanta. He may or may not be a wacko, but he's definitely a spammer and possibly a bit of a hack.

White works for a public relations company called Alisias. One of Alisias's clients is the Atlanta Housing Authority. Other Alisias clients included the Lamar Willis Foundation, When I googled him and the company I came upon an email exchange related to the technology of the US Social Forum. The spamming came to light before the forum as evidenced in this blog by Ana. Apparently, Rick believes it's OK to keep spamming.

I emailed him a list of questions back on January 1, but haven't heard from him. I'm putting the full email below. What can we learn from this? 1) the Atlanta Housing Authority doesn't know good public relations from a hack job. 2) spam doesn't work for politics (but maybe for viagra sales). Most important, though, is 3) anything you put on the internet stays on the internet.

Here's the email sent to Rick White:

• Can you confirm you work for the public relations firm Alisias?
• Is the Atlanta Housing Authority one of your clients?
• Did you pull down emails from the Social Forum website? Are you sending email bursts to this list on behalf of AHA?
• Were you hired by Alisias to attack the Forum? If not, what were you hired to do?
• Were you asked by the USSF technology group to stop spamming?
• Did you make an agreement to delete emails pulled off the USSF site? Did you delete those emails?

Poor People's Day has been an annual event in Georgia for more than 25 years. For one or two days low-income people, workers, organizations, and others from around the state have gathered together to share information and to make voices heard at the state legislature. Past events have seen us block the governor's office, bum rush a state legislator backing a pro-poverty bill, hold press conferences on misuse of funds, pack a committee meeting, and other fun stuff.

This year things are a little different, but the intent is still the same. Saturday, January 26 we will have the People's Assembly. Folks from around the state will caravan from the capitol to the assembly site, stopping at sites of local struggle. Join us!

You can also make your voice heard now. We have launched the People's Ballot, a chance for anyone living in Georgia to rank their issues in priority. Care about raising the minimum wage? Bringing US troops home? Something else? Put it on the ballot. You can get a copy of the ballot by going online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=elK_2fGeRF3KqSAu32l0qdJA_3d_3d

or you can call the Georgia Citizens' Coalition on Hunger at 404.622.7778 for a hard copy by mail. Lastly, you can email me at this site and I'll send you a pdf of the ballot.

More information on the Caravan and the Assembly are below.

What: A Poor People's Caravan and People's Movement Assembly
When: Saturday, January 26th, 2008 - The World Social Forum's Global Day of Action
Where: The Caravan will take place in Downtown Atlanta, passing by significant sites of struggle. Then we will rally at the Capitol and travel together to the Hunger Coalition to participate in the first ever Poor People's Movement Assembly.
Who: Grassroots folks from all over the State, educators, organizers, community-based organizations, community members, familiesŠfolks building Another World!

In the spirit of the Poor People's March on Washington 40 years ago, we are taking to the streets with a powerful caravan. In the spirit of bringing together movements from all over the country this summer at the first US Social Forum, we are bringing GEORGIA together for a Poor People's Assembly to demand action & create a more unified vision. In the spirit of bridging local struggles to global movements, we are answering the World Social Forum's call for Global Days of Action. Atlanta is one of the first US cities standing with people from all over the world on this day of action, January 26. Join us.