Gregory Hood recently asked the hypothetical question, “What Would You Do With $55,000?” Despite what Jim Giles would have you believe about people being in it for the “money movement”, money is notoriously difficult to come by for even the most vital advocacy work. Many anti-Semites claim that Jews are stingy, but when it comes to forking over real money for ethnic advocacy, things are a bit upside-down.
Now, I understand that there are many good reasons why we have trouble raising money, and I’m not begging for a handout. But what I am saying is that $55,000 is an unlikely windfall. I would be lucky to raise 1% of that amount. In fact, I didn’t raise that amount. To bring us up to $550, I had to spend quite a bit of my own money. My wife might read this blog, so I won’t say how much.
Here’s what I’m trying to do with $550…
Summary
The cardinal objective is to establish visibility and credibility with our target audience of working- and middle-class conservative Hoosiers as their foremost advocates. To accomplish this, we will need to set and then achieve immediate and tangible goals for them. We will do this by compelling local employers to implement the e-Verify program in their hiring processes using a database to target employers who fail to use the program and free classifieds to target employers who are actively hiring. If they don’t comply, we protest.
This basic process will be enhanced with a mature constituent relationship management framework to achieve several secondary objectives, including directing Hoosiers to lobby their state legislature to pass an Arizona-inspired illegal immigration enforcement law. Membership dues and donations will be solicited. Mailing lists will be populated. Self-published books will be sold.
Checklist
1. Contact local employers who do not use e-Verify, initially attempting to persuade them to use it with listing of advantages. Maintain list of ones who react negatively or refuse to communicate.
2. Threaten protest, give target “one last chance to reconsider”.
3. Secure protest time and place with sheriff’s dept.
4. Mail out protest invitations to chapter and petition mailing list.
5. Advertise on HoosierNation.us blog, e-newsletter, Facebook group, Craigslist, Stormfront, local classifieds.
6. Stage protest.
7. Upload protest video to YouTube. Blog it.
8. Do post-processing.
Action Pack
We have a binder filled with forms and fliers for our events. It contains CofCC membership forms, anti-illegal immigration petitions, voter registration forms, and a brag-book presentation on the mission and methods of our advocacy group. We also sell copies of my book, Hoosier Nation, and pass out copies of the CofCC’s Citizen’s Informer newsletter. This action pack is critical for capitalizing on the presence of attendees.
Mobile Media
Since the mainstream media either ignores us or attacks us, it’s necessary for us to create our own media, to cover and publicize our own events. Thanks to plummeting prices for consumer electronics, quite a bit can be accomplished with relatively little up-front investment. The entire setup, plus a lovely assistant, all fit in my 1997 Buick LeSabre ($800, sold separately).
It consists of the following:
1. Kodak Pocket Video Camera (Model Zi8) – $179.99
This is the cheapest camera I could find that had acceptable YouTube-level quality, a tripod mount, and an external microphone jack.
2. Camera Travel Tripod (TG-42TT) – $21.00
This is a bit shorter than a regular tripod, checking in at a mere 42″. It’s very cheap and folds up very small.
3. Ion Tailgater Portable Sound System (Model 36GG) – $149.99
The battery life offers well over an hour of speaking truth to power. The volume was proficient for a gathering of over 30 people in a high-traffic urban setting. It’s light enough for me to carry one-handed with its convenient handle.
4. Microphone w/ Stand – $29.99
For speaking into.
5. Music Stand – $14.99
This is a poor man’s portable podium. It’s collapsible.
6. Mini Stereo Plug to RCA Cable – $2.99
This goes from the sound box’s RCA output to the camera’s microphone input. That way the YouTube video of the speech gets the audio directly from the microphone.
7. Folding Table – $29.99 and 4 Folding Chairs – $54.88
If things are set up ideally, the assistant can sit at a chair between the camera tripod and the table, both keeping an eye on the camera and assisting attendees with membership forms, voter registrations, petitions, and other paperwork.
