STANDING FOR SOMETHING

If your avatar stands up at the right time wearing the proper equipment, are you fighting global poverty, engaging in gestural politics at their most insubstantial-- or both?  Recently the United Nations launched an international campaign to hold the world's leaders accountable to the anti-poverty goals they pledged themselves to, and the nation of Second Life has been brought into that effort.  The idea is that on the 15th and 16th, people around the globe will stand up at the same time to raise awareness of these goals.  (Their numbers will be counted and entered into the Guinness World Record book.) 

Thanks to Aimee Weber, who worked with the UN officials behind the program, Residents can participate in this collective action by getting an official bracelet at one of a hundred dispensers around Second Life. 

"When you wear the bracelet and click it on October 15-16," Aimee explains to me, "you will assume the 'Stand Up' pose, plus your name will be sent to a central database that will record your participation!"  So rather than find a real world Stand Up event site, you can make your way to the nearest kiosk in the metaverse, and do your part to raise awareness.

There is, of course, something surreal about confronting real poverty in a virtual world, and it reminded me of my conversation with Berkman's Ethan Zuckerman over the value of social activism in the metaverse.  Given the extremity of the problem, is it worth devoting any amount of effort to promoting the cause through the posturing of avatars?

To be sure, Aimee has encountered some pronounced skepticism along those lines.  "People seem fixated on the idea that we believe clicking on a pixillated wrist band will solve poverty," she tells me. "The attacks basically run along the lines of 'if you aren't out there feeding the poor yourself, then you are engaged in useless, feel-good, activism.'

Instead, she argues, "This campaign is intended to educated the public about the fact that governments have already agreed to the eight terms of the Millennium Campaign, and that education will hopefully prevent these governments from sliding their commitments under the run on 2015. 

"Were you aware of these commitments before I mentioned them? A lot of people weren't, but they are now. That's what I deem a success."

Comments

[Celebrity Trollop]

The wrist band might be made of pixels, but the people behind the keyboards are real enough.

Besides, it isn't like people in the U.S. would normally be able to stand with Germans or Dutch folks to express a political message.

Second Life in a real sense transcends physical location and that is a very cool thing.

[Nedra Weinreich]

I wrote about this issue yesterday on my blog, discussing whether symbolic gestures like this can make a difference. I think the shortcoming of this campaign is that it raises awareness, but does not provide any follow-through. From what I could tell, there is not any call to action that people can then take to try to bring about the millennium goals, such as an e-mail campaign to government officials or writing a letter to the editor at the local newspaper. Awareness is great, but if it does not eventually lead to action, it's worthless.

[rikomatic]

The "Stand Up" campaign is in a weird place, since it on the one hand is somewhat non-controversial ("poverty is bad.") and on the other quite controversial ("governments aren't doing anything to end grinding poverty, horrible slums, AIDS, or environmental degradation.")

Because its affiliated with the UN, it can't outright tell people to raise hell with their own governments. But really, that's the only thing that's going to make the campaign worth a damn.

Lobbying groups like Citizens for Global Solutions and the One campaign actually do try and change US policies on poverty and AIDS and Darfur and on other important global issues. So Stand up... and then get moving.

[avterror]

but i can. raise hell with your government. show them who's boss.

they cannot absorb you if you show yourself appropriately and in large enough numbers.

obnoxious is much better than violent.

[bryan campen]

As a writer and documentarian covering my own father's voluntary homelessness, I have to say people thinking on the issue in absolutely any context have my support. How virtual campaigns will lead to more action is yet to be seen, if only because the technology isn't quite what we know it will be in a few years (far more fast and seamless, and hence a better platform for action).

http://flickr.com/photos/campen/sets/473858/

[Mordecai Scaggs]

I am not sufficiently urbane to express an opinion before the event, save to agree that SL is a place where such social isssues should be encouraged, and that I as a citizen of the UK can do a lot more than just stand up when it comes to harrassing my government into action. I shall be posting a piece in my blog on the day itself - assuming the Grid is up then!

[Polly Jones]

I echo Nedra's thoughts. But, I would question not only follow through but the actual level of awareness created by this campaign. To me, such a campaign clouds people's awareness if anything. While it may be cool that SL allows us to transcend space, the fact is that very few people have the time and money to participate in other worlds. The person on the streets in your city and the person across the world cannot escape the bonds of their hunger and basic human needs. Moreover, the poverty in the so-called developing world is very much connected to the rampant consumerism in the developed world. Buying a bracelet - in any world - won't solve poverty!