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Campaign: MySpace used in slavery apology campaign

Description: Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas proves that no one is ever too old to be a digital activist. To commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the United States, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution last month apologizing for slavery. The passage was due in part to the online activism of the 91-year-old actor.

Digital Tools Being Used: MySpace

What Is He Doing: A longtime activist for racial and social equality, Douglas said recently in an interview that as a Jewish person, he felt it was necessary to stand up to oppression and demand the United States to make an official apology to African Americans. For the last two years he has used his MySpace page to get signature for an e-petition that asks politicians to make an apology. Douglas has also been interacting with viewers of his page with videos and commentary about his cause. His online discussions have also given him exposure to young people who he feels will be the future leaders of social activism.

“I try to get the young people to write to me, in my blog, to make an apology for slavery,” Douglas said in a video. “I think it is very important for young people to get interested in things that they have not been interested in.”

Campaign: Global Burma Day has a Facebook presence

Description: This Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the Burmese Uprising, when university students began gathering in the capital city of Rangoon to protest the military junta’s suppression of democracy in the country. The uprising ended tragically on September 18 when 3,000 civilians were killed by the junta’s armed forces. These events brought world attention to the Southeast Asian country and made Aung San Suu Kyi an international icon for peace and reconciliation. This weekend protesters will be marking the anniversary with peaceful demonstrations around the world. They are using Facebook to organize their efforts.

Tools Being Used: Facebook

What Are They Doing: The Burma Global Action Network has set up a Facebook group to educate Internet users about the events around the 8.8.88 Uprising and what they see are problems that continue to plague Burma today. Many of the grievances include the Chinese government continuing to block a United Nations arms embargo on Burma while it sells weapons to Burma’s regime and the ongoing problem of getting aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Users can learn about locations of demonstrations this weekend worldwide as well as view campaign videos from organizations like the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

Campaign: Half a Million Kenyans to Unite

Description: It is an unfortunate fact that abuse of power particularly by politicians is normality in Africa. Most Africans feel disempowered by such widespread institutional corruption and unfair distribution of wealth. They are overwhelmed by a system that does not allow such injustices to be expressed, let alone redressed. Activism is the cause of much personal risk, not only to oneself but also to loved ones.

Yet they would do well to learn from the actions of their Kenyan brothers and sisters. Within months of the establishment of the coalition government, corruption amongst government officials has begun to become apparent. As a result activists are using on-line tools to challenge the system and raise international awareness.

Tools: blogs, facebook

How these tools are being used: The Sukuma Kenya project was launched in the aftermath of the humanitarian crisis at the beginning of the year. The project is an online donation blog that was launched to raise funds for the thousands of people displaced by the crisis. Within 24 hours of its launch the blog raised US$ 1,500.

The project has launched a Half a Million Kenyans Unite campaign to unite the people of Kenya against the corruption of the government. The campaign unites people through Facebook and through an on-line petition. The goal is to unite half a million Kenyans in a petition to reduce MPs salaries and privileges. The campaign was launched on the 5th of June 2008 and at the time of writing had registered 4,613 Kenyans.

Topic: Civil Rights 2.0 is live and creates conflict

Description: The battle between old and new media made its way to Chicago last week at the Unity Convention, a gathering attended by over 6,000 journalists of color. The dramatic events surrounding the case of the Jena Six, the name referring to a group of six African American teenagers charged with beating a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana in 2006, culminated when an estimated 20,000 activists gathered in the small town in support of the six teens in September. By many the mass protest is now considered the largest demonstration in the post-civil rights era. The case highlighted the shift towards digital activism as a tool for African Americans in their continued struggle for civil rights in the United States.

Tools Discussed: Radio and Blogs

What Is The Debate: During a workshop examining Jena Six’s legacy radio talk show host Tom Joyner said that black radio was used by civil rights leaders like Dr Martin Luther King to organize supporters of ending racial segregation. Joyner added that because he has an audience of eight million, he played a large role in mobilizing Jena 6 activists. However, blogger Jimi Izrael argued that the Afrosphere, a group of politically active black bloggers who feel left out of the mainstream media, was actually more influential in informing the world about the case.

Last November there was a contentious fight between black radio and the black blogosphere when radio talk show host Michael Baisden accused the internet activist group Color of Change of not appropriately distributing donated funds to help pay the legal fees for the Jena Six. However, when the organization proved its financial legitimacy, Baisden apologized. Color of Change continues to raises funds for the young men through its Jena Six Defense Fund online.

Campaign: Facebook used to help free jailed physicians

Description:Physician brothers Kamira and Arash Alaie, who have been recognized internationally for their activities in the development of HIV/AIDS programs and services in Iran and throughout the Middle East, are being held in prison by the Iranian authorities. According to (reports) received from Teheran, the doctors were taken to an undisclosed location sometime in late June. The reason for their detention is unknown. While many Iranian bloggers have been silent so far on this case, Boston University doctoral candidate and Kamiar’s friend Clint Trout launched a campaign to inform the world about jailed duo.

Tools: Facebook

How the tool is used: Trout has created a support club for the brothers in Facebook, where nearly 300 people have became members. Viewers can find a list of news reports about the Alaie brothers and are asked to write to Iranian Health Minister and Iranian ambassadors in their own countries about their concerns.

Trout has also published a photo of two brothers, as can be seen above, on his Facebook page.

Outcome:If organizations, the general public and the media highlighted this case, the Iranian government would have no choice but to pay attention. In the past several former political prisoners and their supporters have gained the attention for their cases this way with positive results.

