DigiActive.org

Tool: Live Video Stream of Georgian Protests

UPDATE: On April 22nd, protests are scheduled to begin at 3pm local time (GMT +4).

Click the image above to view live footage of the central protest site in Tbilisi.

Background: The screen-shot above shows that all is quiet.  While it is 10pm for me here in the US, it is 6am in Tbilisi, Georgia, which has been rocked by protests since April 9th.  Global press coverage has wained, but the protests continue.  Earlier today, opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze called for a “ghetto of tents” to be raised on Tbilisi’s main street, Rustaveli Avenue.  As you can see from the image of the street above, those tents are really make-shift jail cells (upper left), constructed by protesters who claim that President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government is becoming ever more repressive and authoritarian.  Their ultimate goal is that Saakashvili resign.

The live stream (click HERE to view live footage of the protest area) has been posted online by Maestro, a television station which has previously tussled with the government.  According to a U.S. State Department report, They were denied a license to broadcast political programs in 2007 by the government’s Communication Commission.  After broadcasting the audio of the the shows over images of music videos, the government formally warned the station that they lacked the proper license, then rejected their application.  The license was finally granted after international pressure was placed on Saakashvili’s government.

Applications for Activists:  Although this live stream was set up by a television station, it could also be set up for relatively low cost by using a free platform like UStream or Mogulus and a web cam.  The possibility of live-streaming protests gives new meaning to the old phrase “the whole world is watching.”  With live streaming, activists can create an alternate source of surveillance and, if they are able to collect footage of abuses, hold leaders accountable.

Drawbacks: The limitations of live streaming are both logistical and technical.  It only makes sense to create a live stream of a specific location if you know something will happen there.  In this case, the opposition placed physical props in the location and announced it as the scene of the protests, so they have some control over whether the protests will actually occur there.  On the technical side, streaming video requires high bandwidth.  (Mogulus, for example, recommends 700 Kbps or higher upstream bandwidth for high quality).  So activists with low bandwidth would be advised to capture visual evidence via photos and post them on the free site Flickr or take short video clips with a mobile phone or digital camera and upload them to YouTube or human rights platform The Hub.

Hat-tip: my friend at the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia