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Coffee Party USA

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Coffee Party
FormationJanuary 26, 2010
Region served
United States
WebsiteCoffeePartyUSA.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 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. 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:[3]

"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."[6][7][8]

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.[9][10] 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.[11][12][13] By July, 2010, however, the Tea Party Patriots' Facebook fan count of over 350,000 exceeded that of the Coffee Party's by approximately 100,000 ref>http://www.facebook.com/coffeeparty</ref>[14]

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."[15][16]

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."[17]

Sources

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Saturday, March 13th is National Coffee Party Day".
  3. ^ 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)
  4. ^ 9500 Liberty The Filmmakers
  5. ^ 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)
  6. ^ Coffee Party movement: Alternative to Tea Washington Post; February 26, 2010
  7. ^ Meet the people who are percolating in the Coffee Party CNN; March 13, 2010
  8. ^ Why I Started Coffee Party USA CNN; March 18, 2010
  9. ^ Coffee vs Tea: A political movement is brewing CNN
  10. ^ The Coffee Party Heats Up Newsweek; May 3, 2010
  11. ^ http://politicalcartel.org/2010/03/09/coffee-party-v-tea-party-facebook-turf-war/
  12. ^ Washington Post
  13. ^ Tea Party, Meet Coffee Party April 16, 2010
  14. ^ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-http://www.facebook.com/coffeeparty#!/teapartypatriots?ref=ts
  15. ^ Park, Annabel (February 26, 2010). "Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea". Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  16. ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0313/Coffee-party-movement-Not-far-from-the-tea-party-message
  17. ^ The Coffee Party Heats Up Newsweek; April 22, 2010
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