8. Fedora – $66.18
Total: $550.00
The Speech
This is the secret ingredient.
Post-Processing
The YouTube video needs to be uploaded and blogged about. Voter registration forms need to be mailed out. Membership forms need to be sent in. The petitions must be plugged into the database and geolocated to the appropriate state-level representatives for appropriate routing.
Conclusion
I would enjoy feedback on how this project could be improved upon, and will keep you posted on its progress. There are obviously quite a few more costs here, like the cost of hosting a website, the cost of the office supplies involved, the cost of driving to the site, and numerous other incidentals. But I do believe it illustrates how a truly lean advocacy strategy can be woven together with cheap equipment, readily available Internet resources, and several hours of time spent implementing constituent relationship management strategies similar to what that the professionals use.
Jim Giles is now officially in the White Money Movement. After screaming about how he doesn’t “want your fucking money,” he is now … asking for money!
Hunter,
The $PLC owes the man at least a few thousand dollars for that infomercial for Mark Potok that he hosted.
You quickly find out in this movement that doing media and activism costs money. The primary expense is the gas it takes to get to and from events. Throw in a hotel room when we travel to the outskirts of our range.
Note: Sarah Palin will be in Norfolk on Sunday.
Someone send Matt $550 for he can buy this equipment. I’m confident he will make good use of it.
The ideal we are shooting for here is to create cells of White Nationalists across America. Each cell could be armed with the equipment to cover events in their area.
Hunter,
I think the idea of helping promote “cells” (I prefer the term “workgroups”), is one with some real potential. Think if every major city had somebody set up with a mobile media studio who was prepared to jump in and use it to cover local events and stage local protests. Rather than one Al Sharpton, we could have dozens of distributed ones, working around the censorship wall.
Part of the reason that the ‘WN’ ‘movement’ doesn’t get much in the way of funding; and it is out there, is because there are so many charletans out there who want money but don’t want to account for it properly and certainly don’t want to spend it carefully and wisely.
Giving someone money engenders an awful lot of trust and belief, but yet ‘WNs’ in general don’t inspire that kind of trust or belief (hell I’ve asked numerous ‘WN’ what ‘WN’ is all about and they really didn’t come up with an answer that engendered anything but contempt). It doesn’t help that in racialistic circles who don’t get involved on the whole ‘net ‘WN’ thing the general belief seems to be that ‘WN’ failed with the death of Dr. Pierce and because of the fiasco that occurred afterwards it broke the trust that many had placed in it. It is isn’t about being stingy, but people have worked for what money they have and they aren’t just going to give it to you because you feel they should. You have to earn it in their eyes and sell yourself to them as a positive solution to their perceived problems.
If you want a model of success then go to the European nationalist movements who have by en-large been quite successful, because they have made themselves accountable and appealed as an investment in the future despite struggling with actively hostile governments who will imprison and harrass you for even relatively minor acts such as posting on ‘radical forums on the internet’. I tend to think Americans; despite my living in the US these days, are so very spoilt and that has made them unable to get their act together (as there is a serious lack of discipline among American ‘WN’ in general not mention an obession with kooky claims which are tacitly endorsed by the ‘WN’ community).
Karl,
Much agreed. Our lack of fundraising is ultimately due to our failure to establish credibility with our target audience. I understand why people would refrain from indulging our requests for money. I’m beginning to make some incremental progress with this, but these things take time and I still have a lot to learn, obviously.
I don’t want to get bogged down in the timeless tension between European and American nationalists. I explain that our electoral system is designed in a different way, one that precludes making the kind of progress that’s common in Europe. And they blink, then ramble some more about how they’re making progress because they’re so much more mature and serious than us. Besides, much of what you’re objecting to is the zealotry and hucksterism that is integral to our American identity in general – not merely the WN movement.
The BNP may be doing a lot of things right that we could emulate, but acting British and crafting a message that floats well with the typical Briton is not among them.
