Celebrating Wins and Planning for the Fights Ahead

Free Press Action members joined our Post-Election Wrap-Up Call on Nov. 15 to share appreciations of what we’ve accomplished together over the last year, hear about our organization’s bold new policy proposals — and commit to taking action to make those policy proposals real in the new year.

Free Press Action Organizers Diego Barrera and Brandon Forester led the call, with Policy Director Matt Wood providing info on our objectives for 2019, which center on restoring Net Neutrality, fostering affordable internet access, breaking up media conglomerates, promoting local journalism and media equity, strengthening online privacy and making communities safer from surveillance by federal agencies and local police.

Those are ambitious goals. Then again, we’ve had some pretty amazing achievements in a challenging political climate in 2018 — including stopping the toxic Sinclair-Tribune merger and pushing the Senate to pass a resolution that would restore the Net Neutrality rules.

One of the highlights of the call were the testimonials from super-committed activists Akili and Miranda. Akili is a longtime Free Press Action member who first got involved in activism through Team Internet, an effort we led with Demand Progress and Fight for the Future to push lawmakers to restore the Net Neutrality rules. He shared how exciting and powerful it can be to take action even if you’ve never done it before:

“For somebody who is pretty much an introvert and not from an activist background, I didn’t like the way things were going in this country and I was looking for a way to get involved. When I found out about what Net Neutrality actually was, and what was being threatened, that concerned me. I was lucky to get involved with this group here and got involved on the ground. It’s definitely been rewarding to work with other people who are passionate.”

Miranda, a student and longtime activist, talked about planning a Free Press Action protest against the T-Mobile/Sprint merger (pictured). Both wanted to assure any first-time action takers that anyone can do it and it’s going to take a lot of us working together to realize the future we want.

Akili had some reassuring words for people who might be new to activism. “You don’t have to be a public speaker,” he said. “Anyone can get involved in a small part or down on the front lines organizing. The support here is great. It’s for anybody.”

Want to get involved? Urge policymakers to become changemakers in the year ahead, and email organizing@freepress.net to sign up with a Free Press Action coach who can help you take your activism to the next level.