Coffee Party USA
| File:CoffeeParty.jpg | |
| Formation | January 26, 2010 |
|---|---|
Region served | United States |
| Website | CoffeePartyUSA.com |
The Coffee Party USA is a political movement that developed as an alternative to the Tea Party movement. 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".[1] Its stated goals include getting cooperation in government and removing corporate influence from politics.
National Coffee Party Day was Saturday, March 13, 2010.[2]
Origin
let's start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss 'em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let's get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.
— Annabel Park, Facebook page posting
The Coffee Party USA was established in January, 2010 on the Facebook social networking site. It was founded by documentary filmmakers and political activists Annabel Park and Eric Byler.[3][4][5] After becoming increasingly frustrated with the incivility and obstructionism in general political discourse within Congress and the Tea Party, 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. The group rapidly grew to over 110,000 in size from word of mouth in under six weeks.[6]
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.[7] Bloggers and reporters comparing Facebook statistics noted the Coffee Party USA page has overtaken the DNC's Organizing for America and the year-old Tea Party fan pages in membership.[8][9]
Events
The Coffee Party held their initial national coffee house day event on March 13, 2010. 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."[10][11]
Media coverage
A spokesperson for Coffee Party USA, Alan Alborn, gave two interviews for KSRO Newstalk 1350 radio in Santa Rosa, California.[12][13]
The Coffee Party movement has been covered by CNN,[14] Fox News Channel,[15] the New York Times,[16] the Washington Post,[17] the Seattle Times[18], CBS [19] and the BBC [20].
References
- ^ "Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu". nytimes.com. Mar 3, 2010.
- ^ "Saturday, March 13th is National Coffee Party Day".
- ^ "Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea". washingtonpost.com. Feb 26, 2010.
- ^ 9500 Liberty The Filmmakers
- ^ "Coffee Party activists say their civic brew's a tastier choice than Tea Party's". washingtonpost.com. Feb 25, 2010.
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/12/coffee.party.people/index.html
- ^ Coffee vs Tea: A political movement is brewing CNN
- ^ http://politicalcartel.org/2010/03/09/coffee-party-v-tea-party-facebook-turf-war/
- ^ Washington Post
- ^ "Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea". washingtonpost.com. Feb 26, 2010.
- ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0313/Coffee-party-movement-Not-far-from-the-tea-party-message
- ^ KSRO News Talk Radio Interview with Coffee Party spokesman
- ^ "Coffee Party Spokesman Al Alborn ROCKS THE HOUSE in two radio interviews".
- ^ CNN
- ^ [http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/tea-party-movement-has-competition-coffee-party-march-13/
- ^ New York Times
- ^ Washington Post,
- ^ Seattle Times
- ^ CBS News
- ^ [1]