Talk about Smart Mobs: Free Tibet activists use online technology to ensure message gets out

Howard Reingold talks about Smart Mobs in current activism: the use of cell phones and the internet to organize actions, communicate with group members, and to disseminate info to the media. smart mobs, smart mobiles.

I am sooo impressed by the techno-savvy group of activists that unfurled a banner at the Great Wall of China this week, and who were subsequently arrested.

Some background first:
Today a third Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, director of Students for a Free Tibet, has been arrested, along with her colleague Paul Golding. Six activists were arrested on Tuesday, including two Canadians: Sam Price and Melanie Raoul from Vancouver.

It was Sam and Melanie who rapelled down the Great Wall to hang a large banner that read, in English and Mandarin, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008". Tuesday marked the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, and the group used the Olympic slogan to draw attention to China's occupation of Tibet.

What is so amazing about this action is the use of the internet to achieve global coverage, and as a means of keeping in touch while waiting to be detained by Chinese authorities.

An activist recorded the hanging of the banner on their cell phone and e-mailed the file to New York, where it was immediately uploaded to Youtube, and soon after was reported on in print and television media.

Since Tuesday, Lhadon Tethong (who was not present at the Great Wall action) has been travelling in Beijing where she has been a one-woman techno-firestorm:
- she has been blogging about the action at Beijing Wide Open
- To try and reach International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge, she posted a letter to him on her blog, then made a video of her talking about the letter while standing under a statue of Mao Tse-Tung. She then called the IOC to tell them about the video on her blog, then made a video of the call and added that to the blog. An IOC staffer agreed to meet with her.
- She talked with CTV news about the action via satellite, and posted this video on the blog as well

I just visited the blog, where a video has been posted of a Skype video-call Lhadon and Paul made at an internet cafe yesterday, before their imminent arrest. [Skype is a free web-based phone service].

What excellent use of these resources, these web-based technologies, for social action! I think today I'll be able to work on my thesis after all.


CBC article