Iran Re-Revolution: Victory In 2011
The United Nations Conundrum
Time To Attempt A New Tone In Washington
Bobby Jindal: Streamliner
The Importance Of The Private Sector
Happy Diwali
Hope Lives On In Iran
Telling Ads
Precisely The Time For Progressive Fervor
The Tea Party Is Getting America Talibanized
Getting There
U2 Sings For Iran
Happy Birthday Amitabh Bachchan
Is America In Decline? Is It Rome Or FDR?
Reshma Saujani Is Back
Finally A Small Jobs Program
Israel, India, Palestine, Kashmir: Parallels
Health Care For FDR, Iran For Lincoln
Criminals Do Not Get To Organize Political Parties
The Global Netroots/Grassroots Has To Fill In For The President
The Shah Is For Secular Democracy, Not Monarchy
Towards More Robust Iranian Diaspora Organizations
Sarah Palin: Palin 2012: Rogue
Protest Rally At The UN
Barack Obama: Big Deal
Selling 5% Of Nobel For 50K
My Man Barack Is FDR, Not Carter
September 23 Iran Democracy Protests NYC
Shout Allah O Akbar From The Rooftops Every Night 10-10:30 PM
To: The Ayatollah
Pelosi Should Pass Election Reform To Keep Job
Claiming A Netroots/Grassroots Leadership Role With Iran Democracy Movement
Democracy Success In Iran Could Be A 1989 Repeat
Hillary's Latest On Iran
States Will Interact With Each Other
Iran Protest: 9/23
Twitter For Fundraising
The Ayatollah: Guilty Of Blasphemy
The Movie Business
Newt Gingrich: Monkeyface
Prominent Iranian Americans
White Supremacy: Unsustainable
The Two Old Hags
Competing With Hillary Now
Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker
Iran Democracy
My new tag line on Twitter and Facebook: Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker.
My old intro both places: Tech Entrepreneur. Advocating Inventor. Third World Guy. Netizen. Global Citizen. New Yorker. Googleable. Global South Advocate. Overall Nice Guy. Bossmanperson. Subway Comrade. Inspiration. Visionary. Troublemaker.
I am not right now a tech entrepreneur, thanks to my immigration mess. I fear I might get sued if I keep calling myself a tech entrepreneur. I have enemies in town. I will revisit that in about a year. For now tech blogging is my tech thing to do.
But my primary push is for Iran democracy. My immediate push is to do some fundraising for the work.
I want to do the Iran democracy thing while I wait to have the option to do the tech entrepreneur thing. I am very much in mood to do the tech entrepreneur thing. Tech blogging is a prelude to that. Learn from Fred Wilson the value of having a daily updated blog for someone who wants to stay active in tech.
My Iran democracy work is going to be social media intensive. I am presenting myself as a digital ninja/commando. It is as much politics as it is tech. I like the intensity of revolutionary work.
This is the crowd I am targeting to raise 150K plus: Prominent Iranian Americans. 100K pays for my work for 12-15 months. 50K is bonus upon task completion. Task completion is regime change leading to an interim government mandated with holding elections to a constituent assembly. If I raise more than 150K, the extra money I spend on the same cause in ways I choose.
My new tag line on Twitter and Facebook: Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker.
My old intro both places: Tech Entrepreneur. Advocating Inventor. Third World Guy. Netizen. Global Citizen. New Yorker. Googleable. Global South Advocate. Overall Nice Guy. Bossmanperson. Subway Comrade. Inspiration. Visionary. Troublemaker.
I am not right now a tech entrepreneur, thanks to my immigration mess. I fear I might get sued if I keep calling myself a tech entrepreneur. I have enemies in town. I will revisit that in about a year. For now tech blogging is my tech thing to do.
But my primary push is for Iran democracy. My immediate push is to do some fundraising for the work.
I want to do the Iran democracy thing while I wait to have the option to do the tech entrepreneur thing. I am very much in mood to do the tech entrepreneur thing. Tech blogging is a prelude to that. Learn from Fred Wilson the value of having a daily updated blog for someone who wants to stay active in tech.
My Iran democracy work is going to be social media intensive. I am presenting myself as a digital ninja/commando. It is as much politics as it is tech. I like the intensity of revolutionary work.
