TimmyH
Online Activism and the advantage of Youth
August 4th 2008 12:43
Online activism has been a growing Internet trend over the past few years. As early as 2003, prior to The US led invasion of Iraq, dozens of mass protests were organised across the globe. The Internet has since become the most effective tool for establishing cause-based, cross-boarder communities.
But the main problem with online activism is that it doesn’t immediately translate to crowds on the pavement and impromptu road closures for rallies and marches. Although Immigrant Rights champion, Cynthia Mazariegos, believes the Internet can be fantastically effective when mobilising the masses, she warns that forgetting about winning hearts and minds with door knocks and god forbid, petitions could leave many passionate supporters in the lurch.
"There’s a whole sector of people who do not have access to computers who still need be mobilized. It's not honest solidarity if we only organize online and forget about those with the lived experience," she says.
But even so, online tools are there to be used. Social networking has become almost unanimous with Generation Y and sites like Facebook and MySpace are beginning to double as organisational tools. Facebook is now the sixth most visited site on the web and MySpace now boasts of having 230,000 new members everyday.
Tara Tidwell Cullen, communications manager for the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, believes that social networks can act as critical sources of information for cause-based groups.
"People need to learn about the system by any means -- as long as they become educated about the injustices that are happening in the immigration system and especially inside the detention centers," says Tidwell Cullen. "The only way to ever change this is to have a strong base of people who will make the government accountable for how it treats immigrants."
Tidwell Cullen explains that the United States currently detains almost 30,000 immigrants daily. To raise public awareness about their plight, the NIJC has begun distributing interviews with detainees through YouTube.
"The videos and audio on our website and YouTube provide a way for clients to talk about their experience in detention while remaining relatively anonymous. It is very important [for each of them] to have their own voice [when] describing what happened to them. We have received a lot of positive responses from these videos," says Tidwell Cullen.
One of the most contentious issues with respect to immigration relates to the detention of children. Unsurprisingly, youth have opposed the practice by governments worldwide. "There are a lot of problems with child detention. Locking up kids who might not have had a say in the situation is a problem," says Tidwell Cullen. "It could be a good opportunity for youth to reach out to other kids facing this problem."
Online Activism began well before the second invasion of Iraq. In 1994, The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), used the first Internet campaign to by-pass the Mexican government’s control over the national mass media. A resulting cease-fire was called within 12 days and the expected massacre of the rebel’s was avoided because eof international pressure.
Benjamin Anaya, a Zapatista author, says the Zapatistas were the first to exploit creativity online and build a community of followers.
"Creativity is a must in any revolution. The Zapatistas knew this and generated a discourse online that ultimately became a method of survival in the 90s," says Anaya. "The internet gave them a common language with the rest of the world and creativity gave their revolution life, colour, and memory."
Referring again to the immigration problems that the United States is currently experiencing, Anaya sees many possibilities for the movement for immigrant rights.
"The immigration movement needs to reach out to build stronger ties with all nationalities. This is a labour that young people can do better than anyone else," he says. "Today's generations have to deal with immigration more directly than ever before. The advantage is that they are also living in a time when it's easier to connect with more people than ever."
But the main problem with online activism is that it doesn’t immediately translate to crowds on the pavement and impromptu road closures for rallies and marches. Although Immigrant Rights champion, Cynthia Mazariegos, believes the Internet can be fantastically effective when mobilising the masses, she warns that forgetting about winning hearts and minds with door knocks and god forbid, petitions could leave many passionate supporters in the lurch.
"There’s a whole sector of people who do not have access to computers who still need be mobilized. It's not honest solidarity if we only organize online and forget about those with the lived experience," she says.
But even so, online tools are there to be used. Social networking has become almost unanimous with Generation Y and sites like Facebook and MySpace are beginning to double as organisational tools. Facebook is now the sixth most visited site on the web and MySpace now boasts of having 230,000 new members everyday.
Tara Tidwell Cullen, communications manager for the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, believes that social networks can act as critical sources of information for cause-based groups.
"People need to learn about the system by any means -- as long as they become educated about the injustices that are happening in the immigration system and especially inside the detention centers," says Tidwell Cullen. "The only way to ever change this is to have a strong base of people who will make the government accountable for how it treats immigrants."
Tidwell Cullen explains that the United States currently detains almost 30,000 immigrants daily. To raise public awareness about their plight, the NIJC has begun distributing interviews with detainees through YouTube.
"The videos and audio on our website and YouTube provide a way for clients to talk about their experience in detention while remaining relatively anonymous. It is very important [for each of them] to have their own voice [when] describing what happened to them. We have received a lot of positive responses from these videos," says Tidwell Cullen.
One of the most contentious issues with respect to immigration relates to the detention of children. Unsurprisingly, youth have opposed the practice by governments worldwide. "There are a lot of problems with child detention. Locking up kids who might not have had a say in the situation is a problem," says Tidwell Cullen. "It could be a good opportunity for youth to reach out to other kids facing this problem."
Online Activism began well before the second invasion of Iraq. In 1994, The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), used the first Internet campaign to by-pass the Mexican government’s control over the national mass media. A resulting cease-fire was called within 12 days and the expected massacre of the rebel’s was avoided because eof international pressure.
Benjamin Anaya, a Zapatista author, says the Zapatistas were the first to exploit creativity online and build a community of followers.
"Creativity is a must in any revolution. The Zapatistas knew this and generated a discourse online that ultimately became a method of survival in the 90s," says Anaya. "The internet gave them a common language with the rest of the world and creativity gave their revolution life, colour, and memory."
Referring again to the immigration problems that the United States is currently experiencing, Anaya sees many possibilities for the movement for immigrant rights.
"The immigration movement needs to reach out to build stronger ties with all nationalities. This is a labour that young people can do better than anyone else," he says. "Today's generations have to deal with immigration more directly than ever before. The advantage is that they are also living in a time when it's easier to connect with more people than ever."
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