Tactics: Tibetans Get the News Out Despite Media Censorship

Written by Mary on March 16, 2008 – 5:31 am -

Description: Last week hundreds of Tibetan monks took to the streets in and near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa to protest Chinese rule. Although the heavily censored Chinese media refused to cover the story, both Tibetans and foreign tourists used the Internet to get the news out. According to the Vancouver Sun, “Amateur cellphone photos and video clips showing what were described as confrontations between police and Tibetans protesting Chinese rule poured onto websites big and small, including those for major news media, Tibetan rights groups and tourist blogs.”

Organizer: unclear

Purpose of Action: To protest Chinese rule of Tibet.

Organizing Tools: e-mail, digital photos, mainstream media sites that accept user-generated content (like BBC), web sites of sympathetic NGOs, travel blogs of tourists, cell phone video uploaded to YouTube.com,

Outcome: Bringing global attention to protests that the Chinese government would prefer to silence.

Ease of Replication: Unless the government shuts down the Internet, as occurred during the recent protests in Burma, using individual e-mail accounts, cell phones, and blogs to distribute information and images is an effective way to get around domestic media censorship.

cell phone image of protests published on the site of a Tibetan rights NGO based in India

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Posted in Asia, Blogs, Digital Images, Tactics | 2 Comments »

Con: Digital Activism and the Digital Divide in Kenya

Written by Mary on January 18, 2008 – 12:27 am -

Although this site is about how technology empowers activists on a global scale, we must not be blind optimists or think of digital activism as a panacea. For this reason we include thoughtful criticism of digital activism. If we want to make truly meaningful change we must address the Pros & Cons of digital activism.

Today’s note of digital skepticism comes from the Kenyan blogger White African in a post entitled “It’s Not About Us, it’s About Them” he writes:

While blogging, emails, Twitter and the internet are doing a great deal of good getting the news out of what’s going on in Kenya to the rest of the world, I find myself troubled. You see, the communication that needs to be happening is at the grassroots level. Everyday Kenyans do not have access to any of these services.
Let’s put our minds and capabilities towards solving real problems for people beyond the technologically elite.

Let’s put our minds and capabilities towards solving real problems for people beyond the technologically elite.


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Posted in Pros & Cons, Sub-Saharan Africa | No Comments »

Action Alert: Day of Blog Silence for Fouad

Written by Mary on January 1, 2008 – 5:48 pm -

fouadfinal2.JPG

What? Day of Blog Silence to Protest the Imprisonment of Blogger Fouad Alfarhan
When? Sunday, January 6, 2008
Where? blogs around the world
How? On that day, bloggers will not write on their blogs, but instead will post a Free Fouad banner, like the one above. (Both banners are posted full-size at the bottom of this post.)
Why? To free a blogger imprisoned for criticiznig his government and to send a message that we will not tolerate the persecution of free speech in the blogosphere.
Who is organizing the action? Mideast Youth Read more »


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Posted in Action Alerts, Mid-East & N. Africa | No Comments »

Tactic: We Blog Freedom Slogan

Written by Mary on December 29, 2007 – 5:21 pm -


translation: “We Blog Freedom”

I really liked this image from Abdel Monem’s blog, Ana Ikhwan (based in Egypt) so I’ve posted it here. It’s a nice inspirational message for digital activists (and we can all use a little inspiration). It illustrates a longer post (in Arabic) about imprisoned bloggers.  It demonstrates the importance of having an effective slogan for your online campaign.


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Posted in Mid-East & N. Africa, Tactics | No Comments »