As many of you know, I am a devoted Netroots Nation attendee. There have been nineteen conferences (the first two under the YearlyKos banner, then a rebrand to include the larger movement) and Casa Brillig has missed exactly one (Pittsburgh 2022). It is the highlight of my summer, and since 2014 has included not only Mr. Brillig and I but our eldest, K1. K2 attended for several years but it’s not his jam; since last year our fourth has been K1’s partner.
This year was possibly the best conference in the event’s history, both in programming and in feel. It was a much-needed time to be in a space with several thousand folks whose single shared goal among many disparate ones is to make sure a Democrat remains in the White House! I want to give you a feel for what it was like, so bear with me for a photo diary and some links to two of the best keynotes I’ve heard in nineteen years.
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Our room view at the hotel did not suck. That’s Camden Yard, with a game in full swing.
We arrived in Baltimore on Monday after driving down from Boston (see: last year's NN diary for why we drove not flew). Our room originally was supposed to face the other way, but while chatting during check-in our front desk person appreciated so much our advice about visiting Salem MA in October she changed our room. We got to attend a game Tuesday evening thanks to comped tickets shared by the NN staff since, well, they were busy with last-minute details to go!
Town Square in use. All around are the exhibitors and vendor booths that make the space so valuable. SO much useful information and swag!
Netroots Nation is truly a volunteer effort. There are very few year-round paid staff, and when we got into the conference center to say hi and to help like we do every year, the place was literally being built around us. We helped get the Registration Desk ready, K1 and her partner were as usual driving forces getting Town Square (the central area where all vendors and exhibitors are and the place to congregate).
NN24 volunteers in action delivering bags and swag to attendees. Thank you DailyKos for being a sponsor of NN24!
We and a collection of volunteers got thousands of NN24 t-shirts, tote bags and swag. LUSH was a sponsor and invision 3000 sample-sized products that arrived in small boxes being unboxed, then add several thousand magazines and books and… well, you get the idea. We were exhausted but proud of it all by the time we were finished. The Registration Desk opened, folks already there got their credentials. With that, we volunteers headed out.
While many were in the hotel lobby bar and other nearby venues, we had other plans! It was time for the annual C&J dinner!!! It’s not hosted by DailyKos anymore, but thanks to the intrepid work of Ed Tracey (and a location pick by shayera), a bunch of us headed to Nando’s Peri-Peri for fantastic chicken and sides!! As I did not obtain permission to post photos, I am not. I promise you we had an excellent time!!
The conference started Thursday morning, and as I mentioned earlier, this was one of the best I’ve ever attended. The attendees and speakers were a diverse cross-section of America and the world. It is not, like many Republican and some Democratic events, an overwhelmingly older white people event. IIRC there were attendees from all 50 states and at least 15 countries. The agenda was wide-ranging and every session I attended was informative, well-run and I left feeling smarter, more energized and better than when I went in. The first session I attended was the Daily Kos caucus, but I’m going to make you read to the end to hear about it so I can focus here on the whole conference.
One of the questions I was asked repeatedly by people not in attendance was “What’s the vibe? Is everyone talking about Biden’s debate performance?” NO. No they were not. Oh sure, in passing someone might make a reference while chatting socially, but overwhelmingly, NO ONE FOCUSED ON THAT. What did get discussed? Mission. Focus. How best to make people aware of Project 2025. How to engage voters so turned off by media reports and our own side’s abysmal coverage of our party that they’re disinclined to vote. What was apparent is that Black, Brown, LGBTQ, working-class, immigrant and other groups of people simply do not have the luxury of enduring a second DJT presidency and therefore neither should we. So. Let’s keep the mission clear and focus on that. Do not let the media distract you.
Part of Netroots is the interactions. If you look at the photos the NN staff photographers take, you can see it throughout. It’s why I go. From sitting with folks in Town Hall to running into people at the evening social events, that’s where the true magic happens. This year I got to chat with David Hogg for a few on Friday night after hitting him up for a selfie earlier that day, and Mr. Brillig got to chat one on one with MN AG Keith Ellison near the Reg Desk. K1’s partner spent a few minutes chatting with Justin Jones. K1 spent time with a number of people that my tired brain simply cannot remember right now.
I want to focus on the three keynotes here, but I encourage you to check out all of the streamed videos available on Netroots Nation’s Youtube Channel. These were utterly phenomenal. I’m sharing a link, and a couple of quotes that stuck with me.
