For A Cause
Internet Activism 101.

It’s hard not to go through the newspaper headlines and not wince.Murders,riots,war. Awfully depressing stuff and then when we go on the streets and meet up with the occasional beggar on the roadside,it leaves you with a sense of hopelessness. So much is wrong with the world and there seems so little we can actually do.

But idealists don’t give up easily. You’ll find them everywhere,on the streets,on the roadsides and on the Web.There are people out there who believe that every little thing counts.That even the smallest action done for good can matter and for some people the Internet is a new and proven-effective tool for advocacy.

One group that has actively used the Internet as a tool for advocacy and spreading the word is the U.S Democratic party. Or at least, Democrat candidates. Besides political parties,NGOs like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also use it to further their environmental efforts.

The question is,does the Internet work? Does the Net make a difference at all as compared to normal means of campaigning for something? Well,it depends on how you look at it.

Behind A Screen

For cyber-dissidents in China,North Korea and other countries where severe restrictions are placed on free speech, the Internet is their only saving grace.The Net gives the somewhat fragile safety of anonymity, allowing frustrated citizens to vent their frustrations with the government without fearing that one day someone in uniform will appear on their doorstep.

Injustice happens. And there are people who find that those who were appointed to serve and protect, are more like wolves guarding sheep.When you cannot trust your government, you cannot trust the police and you just need someone, anyone to listen to truths that could get you in trouble, then the Internet is your only recourse. Though it seems the world is too ready to forget Tiananmen Square, many Chinese refuse to forget. For it is the shadow of that brutal suppression of student protestors that keeps many from making their opinions known,hiding under assumed nicknames.

The Internet is still risky for these covert cyber-dissidents because the Chinese government could attempt to trace IPs, or in the case of Yahoo, Google and MSN, strongarm service providers into giving them the data they want. If even the Internet is no longer a place where people can safely give their opinion then the world is surely a sadder place. But there are people who care enough to try to educate users about how they can protect themselves online, so they will be safe from overzealous government watchdogs. There is, for example, Reporters sans frontieres – French for Reporters without Borders.

Reporters Without Borders works hard to protect journalists and champion press freedom globally. On their site, they publicise cases of journalists being arrested,mistreated or killed in the line of duty. Proceeds from donations to Reporters Without Borders goes to these efforts as well as actually physical help – giving money to Indonesian journalists affected by the recent tsunami, and in November, giving the equivalent of three months in assistance to the families of six imprisoned Burmese journalists. Theirs is a cause that has received public backing from big names such as Air France and UNESCO.

Groups like these would not be so accessible to journalists in need of assistance, if it wasn’t for the Internet. Reporters Without Borders also runs its own blog service at rsfblog. org which helps fund their work to make press freedom a reality everywhere in the world.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has a rather ingenious means of using the Internet. Besides disseminating information, WWF has its WWF Passport program at http://passport. panda.com where it signs up members in an ingenious mass email campaign rally to target specific causes,when and if they occur..