-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Alexander Sander alex.sander@fsfe.org To: Felix Singer <> Subject: Upcoming EU elections - 9 Actions with which you can help Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2019 15:06:11 +0200
Dear <>,
The next elections to the European Parliament will be held between 23 and 26 May 2019. We want to make sure that as many candidates as possible are aware of our work to empower users to control technology.
As it currently stands, more than half of the current Members of the European Parliament will leave the parliament. We need to establish new contacts to advocate for Free Software in the next term. For this we need your help!
We have summarized 9 possibilities how you can get in contact with your candidates to advocate for Free Software and to keep the vision of Free Software healthy, solid and alive.
Join our community of freedom fighters: https://fsfe.org/join/
If you do so, please keep in mind that you are probably contacting somebody who is not yet familiar with Free Software and need to be convinced. Therefore here are some general hints and tips:
- try to use your own words and don not copy and paste to much - try to use a non-nerdy language - think about which arguments suit which candidate; economic arguments may fit better with candidates who care about theeconomy, fundamental rights or security arguments may fit better with digital rights experts - don not get upset if a candidate will not follow your arguments, stay calm and try another argument or contact another candidate. There are may who are interested, so you do not have to spent to much time on those who are not interested - always be polite
There are lots of arguments you can use, i.e.:
- Interoperability due to open standards - Independence through free licenses - Collaboration shares risks and costs - Transparency by default - Involvement of local partners - Auditable codeYou will find all arguments on our fsfe Website, [1] on our Public Money, Public Code! campaign website [2] or in our new brochure. [3] If you have any questions on this please feel free to contact me. [4]
Now, let us have a look at our 9 Actions:
# 1) Mail to EU election candidates # 2) Contact EU election candidates on social networks # 3) Call EU election candidates # 4) Go to offices of EU election candidates # 5) Go to election campaign booth of parties # 6) Go to public talks / panels with EU election candidates and talk about FS # 7) Organize your own FS EU election event # 8) Connect with other Campaigns like ask your candidate, Digital-O- Mat, Freedomvote # 9) Try to get the attention of the media
# 1) Mail to EU election candidates
A mail is a good first step to establish contact with a candidate.
If you want to contact your candidate by e-mail here are some hints and tips for your mailing:
- use a concise subject - introduce yourself as an interested voter - introduce Free Software, talk about the four freedoms and whyFree Software is important for you and the EU - ask a question - i.e. if the candidate wants to support Free Software in the European Parliament, does the candidate shares our values, which we communicate in our Public Money, Public Code! Campaign. - ask if she/he needs any additional information or if she/he is open for a personal conversation about this topic - include a link to our brochure, ask if she/he wants to have a hard copy
Once you have done this mailing you should also try to stay in contact with your candidate. If you do not get an answer within one week ask friendly when you can expect a reply. Once you got an answer please share it with me [4] in order to discuss how to proceed.
# 2) Contact EU election candidates on social networks
If you want to contact your candidate on social networks here are some hints and tips:
- especially on social networks we urge you to stay calm - try to be precise - use our share pics and videos [5] - use links to our campaign websites and news items - ask a question - i.e. if the candidate wants to support Free Software in the European Parliament, does the candidate sharesour values, which we communicate in our Public Money, Public Code! Campaign.
Please share your thread with me. [4]
# 3) Call EU election candidates
If you want to call your candidate it is very likely that you will be connected to an employee or end up in a mailbox. If that happens explain why and what you want to talk to the candidate about and ask for an appointment.
Here are our hints and tips once you are connected to your candidate:
- make some notes with arguments you want to mention before youcall the candidate - introduce yourself as an interested voter - introduce Free Software, talk about the four freedoms and why Free Software is important for you and the EU - ask a question - i.e. if the candidate wants to support Free Software in the European Parliament, does the candidate shares our values, which we communicate in our Public Money, Public Code! Campaign. - ask if she/he needs any additional information by mail - if so: don't forget to send all relevant information - ask if she/he wants to have a hard copy of our brochure
Once you had your call please share your impressions with me [4] in order to discuss how to proceed.
