Tag: social action

Amnesty International: Social Media Action Centre

It seems like phase 1 of this project is just coming to an end. I’m surprised there wasn’t more buzz about it … I’m hoping that by the end of the month there’ll be some information about how widespread the participation has been.

It would be easy to superficially trash such a concept as the social media action centre. Morozov’s attack on such activism as being just another form of armchair posturing (he calls it ‘slacktivism’) that has little social impact would be the classical attack. But I think it’s more interesting to consider the extent to which the most minimal action, such as a tweet, may part of a wider involvement that also involves direct action on the street. Digital activism in this account is not part of a binary (action/inaction) but is a continuum of activities: at one extreme the automated tweet and at the other the real time street protest documenting repression and mobilising action.

The Social Media Action Centre gives you the opportunity to take a simple action for justice every two weeks from May 2011 to May 2012. These actions link with Amnesty supporters from across the globe, focusing on six campaign areas where we believe we can make progress in Amnesty’s 50th anniversary year. The Events harness the power of social media so that people can speak out together against human rights abuses.

 

via AI50.ca – Social Media Action Centre.

El Partido de Internet

Here’s is something really interesting that has arisen out of Los Indignados who have populated Spanish cities since the beginning of last year. The Partido de Internet (PDI) is a radical rethink of how direct democracy could work harnessing the power of internet technology.

PDI is a policy-agnostic political party that does not have, nor will ever have, a political ideology. It has a single and radical proposal: PDI elected representatives will vote in congress according to what the people have previously voted through the internet using Agora.

This platform, Agora, aspires to create a virtual parliament where every decision is made directly. Of course there are delegates because an individual citizen would never have time to vote directly on every issue. But the delegates are simply there to exercise the will of the voter – if the delegate should  try not to express the will of the voter, then the vote goes to another delegate who will. It’s referred to as liquid democracy because this system of delegates always ensures that the will of the voter stays paramount.

The website runs through how this might work – it’s potential and the pitfalls that currently stand in the way of its adoption. A lot of people will immediately be skeptical (security, privacy etc. …). But surely it would be better than the rabid politiking that is currently ruining Greece.

The PDI is one of 12 members of the Mission for Electronic Direct Democracy(E2D). Interestingly, no member from the UK. Perhaps that’s because we all think that democracy is running so smoothly we only need to act directly once every five years …


 

Spotlight Again Falls on Web Tools and Change – NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — Fear is the dictator’s traditional tool for keeping the people in check. But by cutting off Egypt’s Internet and wireless service late last week in the face of huge street protests, President Hosni Mubarak betrayed his own fear — that Facebook, Twitter, laptops and smartphones could empower his opponents, expose his weakness to the world and topple his regime.

via nytimes.com