Ok, this morning, I’m checking my Twitter stream and was happily surprised to find that Tim O’Reilley (yeah, the publishing and web 2.0 magnate) retweeted my post response referencing this story by David Wolman in Wired magazine: Cairo Activists Use Facebook to Rattle Regime. Besides being totally juiced that such a celebrated figure would deem it worthy to (a) follow me on Twitter, (b) actually reads my replies, and (c) thought this was worth mentioning, it got me thinking about a number of items I’ve seen recently regarding the marriage of social activism and Web 2.0.
One great example from this month’s Fast Company is an article by David Kushner regarding a “YouTube for unseen atrocities.” The article talks about a venture started by Peter Gabriel called the Hub, where on-site recorders of terrible events can post their movies such that a devoted group of online activists can react and start applying international pressure to correct the situations. While it is arguably difficult to ensure that cameras are rolling when “The MAN” is kicking the proletariat’s ass, today’s video-capable cellphones are making this a reality even in the farthest reaches of the third world. More power to them.
Another good example is Amazee (thanks, again Tim!), which is kind of a startup incubator for social activists. Rebels with causes can find like-minded activists and resources to help them get their projects started.
All this makes you want to cheer for the little guy. Or as Arundhati Roy says “stand with the dispossesed.” What social activism will you engage in today?