Campaign: Obama-mania goes overseas

Description: Presumptive U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama will be traveling to Europe and the Middle East later this week to meet with opinion leaders and supporters. Most importantly Obama will be rallying Democrats living overseas. Nearly six million American expatriates living in over 90 countries are eligible to vote in the November election, according to the Associated Press. Obamaholics worldwide are taking the opportunity to get out the vote for their man.

Tools Being Used: Facebook, social networks

What Are They Doing: Democrats Abroad is the official Democratic Party organization for the millions of Americans living outside the United States. They are using their Facebook page to inform supporters about the latest political news and reminders about registering to vote. American expatriates for Obama in Jordan and France have set up Meetup pages to remind supporters about upcoming Obama meetings.

“As an American it really warms my heart to see the support for Obama across the world. He is a once in a lifetime leader!” said Jason Bell on the Hong Kong for Obama Facebook page.

Campaign: Bahraini bloggers unite against Sectarianism

Description: Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al-Yousif and journalist Ahmed Al-Aradi have written a bloggers’ code of ethics to fight sectarianism in the Gulf country. They propose this yet to be reviewed and finished code to be physically and electronically signed on the International Blog Day, August 31.

Digital Activism tools: Several blogs, banners, Facebook.

How These Tools Are Being Used: The code was first published on Mahmood Al-Yousif’s blog and is to be spread via blogs. From there it has taken the step into printed newsletters, which discuss the campaign. Meanwhile, a Facebook group has been founded to discuss the code.

Outcome: The code is still to be discussed and will be signed on Blog Day, August 31. Read more »

Guide: Introduction to Facebook Activism

We at DigiActive are very proud to announce our first guide: A DigiActive Introduction to Facebook Activism. The guide was written by our Lead Researcher, Dan Schultz. It’s a quick introduction on how to use Facebook in your activism campaign and includes real-life examples of Facebook activism campaigns from Egypt, Burma, and Morocco. You can download the guide by clicking on the image below:

You can see the table of contents after the jump: Read more »

Campaign:JA gays fight to get into UN AIDS meeting

Description: World leaders and civil society activists are gathering this week at UN Headquarters for the 2008 High-Level Meeting on AIDS. The goal of the meeting is to reevaluate the amount of progress the international community has made in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, some governments are being criticized for obstructing meaningful advocacy and implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention tactics. Specifically, the Jamaican government has been chastised in recent weeks for letting stigma fester on the island around HIV/AIDS and sexuality. The Jamaican government went as far as preventing its country’s leading gay rights group from even attending the New York meeting. Bloggers throughout the Caribbean are taking the country’s government to task.

Tools Being Used: Blogs

What Are They Doing: Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) was denied accreditation to the UN event last week after representatives of the Jamaican government complained about their presence only after the group was given clearance to attend the meeting months before.

“J-FLAG is extremely disappointed by this move,” said J-FLAG spokesperson Jason McFarlane. “The Jamaican government itself has acknowledged that homophobia is fuelling our HIV epidemic. Silencing J-FLAG – Jamaica’s only LGBT organization – undermines Jamaica’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.”

J-FLAG used their blog to update readers on their efforts to get into the UN meeting. The blog has also become an activist space to share pertinent information and advice with LGBT Jamaicans and their allies, such as on counseling and asylum referrals, as well as updates on violent, homophobic behavior on the island.

In recent days progressive bloggers throughout the Caribbean have also criticized the Ministry of Health’s decision to abruptly fire Annesha Taylor, an HIV-positive spokesperson for the MOH’s HIV/AIDS campaign, because she became pregnant and allegations that Jamaica feared a backlash from the US government for not using its PEPFAR funds to promote abstinence. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding came under fire two weeks ago by other bloggers for his controversial appearance on BBC’s HardTalk, where he stated that gays had no place in his government.

While stigma around homosexuality and HIV/AIDS have been hard topics to discuss publicly in Jamaica for many years, social media is opening a new door to have honest and fair conversations and advocate on these issues.

Outcome: Tuesday afternoon a J-FLAG representative wrote a post on their blog, saying that after much lobbying with the UN civil society task force, J-FLAG was finally admitted to the UN AIDS meeting.

Campaign: Stop the Deportation of Amdani Juma

Description: Amdani Juma left Burundi during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. When he returned after the conflict he was held captive, beaten, and put under surveillance. He fled to Britain in 2003 and applied for asylum, which he was denied last December. He had become a pillar of the community in Nottingham, working for the Refugee Forum and setting up his own organization, the African Institute for Social Development. For this reason, people in Nottingham wanted him to stay in their community and started a campaign to fight his deportation to Burundi, which was scheduled for June 4th.

Digital Activism tools: several different blogs (including an official blog), Facebook group, citizen journalism, e-petition

How These Tools Are Being Used: Online tools are integrated with offline tactics and organizing to intensify the impact of the campaign. While the official blog is a center for the latest information on the case, including press releases, and the Facebook group draws in new members, offline actions, like a protest in Nottingham’s town center, bring attention to the injustice. The e-petition is used in the same way as the protest - to make a visual popular statement of support for Juma. Because the story was not being covered by the mainstream media, citizen journalists from the site Indymedia UK covered the story to raise awareness, as did bloggers.

Outcome: Juma’s deportation was moved back 6 days, to June 10th, though a final decision has not yet been made.

Read more »