Doug Henwood wrote:
> [Dave Burstein is a WBAI producer.]
>
> From: Dave Burstein <dave at dslprime.com>
> Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 21:58:09 -0500
> To: dave at farber.net
> Subject: Technologies of the New York march
>
> Dave
>
>
> Three technologies played a crucial role Saturday.
>
> * I was surprised old-fashioned radios were everywhere, some
> small transistor models and some boomboxes. The police contained most of
> the demonstrators, myself included, up to a mile away from the
> speakers,without any way to hear the event. WBAI-FM, New York's community
> radiostation, suspended all other programming and carried the event live.
> That proved to be the only way most could hear.
>
> * The web was crucial for the organizers of the march. I remember traveling
> 20 hours in crowded car to get together to organize an eventyears ago; many
> political people I know now do most work by email.
>
> * Wireless phones coordinated the field people trying to keep the demo in
> some order, despite twice the expected attendance and police regulations
> that were very counterproductive, creating a false security. Howard
> Rheingold in Smart Mobs tells remarkable stories of how the anti-Estrada
> movement in the Philippines was pulled together by cellphone text messages.
>
Technology does play a crucial role in organizing protests these days. The global decentralized protests this weekend are a testimony to the power of cyberactivism. I'll take the effectiveness of this kind of organizing over the Kim Il Jong 11 Bus Company style of protest any day of the week. That's why you won't find me pursuing a pointless effort to replicate ANSWER's hollow spectacle style of organizing.
I would argue that American activists lag behind their counterparts around the world in using new technology on the streets. I don't know why this is, but I've been involved in comms and have found that American activists are pretty clueless about using new tech during protests. The Philippines example shows what we could be doing on the streets if more activists were using wireless tech to coordinate stuff. Also, old-fashioned tech can be powerful too. It's good to hear that more activists were bringing radios and boomboxes to this weekend's demo in NYC. We've been trying to get more activists to do this. If activists could be counted on to bring radios to the protests, we could set up pirate radio stations to relay information.
I've got lots of ideas about this stuff, but I don't want to put everything on the table publicly. ;-)
Chuck0
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"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free..." ---Utah Phillips