I don't know if I'd previously announced this or not, but I'm currently writing a book for Penguin Books, scheduled for September 2008 publication, on modern day activism.
In short, traditional activism was predicated on influencing the gatekeepers -- getting concessions from management in a labor dispute, or getting editors, producers, or pundits to alter their coverage of an issue or event, or pressuring the government to change course in its actions (like ending the war in Vietnam), and so on. There was never any expectation that the gatekeepers were going anywhere. The best we could do was force a change in their behavior.
Today, we are able to target the gatekeepers directly, working to change their behavior, yes (like with Time and Joe Klein), but also working to eliminate them or, when that's not possible, bypass them. We are building an alternate media, alternate party infrastructure, and alternate institutions of power and influence. As I wrote seemingly a lifetime ago in Crashing the Gate, the gatekeepers were welcome to work with us, get out of our way, or get crushed and rendered irrelevant.
In any case, that's the broad point of the book. Now, I'm looking for examples to fill the book of effective people-powered activism that has done just that -- bypassed the establishment gatekeepers (in media, politics, business, Hollywood, wherever), trampled them, or forced them to play nice. I've got several examples already sketched out, like the rise of Cindy Sheehan (and the fall as well, as a cautionary tale), the Draft Webb movement, the efforts of Mac and Linux fanatics to undermine the Microsoft borg, Energize America, the Lieberman/Lamont race (and "The Kiss" float), the immigration rallies, and so on.
So here's your chance to jog my memory and remind me of some cool-ass people-powered activists who effected positive change by becoming their own leaders and using new technologies and tactics to do what was supposedly impossible. Ideally, I want the book to feature at least half of its examples from outside the political arena (think media, arts, technology, etc), so the examples don't have to be restricted to politics.
And include links to make my follow-up research as smooth as possible. Thanks!