Matt,
This is an excellent plan and exactly the kind of thing that I would like to see more of.
Greg,
I’ll keep you posted on its progress.
I saw your request for graphic design help. I would love to chip in but simply don’t have the time to spare at the moment.
Hi
The lack of financial transparency within the BNP is a major cause of friction within the BNP.
They don’t give members access to the accounts.
There is a party office in Belfast which constantly phones members asking for money and they send at least one begging letter a month.
I wouldn’t look up to the BNP operation, maybe some of the parties on the Continent are better.
WPWW
Hunter,
Jim Giles began asking for money as soon as his grandfather died. He announced on air, a day or two after the death, that he had been living on his grandfather’s pension, which had now obviously come to a halt, and he would now unfortunately have to get a real job. He did say that he was glad that he no longer had to tend to the needs of his elderly father, though, so it’s not all bad news.
He has tried to stop using profanity, but he still launches into meandering screaming fits, and he has recently started peppering these tirades with loud imitations of a barking dog, which is seemingly invoked in reference to his “bluetick nose” and his “intuitive/deductive” paradigm.
Fedora – $66.18
You are getting ripped off.
I say we all eat Chinese food at Bob’s trailer instead of this.
Good practical plan.
Matt,
I wasn’t referring to the electoral system as a defense of American nationalists as I can understand why it would be; and is, a problem, but creative solutions are needed in much the same way as others have had to find their own solutions.
However yes you are right: some trust has returned, but not very much. You’ve got tonnes of ‘WN’ who ‘make it into the big time’ (for ‘WN’) and then the first think they pretty much do is say: ‘give me money’. I know plenty of well-off people who are racialists and I know (and can understand) why that immediately sets off alarm bells. Besides you kind of have to prove you have something to offer before investment: famously the Bavarian aristocracy saw in the early NSDAP a way to bring the workers back to the nationalist camp and away from the SPD and KPD. Hitler brought something to the table. I think the fundamental question is: what does ‘WN’ bring to the table?
As to the American nature in regards to CTs: yes you aren’t wrong it is something that is manifested far more in the US than elsewhere (anyone else recall the infamous ‘McDonald’s Bag’ claim of OTPTT on VNN?) , but at the same time it is something that can be controlled and used with discipline. I work with the Aryan poor quite a bit and they surprisingly lack belief in all these CTs that many middle class Americans seem to entertain (i.e. either the world is run by a secret Nazi capitalist conspiracy [a-la George Dubya and Arnie] or the world is run by freemasons/jews/satanists/commies etc). I tend to think that what all the CT belief comes from is the fact that Americans tend to be fundamentally rather bored and seek an escape and explanation for things in CTs. I am not saying CTs are necessarily untrue, but they are certainly are next to impossible to rationally argue and/or prove. If you work yourself to the bone everyday then you don’t tend to have time for elaborate (or absurd) CTs, but that’s just my experience.
I wasn’t using the BNP as an example as I don’t think they are a good one, because they have may have had the odd minor success, but they have been unable to capitalise on it and besides I think it is impossible to regard the BNP as nationalists in any way, shape or form. I was more thinking of the LFN and DVU/NPD who have some; if perhaps not perfect, nationalist credentials.
Karl,
Any one of us should try to be an entrepreneur, and trolling for donation from Internet affinity groups doesn’t count . . . or maybe it does, but I sure as hell ain’t buying. Unless you are something like the C of CC or A3P that does real on the ground organizing.
Fedora – $66.18?
Must be wool felt, not beaver. A good fedora will cost as much as a good cowboy hat. Cheap hats are costume, not clothing.
you never mentioned the price of a lovely assistant…sold separately right?
Does anybody have any experience with the Philips MC235B Flat Wall Mountable Micro Shelf Program I was thinking about acquiring it and just wasn’t sure if its the ideal 1 to acquire.