NOTE: Part I of this series can be found here
If you’ve spent time reading through Idle No More’s website you’ve probably seen Spencer Mann’s name a few times. Mann is Idle No More’s webmaster, and appears to be responsible for the majority of the content posted on the site. Mann is the sole proprietor of Voiceraiser.com, where he provides social media services like building webpages and producing videos- INM is profiled as one of his clients. His website says that he currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia but his LinkedIn says Montreal.
Mann’s biography is pretty much what one would expect of a professional activist, he describes his upbringing saying he was “born and raised in a solar and wind-powered home in the woods of Maine and was nourished on a strong sense of intentional community” (meaning, a commune). As an individual, Mann doesn’t appear to be very interesting- no indication of any ‘smashy smashy’ or other bad deeds in his past.
His network, however, gives us a fascinating glimpse into the global anti-capitalist movement, how it’s networks are reaching into Canada; it’s connections with the violence at the 1999 Seattle WTO, Occupy, the Quebec Student Strikes, and a South American oil dictatorship.
Continue reading