The Rise of 'Selfless' Selfies in Online Activism
BY Jessica McKenzie | Friday, September 6 2013
The selfie portrait, omnipresent on most social networking sites, starting with MySpace, has recently found a higher calling: activism. Last month Filipinos organized an online protest of public transit fare hikes under the hashtag #StrikeTheHike. They encouraged supporters to upload selfies with protest messages to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Another #SelfieProtest in the Philippines is already under way, calling for the abolishment of the “pork barrel” budgeting system following a corruption scandal implicating at least three senators.
Read MoreGezi Park and The Turkey Uprising As You've Never Seen It Before
BY Jessica McKenzie | Friday, August 30 2013
Still from Taksim Commune
The film opens with the sound of explosive clapping, drumming and chanting. The first images are of destroyed streets, smoke blossoming from an improvised barricade and men standing defiantly on a pile of bricks. Then a shot of an injured man being carried by four others, all with their mouths and noses covered by scarves or masks. These are the opening scenes of Taksim Commune: Gezi Park and The Uprising In Turkey, a short documentary that captures not only the conflict that marred the protest, but the jubilation and energy that defined it first.
Read MoreReporter Detained in Sudan After Posting YouTube Video of Khartoum Protests
BY Lisa Goldman | Friday, June 22 2012
Protesters at an anti-government protest in Khartoum, Sudan
For the sixth day in a row, Khartoum university students were out protesting massive increases in the price of meals and transportation that stem from new government austerity measures. Reporters and activists on the ground in Sudan say the size of the protests are clearly worrying the government of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir — and government forces are cracking down, attempting to limit people's ability to publish video and photos from a political moment that some are debating whether or not to call the arrival of the Arab Spring in Sudan. Efforts to capture images of the unrest, they say, are being hampered by government forces, including the brief detention of one reporter who posted video to YouTube. Read More
A Look at #OccupyWallStreet's Internet-Powered Protest Engine
BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, October 4 2011
Occupy Wall Street protesters march on the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1. Photo: blulaces / Flickr Vanessa Zettler moved to New York from Brazil about a year ago, and says she was among the first to find out that Occupy Wall ... Read More
#OccupyWallStreet Communications Technology: 'If You Cannot Hear, Point Upwards'
BY Nick Judd | Monday, October 3 2011
The protesters on Wall Street came up with some new technology for communicating to a big crowd without a microphone: Their own set of hand signals. Here's a basic guide, as laid out in Occupy Wall Street's cleanly ... Read More
In the Networked World, Police Violence Is a Gift for #OccupyWallStreet Protesters
BY Nick Judd | Thursday, September 29 2011
When Occupy Wall Street — a protest organized largely online to take over some space open to the public in the financial capital of the world here in New York and in so doing voice displeasure with the way big ... Read More
#OccupyWallStreet Protesters Turn Online to Organize
BY Nick Judd | Monday, September 19 2011
Protesters on Wall Street on Sept. 17. Photo: Paul Weiskel / Flickr Hundreds of people converged on Wall Street this weekend to protest corporate influence over politics, an event that began Saturday after a call to ... Read More
In San Francsico, The FCC Is Watching
BY Nick Judd | Monday, August 15 2011
Federal Communications Commission spokesperson Neil Grace just sent along this statement about the developing situation in San Francisco, where the public transit authority, BART, has staked a claim on the right to shut ... Read More
Resistance Music for the People. Any People. Even You.
BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, April 21 2011
Meet Public Domain Protest Song, "the site for protest music that is free for all to download, cover, mix, mash up and most of all, play loudly." Funny or Die's Adam McKay explains why. Sample lyric of the ... Read More
Twitter Eggs Against Syria
BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, April 19 2011
"Twitter eggs" and other bots are tweeting away in an attempt to drown out posts on the Syrian protests, notes Anas Qtiesh over on Global Voices. In case Twitter eggs is a new one on you too, it refers to ... Read More