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After becoming increasingly frustrated with the incivility and obstructionism in political discourse, and the media narrative that the Tea Party represented America, Park vented her anger on her Facebook page. Numerous positive responses from friends prompted her to start a "Join the Coffee Party Movement" fan page. According to the Louisville ''Courier-Journal'', "Park said she saw anger and division that reminded her of her native Korea, which is still split between the north and the south 57 years after a truce ended most hostilities there. <ref name="C-J Coffee Party convention">http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100923/NEWS0106/309230066/1008/NEWS01/Coffee+Party++a+Tea+Party+alternative++to+meet+in+Louisville</ref>
After becoming increasingly frustrated with the incivility and obstructionism in political discourse, and the media narrative that the Tea Party represented America, Park vented her anger on her Facebook page. Numerous positive responses from friends prompted her to start a "Join the Coffee Party Movement" fan page. According to the Louisville ''Courier-Journal'', "Park said she saw anger and division that reminded her of her native Korea, which is still split between the north and the south 57 years after a truce ended most hostilities there. <ref name="C-J Coffee Party convention">http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100923/NEWS0106/309230066/1008/NEWS01/Coffee+Party++a+Tea+Party+alternative++to+meet+in+Louisville</ref>


The group rapidly grew to over 155,000 in size from word of mouth and social networking in under six weeks. Comparing the Coffee Party with the Tea Party, Park noted:<ref name=AP-chat/>
The group rapidly grew to over 155,000 Facebook fans in size from word of mouth and social networking in under six weeks. Comparing the Coffee Party with the Tea Party, Park noted:<ref name=AP-chat/>
:"A key difference is in our emphasis on the democratic process, on respectful and civil engagement with one another and with our elected officials. In the current climate, too many Americans are afraid to participate, and find the process itself too alienating, because it is dominated by people with extreme opinions and extreme tactics. It's hard to speak up when others in the room are screaming. So in the end, we may want some of the same things, but we our{{sic}} hoping our journey getting there will be very different."
:"A key difference is in our emphasis on the democratic process, on respectful and civil engagement with one another and with our elected officials. In the current climate, too many Americans are afraid to participate, and find the process itself too alienating, because it is dominated by people with extreme opinions and extreme tactics. It's hard to speak up when others in the room are screaming. So in the end, we may want some of the same things, but we our{{sic}} hoping our journey getting there will be very different."


Revision as of 21:47, 25 September 2010

Coffee Party
FormationJanuary 26, 2010
Region served
United States
WebsiteCoffeePartyUSA.com

The Coffee Party USA is a grassroots political movement that was initially formed in January, 2010, as an alternative to the Tea Party movement, and has since grown into an increasingly diverse organization.[1][2]

Its mission states that it is based on the underlying principle that the government is "not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as Americans." Its slogan is "Wake Up and Stand Up."[3] Its stated goals include getting cooperation in government and removing corporate influence from politics.

The organization's first National Coffee Party Day was held on March 13, 2010.[4]

History

The Coffee Party USA was established in January, 2010, on the social networking site Facebook. It was founded by documentary filmmakers and political activists Annabel Park and Eric Byler.[5][6][7] After becoming increasingly frustrated with the incivility and obstructionism in political discourse, and the media narrative that the Tea Party represented America, Park vented her anger on her Facebook page. Numerous positive responses from friends prompted her to start a "Join the Coffee Party Movement" fan page. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, "Park said she saw anger and division that reminded her of her native Korea, which is still split between the north and the south 57 years after a truce ended most hostilities there. [8]

The group rapidly grew to over 155,000 Facebook fans in size from word of mouth and social networking in under six weeks. Comparing the Coffee Party with the Tea Party, Park noted:[5]

"A key difference is in our emphasis on the democratic process, on respectful and civil engagement with one another and with our elected officials. In the current climate, too many Americans are afraid to participate, and find the process itself too alienating, because it is dominated by people with extreme opinions and extreme tactics. It's hard to speak up when others in the room are screaming. So in the end, we may want some of the same things, but we our [sic] hoping our journey getting there will be very different."

