How many times have you passed by a protest site and marveled at the dedication to come out and march for a cause. Even if you don’t agree with protest you must feel a grudging respect to the volunteers who attend these events on their own time. That in itself is a small victory for the protesters to make the public aware of their cause.
Would you feel differently if you found out that these are not volunteers but paid workers for a powerful organization? These protesters would not seem so noble anymore and the message would be diluted to the extreme. That is the difference between Grassroots and Astroturf.
A Grassroots organization may have paid full time organizers but their job is to coordinate the efforts of the volunteers who make up the bulk of the organization. An Astroturf organization has both paid full time organizers and a staff of full time activists. The paid activists spend their time writing letters to editors and targeted public officials, making phone calls, going door to door, attending rallies all in support of their employer, the cause is secondary. This is much more than the internet sites that offer prewritten protest letters or Teachers unions rallying for higher pay. These are organizations that in an effort to shape public opinion and policy use paid activist to give the appearance of broad support.
So who are these groups in New York and how do you differentiate between a true Grassroots and a manufactured Astroturf. They are not that difficult to find, there is no secret code, they hide in plain sight. Even in these tough economic times good help is hard to find, they advertise in the help wanted section of our local papers. One particularly busy advertiser for activists is (CCE) citizencampagin.org. You can get a job with them paying up to $550.00 for a 40 hour week. You would be working for a diverse group such as Environmental Advocacies of NY, NYPIRG, Sierra club, NRDC, Environmental Defense fund, and ironically Grassroots Environmental education.
Don’t think that this is just an isolated incident of one group run amok. Call up your favorite internet search engine and type in “Activist jobs in New York” and sort through the 20 million hits to find your new career as an activist. Even mega-rich George Soros is having trouble finding good help as evidenced by his New York Times help wanted ad for a director of U.S. programs in his Open Society Foundation. (For more information www.soros.org)
It is the height of arrogance that some select groups through the use of public grants or tax exempt status use funds to mislead both the public and our elected officials giving the appearance of support. A group like CCE could use those dollars to clean litter from the byways of our communities which would make a positive difference in our environment. Instead they use donations and grants for green jobs to prostitute themselves for more public funds.
The next time you see or read of a protest you might see it in a different light knowing you pay extra taxes to keep those protesters employed. That is unless those protesters are looking to reduce government then you know they are our neighbors and friends and not paid activists.
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