L-R Keith Ellison, Tim Wise, Justin Jones and Kimberlé Crenshaw
The Friday noon Keynote was titled Next, They Came for DEI … Why Saving Democracy Means Defending Racial Justice Initiatives. It was a fantastic discussion and well worth the 45 minutes of the linked video. Some high points:
Even when we talk about January 6, the white nationalist underbelly is too often a footnote, too often framed as an uncomfortable conversation that denies the centrality of a racist narrative to the idea of a stolen election. — Crenshaw
DEI is how white people are saying the N word without saying the N word. — Wise
Let them secede” is not clever. It is a capitulation to white injustice — Wise
What corporate America is doing is not racist ENOUGH for them. — Ellison
People say let the south secede ... do you know they have to cheat their way to power because they cannot win in the south? Do not give up on us in the south. — Jones
The Friday evening Keynote featured so many great speakers including US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, MD State Sen Jill Carter and UAW President Shawn Fain. Rather than share individual photos of them, I’ll link to the entire keynote. It’s 93 minutes but if you go to the NN youtube page you can find individual speakers. Memorable quotes:
It is absolutely essential that we claim freedom — Anat Shenker-Osorio
What's important to understand is that despair is an intentional strategy. The aim of an authoritarian strategy is to erode our will to exist in the first place. — Shenker-Osorio
We come from everywhere but we have to realize that only when we get progress in individual states are we going to push the needle forward all across this country — Carter
But for us in the labor movement what's at stake in november is not just november…it will determine whether we move forward or backward for a generation to come. — Fain
We can say that poverty in america is not a personal failure, it is a bad policy choice — Jayapal
And then lastly, the closing Keynote on Saturday. It’s long, but I want to highlight several things. First, Markos’ nine minute speech. PLEASE listen to it. Here’s the takehome message (amid LOTS of good facts and motivational info): The title of this presentation is DONT PANIC [8 minutes later] My overriding message is please please don’t fuckin panic!
Please, take his words to heart. And listen to the other parts too!!
Other quotes from speakers before the final segment:
Organizing is the tool of the oppressed and it is faith based work. Because each and every one of us is envisioning a future none of us have ever seen but we know is possible — Maryland State Delegate Gabriel Acevero
There are no saviors or caped crusaders in Washington. It is just us. It has always been us. — Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell
The truth is, divisive concepts are concepts that make mediocre white men uncomfortable — TN State Rep Justin Jones
And then the closing segment. Oh my word, it was beautiful. It was a discussion between Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon and Palestinian peace activist Aziz Abu Sarah. I have no words except to directly embed the piece. It’s worth every moment. (I was truly blessed to meet Maoz after the session and got to hug him. I didn’t see Aziz, alas but I’ve heard he’ll be at NN25).
What about that Daily Kos Caucus, you ask? I’m glad I made time to attend. Markos and the staff in attendance were frank about many things, the key piece of which I want to share is that in years past, ad revenue and sale of email lists made up the bulk of funding. No longer. We the community of readers who support the site are SEVENTY PERCENT of the revenue. And as kos said “You’re not the product. You ARE the client”. There have been leadership changes, and there are site changes coming in the next year or so. Just as with other websites and platforms, best practices change and code becomes obsolete and (yes, kos knows I’m sharing this LOL) the site structure is hanging on by its fingernails. There cannot be simply ‘maintenance’. There needs to be an entire site makeover and I don’t mean what the place looks like. So please buckle up and be ready for progress.
Yes, there will be LOTS of input from we, the community. They took that survey which over 3000 of us completed, to heart. So while change is scary, this is for the good of us all and those of you who’ve heard me worry about how the site’s doing or what’s going on with staff and changes and will it be where I want to hang my hat, and the answer is unequivocally YES.
One thing. And it’s a big one for us here. So you may want to sit down.
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Part of the site structure, what the maintenance on June 9th did, and what is permanent… Top Pictures as created by Jotter, won’t be back. They tried. But it can’t be done. So please understand it is what it is. And help us here at Top Comments by submitting LOTS of your favorite comments. I know there’s a search workaround that some folks are using to find great images, and I encourage y’all to do so. It’s not something we’ll be including as part of our regular diary template but individual diarists may choose to do so.
And with that, my wrapup of NN24 is complete and we’ll hop to Top Comments and Top Mojo!! I hope you’ll consider joining us for Netroots’ 20th conference next year, August 7-9 2025 back in New Orleans. And for those saying it’s too expensive… MANY of the sessions and all of the featured panels and keynotes are streamed in the app. This year there were several virtual-only sessions, happy hours, and more. A virtual ticket will be available at a very low price and will get you access to ALL of that!!!
Questions? I probably have answers!! Ask away in the comments!! Plus, bonus picture of brillig and my new BFF hugging!!
TOP COMMENTS
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From inkstainedwretch:
MessagingMatters comments on BLAYMAN's diary My thoughts and observations from being forced to watch Fox News tonight….
(A big IF) The reddit stream cited in the comment maybe straightens out the discrepancy between the Republican voter registration and ActBlue donation of the shooter in Pennsylvania.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday (Sunday), July 14th 2024, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
