Despite the nominations for this list basically just confirming what I already thought, ordering these people was tough. There is so little difference between places 10 through 3 that I agonised over the ranking for at least half an hour. That’s a long time for me to care about something.
That being said, I am aware of people that deserve a mention for consistant and unrelenting dedication to the cause. After writing the descriptions of each person on the list, I became aware of just how honoured I am to know these people. They are all good, intelligent and socially-minded people.
10: Dale Clapperton
Dale may no longer be at the helm of the EFA, but he was when the storm broke. Apart from numerous submissions to parliament about the filtering issues and other EFA concerns, Dale was the public face of the voice of reason when he appeared on Sunrise to stir up mainstream support for the cause.
9: Jon Seymour
“Fighting the philterphiles that be”. Jon has established himself as a mainstay in the debate with his site BroadBannedRevolution, his numerous reliable tweets and healthy contribution to the behind the scenes mailing lists.
8: Jim Stewart
Jim represents the business arguement against blocking the internet. His letter to Bernadette McMenamin stole one of Conroy’s biggest supporters and showed that the core opposition to the filter was more than just angry geeks wanting more porn.
7: Colin Jacobs
Colin’s position as the vice-chair of the EFA gives him a front-row seat in the debate. Colin is described as the ‘reasoned and reasonable one’. His ability to calm hysteria and get straight to the issues is much appreciated where the internet is concerned.
Michael is truly passionate about putting a stop to censorship and the government’s wanton use of hysteria in promoting its agenda. He’s also a top bloke.
5: Geordie Guy
Geordie is the very vocal, very pointy end of the EFA stick. His discussion online and offline has been one of the forces keeping the movement ticking.
4: Irene Graham
Irene sits so high in the list because of her long standing opposition to censorship and also because of the incredible body of material she has built surrounding the topic. Her contribution to the stop-censorship list has been phenominal and helped keep everyone else on track. Her coherent and compelling discussion of the topic is second to none. She’s won more arguements about censorship than most people have gotten themselves into.
3: Stilgherrian
Stil has written quite a lot of very public facing work against the government filter and is often the point of reference when discussing the topic. There were very few nominations that didn’t mention his name. While there isn’t anything extraordinary about him compared to the already extraordinary people on this list, Stil, Geordie, Irene and Colin represent the forefront of the internet’s defence mechanism.
2: Mark Newton
While the filter was promised in Rudd’s election platform, it took Mark to throw a light on it. Especially active in the whirlpool community, Mark has been the heavy hitter of the issue. His few rounds in the ring have been explosive. Senator Conroy originally tried to have Mark’s employers reprimand him for his public comments about the filter and the fallout from such obviously underhanded government tactics quickly roused the online denizens of Australia.
1: Scott Ludlum
If you look at the opening shot of Scott Ludlum questioning Stephen Conroy in the Senate, he appears to be bathed in some kind of divine light. This seems symbolic of the tactics used by the two politicians. On one hand Senator Ludlum is a concerned, honest and pointed check and balance. On the other hand, Stephen Conroy manages to fulfill every stereotype about politicians being never answering questions and feeding nothing but shit to the public. Scott tops the list because he’s the one talking to the politicians that will block this in the senate.
Without Scott’s contribution in the Senate, our discussion here in the blogosphere is little more than ranting and railing. We need to mobilise political assets as much as we need to mobilise ourselves. This is why there has been a recent push to rebrand the debate for lay people.
Honourable Mentions
HM: Jasmine Marosvary – DLC member ran the Brisbane rally.
HM: Sam Clifford – Excellent speaker at the Brisbane Rally and promising activist.
HM: Mike Fitzsimon – Consistant and valuable contribution to the debate.
HM: Nic Suzor – Current chair of the EFA.
HM: Mark Pesce – No discussion about the filter would be complete without him.
HM: Donna Ashelford – Quite neatly destroyed any recourse Conroy may have had to denying technical limitations.
HM: Nathaniel Boehm – Always contributing. Main way by which we kept track of Senate goings on through openaustralia.org
I’m sorry if I missed anyone and I understand that the HM list is a little Brisbane-centric.
N.B. I haven’t forgotten Michael Malone – his awesomeness deserves his own post.
