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DigiActive News: Seeking Africa Correspondents

DigiActive.org is seeking volunteer correspondents to write about digital activism in Africa. Please direct inqueries to Mary Joyce (Mary@digiactive.org).

What will the DigiActive Africa Correspondent(s) write about? The Africa Correspondent(s) will write posts for DigiActive about how activists in Africa are using digital technology in their campaigns for social and political change. Some African digital activism cases that have previously been featured on DigiActive include the No More than 24 campaign from Kenya and the Election Watch Map from Zimbabwe. And we expect more to come!

What about cross-posting? The Africa Correspondent(s) will also be responsible for cross-posting on Kabissa.org, an NGO which provides civil society organizations in Africa with Internet services and training in order to help each one achieve their mission. This means that you get to be publish each post you write on two web sites for double the authorship credit!

How often should I write? Ideally we ask correspondents to write one post per week, though there is some flexibility depending on your schedule and other commitments.

Sounds great! Where to I sign up? If you are interested in becoming a volunteer correspondent for DigiActive (for Africa or anywhere else), please contact Mary@digiactive.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

Resource: Digital Activism for the Environment

Title: Green Global Voices: Web 2.0 Environmental Activism

Author: Juliana Rotich, editor of Green Global Voices

Published by: Reuters Blog (2008)

What is it?: A detailed post reviewing how activists are using digital tools to protect the environment. Featured tools include blogs and video, Flickr, data mashups, and mobile phones.

Read more »

Campaign: “No More Than 24!” Cabinet Ministers for Kenya

President Mwai Kibaki (l) shakes hands with Prime Minister Raila Odinga as former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan looks on. The power-sharing deal produced an expensive extended bureaucracy.

Description: In an effort to create a coalition government after the turbulent elections, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga agreed in April to increase the Kenyan cabinet to 40 members. However, many Kenyans believed this was an unwieldy number, which only increase bureaucratic deadlock. There was a campaign to limit the cabinet to 24 members, a more reasonable figure.

Digital Activism tools: SMS, e-petition

How These Tools Are Being Used: There were two online elements of this campaign, but it is unclear whether they are connected. Mzalendo.com, “eye on the Kenyan Parliament,” promoted a campaign by Kenyans for Peace and Justice to send SMS messages to political representative urging the 24 member limit. The Mzalendo site hosts a list of 59 MP mobile phone numbers for people to use in the action. “Given the current impasse, there is still an opportunity to urge OUR elected representatives to stop being selfish and to put the nation’s interest before their personal interests,” states the site. “It adds strength to your sms if you personalize it by addressing the MP directly,” the site recommends. “e.g., ‘Mr. Saitoti, Kenyans want a lean, clean cabinet.’”

In addition to the SMS campaign there was also and online petition being promoted by the African human rights organization Fahamu, via their news service, Pambazuka News. The petition, which demands that the grand coalition government consist of no more than 24 ministers, was signed by 170 people. “As your employers we oppose the looting of our public coffers and demand that these monies go towards development of our schools, hospitals, infrastructure and post election reconstruction efforts,” reads the petition.

Outcome: Not successful. Earlier today, the cabinet met for the first time since being sworn in three weeks ago. There are 40 ministers and 52 deputy ministers in the coalition government. The cabinet is the largest in the history of post-independence Kenya and salaries alone for these new ministers will cost the Kenyan taxpayer $1.5 million a month.

Read more »

Campaign: Brazilian bloggers vs. a WordPress ban

Description: After an unauthorized sex tape was posted on a Brazilian WordPress blog, a judicial order to shut down the blog was issued. This would mean a block on all WordPress blogs in Brazil, as they all share the same IP address.  Blocking that one IP would mean that no blogs on the WordPress platform would be accessible from within Brazil. Similar blocks have been imposed before in Brazil, and bloggers want to make sure it won’t happen again.

Digital Activism tools: blog, Orkut group, blog badge

How These Tools Are Being Used: The social networking site Orkut is extremely popular in Brazil, so an Orkut group has been formed (you need a Gmail account to access the page).   There is also an anti-ban blog, which explains the issue.  Finally, as it is an issue that affects bloggers, a blog badge has been created to oppose the potential ban.

Outcome: WordPress has not yet been blocked in Brazil, but it is too early to judge the success of the campaign.

Read more »

Tactic: using MSN Chat logo to show China pride

Description: Users of MSN chat in China are adding a red heart to their MSN names (see image left) to demonstrate their support for China and the Olympics.

Organizer: Unknown but has official support from Microsoft. Appeal asking “Chinese people worldwide to use the red heart to express their love for China and to support Beijing’s Olympic Games” appeared on the Chinese MSN homepage.

Purpose of Action: Many Chinese feel under attack from France and CNN because the West “supports” Tibetan independence and is “anti-China” and “anti-Olympics.”

Organizing tools used: instant messaging (MSN chat)

Outcome: 7,000,000 people have added the little red heart to their MSN names over the past week.

Ease of Replication: Adding a logo to your MSN chat is very easy. GChat also allows using to add their own image/logo.