After collecting input from the first round of national gatherings, the Coffee Party outlined three initial steps to promote participatory democracy. "The first step is creating a public space for open and civil dialogue. The second step is collective deliberation, considering facts and values to arrive at a decision. The third step is working toward implementing the decision."[9][10][11]

Coffee Party USA co-founder Eric Byler has stated that the group had limited its positions to campaign finance reform and Wall Street reform because those are two issues that the Coffee Party and the Tea Party agree upon.[12]

Events

The Coffee Party held their initial national coffee house day event on March 13, 2010. Some 370 events took place across the US and the world, including Tokyo and Jakarta, with the intent to "encourage our existing and soon-to-form chapters to facilitate informative and civil dialogue about issues that affect all of us, collectively. We will ask them to report back to us on what consensus they reach, and take action from there."[13][14]

On March 27, 2010, Coffee Party co-founder Annabel Park participated in one of approximately 500 Coffee Party meetings taking place in the United States. The meeting was crowded and Park observed that not all of the participants were behaving in a civil manner. Newsweek reported, "They were angry. They hated the Tea Party, and the Republican Party. They wanted to get even. One audience member said America was under the thumb of oligarchs and denounced 'moneyed interests.' A few people hissed when Sarah Palin's name was mentioned. Also on hand were the usual suspects drawn to the C-Span bat signal." Some in the crowd even decided they wanted a new leader for the movement, "not someone that says we can all work together." Park said later, "If they want to fire me, this may not be the group for them. We don't want conflict and confrontation."[15]

The First Annual Coffee Party Convention was in Louisville, Kentucky from September 24 to 26.[16][17]

Facebook membership

The Coffee Party had surpassed 9,200 fans on its Facebook page in the first few weeks, and over 141,000 fans during its first six weeks. Newsweek noted the Facebook membership had surpassed 200,000 in April, and every status update receives about a million views.[18][19] Reporters and bloggers comparing Facebook statistics noted the Coffee Party USA page had overtaken the DNC's Organizing for America and the one-year-old Tea Party Patriot fan pages in membership.[20][21][22] According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, by September 2010 the Coffee Party USA had almost 300,000 "likes" and the Tea Party Patriots had over 450,000 "likes", both of them now having more "likes" than the national Republican and Democratic parties.[8]

References

  1. ^ Grab a Coffee Mug, This is no Tea Party Associated Press; September 24, 2010
  2. ^ Tom Eblen: Coffee Party prepares for national convention in Louisville Lexington Herald-Leader; August 15, 2010
  3. ^ Zernike, Kate (March 3, 2010). "Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu". New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  4. ^ "Saturday, March 13th is National Coffee Party Day".
  5. ^ a b Park, Annabel (February 26, 2010). "Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ 9500 Liberty The Filmmakers
  7. ^ Zak, Dan (February 25, 2010). "Coffee Party activists say their civic brew's a tastier choice than Tea Party's". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ a b http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100923/NEWS0106/309230066/1008/NEWS01/Coffee+Party++a+Tea+Party+alternative++to+meet+in+Louisville
  9. ^ Coffee Party movement: Alternative to Tea Washington Post; February 26, 2010
  10. ^ Meet the people who are percolating in the Coffee Party CNN; March 13, 2010
  11. ^ Why I Started Coffee Party USA CNN; March 18, 2010
  12. ^ http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100923/NEWS0106/309230066/1008/NEWS01/Coffee+Party++a+Tea+Party+alternative++to+meet+in+Louisville
  13. ^ Park, Annabel (February 26, 2010). "Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea". Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  14. ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0313/Coffee-party-movement-Not-far-from-the-tea-party-message
  15. ^ The Coffee Party Heats Up Newsweek; April 22, 2010
  16. ^ coffeepartyusa.com, Coffee Party Convention in Louisville, KY in September!
  17. ^ Grab a Coffee Mug, This is no Tea Party Associated Press; September 24, 2010
  18. ^ Coffee vs Tea: A political movement is brewing CNN
  19. ^ The Coffee Party Heats Up Newsweek; May 3, 2010
  20. ^ http://politicalcartel.org/2010/03/09/coffee-party-v-tea-party-facebook-turf-war/
  21. ^ Washington Post
  22. ^ Tea Party, Meet Coffee Party April 16, 2010
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