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To access links, see Steven Clift's blog: http://dowire.org/notes/?p=211 Post: Online Activism in Egypt, U.S. e-campaigning "Reach out and punch someone" Here are clips from a couple of articles that caught my eye, including the first which is a positive follow-up to an earlier post on democracy bloggers ... MediaShift - Blogs, Wiki, Google Bomb Used to Free Egyptian Activist | PBS ... Alaa was arrested on May 7 at a street demonstration in Cairo to support other activists who had been jailed in support of two judges who stood up to Mubarak . The judges had called for a more independent judiciary and reported there was fraud in last year�s elections � only to be charged for speaking out. Over the past 12 months, street protests were largely tolerated by Egyptian police, until late April when police started beating up protesters and arresting them in a show of force. (Reuters reports on one recent protest here . Multi-Faceted Effort for Multi-Faceted Activist For some time, Alaa and his wife, Manal Hassan � the pair are pictured above � have had a popular web hub called Manal and Alaa�s Bit Bucket . While it does include a blog in Arabic and English, the site has much more to it. Alaa told me last summer that the site was built to showcase their skills as open-source software and web developers. He ticked off all the features of the site beyond the blog: an aggregator of Egyptian blogs; free hosting for non-profit sites; events calendar; photo galleries; encrypted private spaces for secret online discussions; videos of violence against protesters; reviews of WiFi hotspots around Cairo. So after Alaa�s detention on May 7, the reaction from the blogosphere and other activists around the globe was swift. They created a multi-faceted campaign to free him and bring attention to his plight in a way that fit with his tech-savvy personality. The Global Voices blog set up a special wiki , which lists all the ways people are promoting his release online and offline. Anyone can edit the wiki to add their own activity or ideas. So far, there�s been a Flash animation , an online petition (signed by 1,100+ people so far), badges to post on websites and blogs, and a special Wikipedia entry . People have even tried a Google bomb strategy, where they link the Free Alaa blog with the word "Egypt? so that Google searches for Egypt will pull up the blog. It hasn�t worked well so far, but the idea is innovative. As DemoBlogger points out on the Free Alaa blog: "The total cost of launching a global human rights campaign using digital tools: $0. The total time needed to launch a global human rights campaign using digital tools: 24 hours.? Alaa, who�s 25 years old, was initially detained for 15 days, and then the authorities decided to keep him for another 15 days. During that time, he has managed to get letters smuggled out of prison and posted to his blog � one in English and one in Arabic. ... In contrast, more negative "politics as usual" (or politics as sport) seems to be a lower common denominator of activity emerging with e-campaigning in the 2006 U.S. midterm elections ... Reach out and punch someone CORY REISS, Washington Bureau Published May 22, 2006 WASHINGTON -- A group of angry techies gathered over laptops and beer three months ago to skewer their Republican congressman, Rep. Charles Taylor of Western North Carolina. The "content party," as they called the gathering to create a Web site, was like an Internet barn raising. With biting satire, a professional look and a bawdy name, the anonymous authors of taylorsucks.org have lambasted the eight-term congressman ever since. On the other side of the race for Taylor's House seat, a California football fan launched a site ridiculing Democratic opponent Heath Shuler, a former Washington Redskins quarterback, for his lackluster NFL career. The creator of stopshuler.com, Jason Woodmansee of San Diego, said his site could be construed as pro-Taylor but is actually pro-football. "He's what you would call the lesser of two evils -- from a football perspective," said Woodmansee, referring to Taylor. Woodmansee's day job is to manage a golf equipment company's Web operations. Woodmansee says the site is a joke, but he admits sensing Republicans are using it to perpetuate a "dumb jock" image of Shuler. The National Republican Congressional Committee has taken to sending him news releases. Politics really is a sport, and any voter can play. Whether the Internet will affect the scoreboard on election day is an open question. The 2004 elections featured the rise of opinion sites operated by political bloggers, who quickly began shaping debate about national politics. Popular political blogs with national scope now share the Web with a growing number of pundits targeting specific candidates and issues. "It's definitely moved from the national stage to the state, regional, and local stage," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, "There are bloggers in every nook and cranny in the country who care about politics. They got their appetites whetted in the 2004 race." ... *** Democracies Online Newswire - http://DoWire.Org *** To comment/for links: http://dowire.org/notes/?p=211 To network: http://groups.dowire.org Submit posts: http://dowire.org/submit Member profile for Steven: http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift ----------------------------------------- Group home for Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail: http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/newswire Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail with all posts on this topic here: http://groups.dowire.org/topic/111561 For digest version or to leave Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail, email [email protected] with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