This is the crowd I am targeting to raise 150K plus: Prominent Iranian Americans. 100K pays for my work for 12-15 months. 50K is bonus upon task completion. Task completion is regime change leading to an interim government mandated with holding elections to a constituent assembly. If I raise more than 150K, the extra money I spend on the same cause in ways I choose.
Reshma 2010: A Post Mortem
Image via CrunchBaseI very much stand by this blog post: Positivity, Excellence, Dark Matter.There are three departments - money, message, organization - and Reshma Saujani is excellent at all three. Reshma 2010 was an amazing operation. I marveled at all the details that Reshma 2010 worked on day in and day out. I marveled at the long hours the Reshma 2010 team put in and still stayed in good spirits. It was an amazing effort.
Maloney won because there is power in incumbency, there is power in raising three million dollars for a primary, there is power in getting endorsed by a former president and two sitting Senators. And a sitting president. And the entire congressional delegation in the state. Maloney is mediocre, not exactly headed for greatness, but she has consistently voted the party line. Party leaders like that. She has been reliable.
But I felt victory was possible. And getting 6,000 votes when you could have won at 16,000, I am calling it close.
Now that the race is over, I am in a small mood to do a slight post mortem. Could we have done a few things differently? I hope this does not come across as Monday morning quarterbacking, that is why I started with words of heartfelt praise.
Social Media, YouTube
I never understood why there was no prominent, direct link from the main Reshma2010.com page to the Reshma For Congress YouTube channel, and why the Reshma bio video was not prominently displayed on the front page itself. Perhaps on the sidebar. We did want TV debates and we were not too happy we got a radio debate, but we did not make enough use of YouTube in the same spirit. I put in a request. Give me YouTube versions of all of Reshma's HuffPo articles. I did not go anywhere with that request. We should have attempted to go viral on Facebook with those videos. Forget Maloney, we should have debated the voters.
Volunteers
Reshma 2010 stayed staff centric. It burned the midnight oil like a tech startup, but it also stayed staff centric like a tech startup. It might have hired perhaps two fewer people and had a much larger budget for volunteer barbecues.
The New Woman Push
Barack Obama did not talk much about race. Reshma Saujani did not talk much about gender. But perhaps she should have. There was a South Asian push, but there was not a similar New Woman push.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
Image via WikipediaI think I knocked on close to 350 doors the final four days of the campaign, 110 on Saturday, and more than that on Tuesday. I must have handed out about 400 flyers on moving trains: Panhandling For Reshma. Sunday I got to put in three fewer hours than I had planned. I went to a Nepali event in Jackson Heights that started late, and it kept me stuck for more than an hour instead of the "10 minutes" I was promised. Time is different in different cultures. In the Nepali culture, it stretches.
Monday I ran out of flyers about 10 blocks from the office, and it also started raining. I also went to the Hudson Terrace party Monday evening. That might, or might not have been a good idea, but I thought I would give about three hours to Manhattan when I was giving more than 30 to Queens. After that party Reshma invited people to overnight flyering all across Queens. Did I hear "illgal flyering?" I thought. They could deport me on that small technicality, why give them the benefit of doubt? It is not like I ever stopped calling Rangel a monkeyface. I am not yet completely out of my immigration mess. I still have a court date in June 2011.
Tuesday was really something. I woke up at two. I could not go back to sleep again. I guess I was excited. I ran Tuesday on three hours of sleep. And for the most part I was okay. The first few hours were handing out flyers on the subway. I was assigned a subway stop, instead I was working the train, from the Ditmars Blvd to Queensboro Plaza and back.
Then it was knocking on doors for the next few hours. Then lunch. Then I did the subway thing again for a few hours. Then it was back to knocking on doors all the way to 9 PM.
Some of Reshma's staunchest supporters were Muslims. Her Cordoba stand had really percolated. It was touching to me to witness all these Muslim families that were out in force for Reshma. There is nothing fake about a political campaign. You are impacting real lives.
Field Director Megan's mother was in town. She gave me a ride from the Astoria office to where the election watch party was: 932 Second Avenue, The Pressbox. When they called it for Maloney, I protested. I am waiting for my Queens bump, I said. Everybody I talked to who said they will vote for Reshma did vote for Reshma. But maybe we did not get to talk to enough people still.