Read more »

Tactic: Gazans Phone-Bank for Obama Online

Description: Palestinian youth are using the Internet to run an informal phone bank to call voters in the US before every primary in order to convince them to vote for Barack Obama. (see video)

Organizer: Ibrahim Abu Jayab and 17 of his friends (Gaza, Palestine)

Purpose of Action: To convince American voters to elect Obama as president. Ibrahim believe that an Obama presidency would have a positive effect on the Middle East peace process.

Organizing Tools: Internet telephony

Outcome: We have yet to see whether Obama will win the election.

Ease of Replication: Internet telephony services, like Skype, are great because you can make calls internationally while paying local rates for calling cell phones and land lines. If you are speaking computer-to-computer (using a head set) you can talk for free.

Read more »

Theory: The Streisand Effect

The Streisand Effect refers to instances when Internet censorship has the opposite effect, actually increasing distribution and awareness of the censored material.

Origin of the Term: In 2003 singer Barbra Streisand sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for $50 million dollars to force them to remove a picture of her home (see above) from a series of 12,000 pictures of the California coast taken to study the effects of beach erosion. As a result of this peculiar law suit, the picture of her home was disseminated on the Internet and many more people saw it than would have if she had not tried to censor the image.

Application for Activists: How can activists apply the Streisand Effect as a means of countering Internet censorship? The key to the Streisand Effect is distributing the censored material and publicizing the instance of censorship. Without these two elements - distribution and publicity - censored material will not be viewed by a wide enough audience to counteract the original effect of the censorship. The end goal is to show your government that censoring content has the reverse effect, and thus discourage your government from censoring

From a technical perspective, the best way to distribute censored content is by e-mail, though feeds can also be used, as in the case of Amnesty International’s Irrepressible campaign, which allows bloggers to publish a feed of censored blog content on their own blog.

Read more »

Campaign: Saving Israeli town of Sderot

Note: We at DigiActive understand that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an extremely sensitive topic. Our goal is to maintain a neutral perspective, highlighting digital activism from both sides without favoritism. However, we will not post content which actively advocates violence against either side. If we have linked to violent content in error, let us know and we will take it down.

Description of Campaign: Sderot is a small town near the Gaza Strip (see map below) which has been the frequent target of Kassam rockets from Palestine. Bloggers are getting together to “save Sderot” by telling the stories of its citizens online.

Digital Activism Tools: Facebook, blog, YouTube

How These Tools Are Being Used: The Sderot Media Center, whose goals is to present “the human face behind the news”, is using its YouTube channel to provide a window into daily life in Sderot. In addition, videos unrelated to the center have appeared, including one, “Children of Sderot Just Want A Little Peace”, which focuses on the safety of children to Sderot, and “Save the City of Sderot in Israel.”

Blogs, are also being used to raise awareness of Sderot. The international Jewish organization United Jewish Communities has created a blog called Voices from Sderot which also describes daily life in the town.

Finally, Israeli activists are using Facebook to bring together supporters of Sderot. There are over 100 groups about Sderot on Facebook, most with less than 1000 members. The largest, “Stop the Kassam rockets on Sderot!” has over 5,500.

Read more »

Campaign: “Justice Now!” for a Girl in El Salvador

Description of Campaign: In 1999 a 9-year-old girl named Katya (also Katia) Miranda was raped and murdered. Charges against the suspects, all members of the country’s military elite, were dismissed in 2000 and there is a feeling that judicial corruption was at play. Now bloggers are taking up the cause in order to bring the case back to court before the 10 year statute of limitations runs out.

Digital Activism Tools: digital images, blogs, YouTube video, count-down timer, e-petition, offline action

How These Tools Are Being Used: This campaign uses a range of digital activism techniques, some more familiar, and other more creative and unusual. Among the more familiar tactics, supporters of the campaign posted a YouTube video in which Katya’s mother explains the details of the case. There is also an e-petition demanding that attorney general of the province of La Libertad, where the murder occurred, bring the case to trial again.

The campaign also uses images effectively. They have created a logo for their campaign (image above) which bloggers can post to show their support. The graphic is well-designed in that it is simple yet has a clear emotional message, showing only a picture of Katya with the words “justice now!” below.

The campaign also uses some more creative and unusual techniques. The campaign is also asking people to take a picture of themselves in their town or city with a picture of Katya. These images will be used to create a “virtual mural” to be posted on the causes official web site (which I could not locate) and will be presented with the attorney general via CD. Participants are asked to send these images to the e-mail address comunica.idhuca@gmail.com with name and location in which the photo was taken.

text reads “time remaining to prosecute the Katya Miranda crime”

Another creative element of the campaign is a count-down timer which marks the exact time, down to the second, before the statute of limitations runs out on Katya’s case (see above).This is a particularly pertinent to this cause because of the critical element of time.The campaign must succeed before the clock runs out, or Katya’s case cannot be brought to trial.

Significantly, the campaign also includes offline action, a “Day of Roses”, Read more »

DigiActive News: Radio Interview (in Australia!)

Last week, DigiActive Co-Founder Mary Joyce was interviewed for the Australian community radio program The Fourth Estate with Daz Chandler. You can take a listen below by clicking the green arrow:

Topics discussed include the motivation for founding DigiActive, examples of how activists are using Facebook to organize international protests, whether digital activism is elitist, and why it’s a good idea to use online commercial tools for activism.