# 4) Go to offices of EU election candidates
If you want to meet your candidate in real life you can go to the election office of the candidate. Even so most of them will have an office it is very unlikely to meet them in this space during the election campaign. But you will meet employees and you can try to get an appointment with your candidate. Once you have your appointment here are some hints and tips:
- introduce your self as an interested voter - introduce Free Software, talk about the four freedoms and whyFree Software is important for you and the EU - ask a question - i.e. if the candidate wants to support FS in the European Parliament, does the candidate shares our values, which we communicate in our Public Money, Public Code! Campaign. - ask if she/he needs any additional information - if so: don't forget to send all relevant information - ask if she/he wants to have a hard copy of our brochure - bring some Flyers and promotion material, ask he she/he wants to have more to share it in the office
Once you had your meeting please share your impressions with me [4] in order to discuss how to proceed.
# 5) Go to election campaign booth of parties
There are always everywhere a lot of booths of parties in the city during the election campaign. Just go there and try to get in contact with the people at the booth. Sometimes candidates are also around – if so, try to get in contact with them as well. Normally this should not be a problem as they are around to talk to voters. If you are in contact with the people of the booth here are some hints and tips:
- introduce your self as an interested voter - introduce Free Software, talk about the four freedoms and whyFree Software is important for you and the EU - ask a question - i.e. if the party or the candidate wants to support FS in the European Parliament, does the party or the candidate shares our values, which we communicate in our Public Money, Public Code! Campaign. - ask if she/he needs any additional information - if so: don't forget to send all relevant information - ask if she/he wants to have a hard copy of our brochure - bring some Flyers and promotion material, ask he she/he wants to have more to share it at the booth or somewhere else (they probably are not going to share it at the booth but you never know)
Once you had your meeting at a booth share your impressions with me [4] in order to discuss how to proceed.
# 6) Go to public talks / panels with EU election candidates and talk about FS
During a election campaign there are always lots of public events with candidates. You can go there and try to raise some questions regarding Free Software
- please keep in mind that others want to raise there question as well and that our issues might be not so important to others -tolerate it and try to avoid to give a co-talk or stumble into a one-to- one discussion - try to be as short and precise as possible, try to ask a question where the candidate has to position herself/himself clearly, maybe note it down before; It should be a question which mainly focus to ask a question. But it is also good to say Use, Study, Share, Improve in the question "Are you in favour of Free Software, so software which grants everyone the right to use, study, share, and improve the software? - ask only one question – otherwise the candidate might just answer the question she/he likes most
Once you attended a public event please share your impressions with me [4] in order to discuss how to proceed.
# 7) Organize your own FS EU election event
You can also organise your own Free Software EU election event. This is probably a task where you have to work together with other volunteers. If possible there should be at leat one person in the team who is experienced with the organisation of events. We can also support you to some extend but keep in mind that we have only limited resources. If you need our help be early and let us know where we can help. Here are some hints and tips for your own event:
- think about the format of your event and whom yo want toaddress (is it a talk, a discussion panel, a workshop or something else
- we can help you here)
- find a appropriate venue (think about your audience and your
guests) - do you need any specific things like a beamer, a flip-chart or microphones - think about chips and drinks - advertise your event with a press release, with a blog-post, on social networks, in internet forums on mailinglists and with flyers (we can help you here) - try to get a live stream or a video-recording of the event
Once you organised a public event please share your impressions and maybe the recording with me [4] in order to discuss how to proceed.
# 8) Connect with other Campaigns like ask your candidate, Digital-O- Mat, Freedomvote
Around elections there are also other NGOs trying to get in contact with candidates with a bunch of different campaigns. Sometimes it makes sense to collaborate. Try to identify potential partners and get in contact with them in order to discuss how you can work together. Campaigns like this could be ask-your-candidate or freedom vote. You can also think about organising a event together. Please contact me [4] if you are planning a collaboration, we might have some experiences in specific cases.
# 9) Try to get the attention of the media
Do good and talk about it! Do communicate with the media as often you can. Try to get into debates or if something happens connected to Frees Software step in with a press release. Maybe you can also think about attending podcasts or radio or TVl shows. If you know somebody with contacts: use them. Try to talk as much as possible about our values and campaigns in public. If you need help, feel free to contact me. [4] Once you did, please share the result with me [4] so we can share it as well.
Best,
Alex
Join our community of freedom fighters: https://fsfe.org/join/
[1] https://fsfe.org/ [2] https://publiccode.eu/ [3] https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190124-01.en.html [4] alex.sander@fsfe.org [5] https://vimeo.com/fsfe
-- Alexander Sander - EU Public Policy Programme Manager Free Software Foundation Europe Schoenhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-157 923 472 12 Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join)