On to 2012. There's no stopping this train.
Four Interactions
110 Knocks (2)
110 Knocks
6,000 To 16,000 Votes
Do you think Reshma Saujani could move from 6,000 votes in 2010 to 16,000 votes in 2012? I very much think so. I can't wait for the rematch.
Charlie Rangel: Monkeyface
Carolyn Maloney: Radioface
New York Observer
Primary Night: Reshma Keeps Them Waiting, Wondering
Diana Taylor Stumps For Reshma Saujani on The Upper East Side Taylor admitted that it is "very unusual" for her to support a challenger to an entrenched office holder, but said she was immediately taken with Saujani, because "she knows what it is to work," which seemed to be a shot at Maloney, who has spent most of her career in public service. ....... She's smart, she's young, she works really hard and she has opinions about things. We tend to agree on a lot of things— jobs, the economy. She's actually had a job and she knows how jobs are created, she knows what it is to work. She is passionate about education, she is passionate about the economy. And quite frankly at this point the biggest issue we have facing us is jobs and she is really good on that issue. ....... Knowing that Taylor was making this stop with Saujani, Maloney's campaign flooded the area with supporters of their own, making for a crowded sidewalk and some grumbling among harried commuters. ..... "All politicians are fucking liars," shouted one man at Taylor as she tried to hand him a palm card for Saujani. ....."Except for this one," said Taylor.
On To Reshma 2012
Barack Obama lost to Bobby Rush. That makes Carolyn Maloney the White Panther. Bobby Rush also did the radio debate thing like Carolyn Maloney did. Incumbents love FDR.
Reshma Saujani is the most amazing politician I ever met. That has not changed. She gave just the most amazing speech at the election watch party last night. Here was someone who deeply, deeply cared about her team, and it showed.
There is something about running for the first time. I showed up in America and I ran for Freshman Class President. Everyone else got more votes than me. I was not trounced. I was not even mentioned anywhere. Five months later I had got myself elected student body president. Forget Class President. And this was in the Deep South, Bible Belt, white country.
Corey Booker ran for Mayor. He lost. He ran again. He won by a landslide. Eliot Spitzer ran for Attorney General. He lost. Then he started going all over the state, attending every little political event by every little political club, collecting names and contacts. He ran again. He won by a landslide.
"Today has been the best day of my life," Reshma said. This woman is very much at home on the campaign trail. This is a political animal.
"You are still very much invited to the ANTA Convention as Chief Guest," I said to her. Take 10 days off, and you are right back on the campaign trail. How about that?
Reshma Saujani: My People's Chief Guest
I am going to show up for the ANTA Convention in my Reshma 2010 uniform all over again. The pride will never go away. This is just the beginning. Reshma's best political days lie ahead.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Reshma Saujani: My People's Chief Guest
Madhesi Self Hate
Buddha was born a Madhesi. (Please Fund My Work For Iran Democracy: Email, Larry Ellison)
I am the person who launched ANTA in New York Metro, but I never became a member or office holder. I try to stay away from the gross inefficiencies of ANTA as an organization. I focus on the hard core political. ANTA also does the social, cultural stuff. I have put some major digital, political work for the global Madhesi cause. That's been my turf.
Dr. Binod Shah is president of ANTA. He is a family friend. We share the same hometown in Nepal. His elder brother and my uncle have known each other a long time. Dr. Shah is a medical doctor based out of Scarsdale like Al Wenger. (What Are You Doing Monday? Come Meet Al Wenger) Dr. Shah owns some real estate on the Upper East Side. That is his direct connection to District 14.
I stayed in Binodji's home for a few weeks after November 8, 2008 until I started missing New York City bad, and I moved.
ANTA had John Liu as the Chief Guest at its first ever Holi event back in February. (Happy Holi) ANTA has now invited Reshma Saujani as its Chief Guest for its first ever convention on September 25. It is an all day event, lunch, dinner included, but the Chief Guest is not expected to stay the entire time. Madhesis from as far as England and Texas are showing up.
Dr. Binod Shah has pledged to email and call a whole bunch of Indians in New Jersey and a whole bunch of Indian doctors in the Bronx for Reshma 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)