Better late than never...

Last week I attended a Q & A session with Professor Nadine Strossen, President of the ACLU. At the time (actually that same day) we were discussing the Chadwick article in class and talking about "hybrid" organizations and debating whether or not the internet has enabled traditional organizations to adopt the repertoires of social movements. At one point during the session, Professor Strossen mentioned that although people tend to think of lobbying and litigation when they think of the ACLU, much of what the ACLU does today is based out of small offices. She noted that grassroots have become increasingly important and explained that it is the staff and many dedicated volunteers in the local offices who decide which cases the ACLU will take on. Apparently, ACLU membership has more than doubled since 9/11 and many of these new members participate by sending e-mails to mobilize people in certain districts to put pressure on their members of Congress. Like Chadwick said, the online environment provides many opportunities for organizations like the ACLU.

I spoke to Professor Strossen after the session was over to ask her specific questions about the influence the internet has had on the ACLU. Her responses supported many of the ideas that Chadwick presented in his article. Professor Strossen stressed the importance of the internet for groups like the ACLU since grassroots have become extremely important in organizing different groups of people (especially young people). The adoption of this new grassroots mobilization technique mirrors Chadwick's argument that traditional organizations are now using the methods of social movements. Professor Strossen explained that the ACLU was the first organization of its kind to develop a website and that the number of members has significantly increased as the website has grown. She described these as affiliate members as opposed to traditional members, reiterating the distinction Chadwick makes in the article. In addition to using the website and e-mail for advertising and publicizing events, the ACLU has also established a presence on Second Life, where it held a virtual protest against Guantanamo. Professor Strossen was very enthusiastic about the opportunities that the internet provides for organizations like hers. She believed that the internet will continue to influence the way that organizations like the ACLU operate.

Looking back at the Chadwick article, Professor Strossen's enthusiasm makes sense. The ACLU seems like the perfect candidate for "hybridization." For example, the section called "Fostering Distributed Trust Across Horizontally Linked Citizen Groups" supports the idea that using the internet will be beneficial for organizations like the ACLU. Chadwick notes that "The globalization of public policy concerns...has opened up new spaces for nongovernmental actors to press for change in an increasingly fluid spacial and temporal environment. In this kind of context, collaboration among disparate networks of groups and social movements has necessitated a syncretic strategy: Loose alliances of groups are often able to use the Internet to link up and simultaneously mobilize and focus their efforts on different levels of politics" (289). Furthermore, Chadwick explains that "ideological coherence is not always as important for mobilization as networks that provide basic 'linkage to external recipients'" (290, quoting Gerhards & Rucht, 1992, p. 583). Professor Strossen stressed that the ACLU is not aligned with any particular political party nor is it "ideologically coherent." In addition, the events that are planned and publicized online, such as concerts or protests (she described a "wear an orange shirt to protest Guantanamo" day) can fall under the umbrella of "organized spontaneity" that Chadwick describes. It could be argued that these ACLU events blend coordination and decentralization.

Although I already agreed with many of the ideas that Chadwick presented in his article, and thought that the trend he describes will continue to spread, I wasn't sure if I believed that this change was positive or negative. Talking to Professor Strossen, who has witnessed these changes in her own organization (and who seemed extremely excited about them) inspired me to be more positive about what is happening to organizations like the ACLU.