| “Latinos are not one community. We’re many communities. The online petition is a process of self selection. Conservatives Latinos won’t come here and that’s fine. It appeals to progressive thinkers. The people who find the site are like-minded.” The power of political participation through the internet has not been fully realized, but its potential is clear. The White House and Congress use the internet to speak to and get feedback from voters. More schools use internet-curricula. And the current generation of future voters is being weaned in a world that, at least for them, has always had cyberspace. There are pitfalls. The verification of online statistics can always be challenged and many individuals see the internet as a chance to create an alter ego which makes online participation vulnerable to spurious expression. The flip side is that online users often feel insulated from the world and more emboldened to post their real thoughts. Sitting at a computer is certainly a more private experience than the old days of Town Hall meetings. And targeted petitions allow like-minded citizens the chance to gather their voices and resources so that they are heard collectively. BlueLatinos.org may prove to be at the helm of a progressive movement for the 21st Century. Quiñonez firmly believes that “We can’t wait for a knight in shining armor to save us. We have to become our own knights in shining armor. There are a lot of excuses: the unions didn’t do this, the Democrats didn’t do that. We are young, talented and entrepreneurial. We have to do it ourselves." |
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| Online Petitioning for the Progressive-Minded Interview with José Quiñonez founder of www.bluelatinos.org by Joe Ayala |
| Color Me Latina Fall 2006 Issue Subscribe NOW! |
José Quiñonez believes that the average person with a job, family responsibilities and a life has about five minutes a day for politics. And he wants you to make the most of it.
Quiñonez is the Founder of BlueLatinos.org a national organization whose mission is online organizing of progressive-minded Latinos. Using the internet “the Zocalo of our generation” as he calls it,
Quiñonez is attempting to move voters through online petitions.
Visitors to the website can register and read about issues like: immigration, public health, and labor practices. Then they can sign petitions to be delivered to national leaders so that their voices are counted when policy is being made. Since the website was launched in March of 2005, 10,000 people have signed up. Quiñonez envisions that number growing to over half a million.
“We have a new tool that allows us to [transend] geographical boundaries and communicate directly [with each other],” said Quiñonez.
The internet has proven invaluable to political organizers like MoveOn.org where Quiñonez used to work. Quiñonez had joined MoveOn.org to be part of keeping President Bush from being re-elected. When statistics showed that many Latinos had supported Bush in 2004, Quiñonez realized that he was organizing the wrong group of voters and the idea for BlueLatinos.org was born.
When asked if there is a danger in political organizing around ethnicity, Quiñonez answered that what is being created through BlueLatinos.org “is a community of interest” [where Latinos from all nationalities can come together based on their progressive values and ideas].