You know it better than anyone else on your block–the country’s going to Hell in a hand basket, and somebody ought to throw the bums who got us in this mess out on their ear. The Man (Woman?) is keeping us down, and you’re by God gonna do something about it!

The times are ripe for political action, whether you’re an old white male in the Tea Party movement, a young Black woman who still thinks war is evil, even when we’re winning, or a grandmother who’s cranked off at her quilting club’s loss of vision. You’re mad as Hell, and you’re all over the Web. But are you getting the most out of your Web presence? Is your online action translating into real-world change for the better?

If you’re not sure, then  put on your Thomas Jefferson wigs and your Che Guevara tee-shirts, and come to these five SXSW Interactive panels to get even more tech-savvy for the cause.

5. Uprising Tide – Inciting Online Communities into Offline Movements (Chris Schultz, LaunchPad, New Orleans) Face it: your social media efforts and online manifestos mean absolutely nothing if they don’t cause people to get up and make some changes in the ‘ole RL. Schultz and his panel will describe the fusion of online activsim with old-fashioned blood, sweat and duct tape, as well as the community leadership skills to make it all effective.

4. Social Justice and Video Games (Latoya Peterson, racialicious.com) Racism and sexism don’t just happen in the Deep South and in the Byzantine corridors of Big Business. Peterson and her panel will discuss ways to keep these evil twin sisters out of our video games.

3. Smackdown: Consumers’ Privacy vs. Advertiser Revenue (JT Batson, Rubicon Project) Forget signs, pepper spray and fire hoses–your act of protest is telling your boss to take a hike and starting your own online business. The Rubicon Project will share ideas for accelerating your revenue and protecting your brand.

2. Process Journalism: Getting it First, While Getting it Right (Will Sullivan, The Poynter Institute) Journalism skills aren’t just for journalists–if you’re online, then you’re disseminating information. You, the online activist, must be accurate, make good news judgments, sift through piles of useless facts until you find a great nugget of truth, and communicate all of the above in a tight, well-written format– just like a “real” journalist. The Poynter Institute trains the best journalists in the field, as well as those who wish to be the best some day.

1. Not Just for Obama: New Media Gets Local (Julie Blitzer, Advomatic) Blitzer and her panel will discuss what works and what doesn’t in the local political action arena. Do new media supliment or supplant old-fashioned get out the vote (GOTV) actions of yesteryear? They’ll also examine the online tools in use by local activists such as Facebook, WordPress, Drupal, Twitter, SMS, and others.