The Facebook Effect - 12 million march against Marxist group FARC

[bik0]

One man protests against the Columbian revolutionary group FARC by creating a group on Facebook which in one month leads to 12 million people marching and demonstrating world-wide...

What ensued was one of the most extraordinary examples of digitally fueled activism the world has ever seen. On February 4, about 10 million people marched against FARC in hundreds of cities in Colombia according to Colombian press estimates. As many as 2 million more marched in cities around the world. The movement that began with an impassioned midnight Facebook post in one frustrated young man’s bedroom led to one of the largest demonstrations ever, anywhere in the world.

“Facebook was our headquarters,” says Morales. “It was the newspaper. It was the central command. It was the laboratory — everything. Facebook was all that, right up until the last day.”

Morales himself had volunteered to coordinate the local demonstration in Barranquilla. He expected about 50,000 people to show up. In fact 300,000 did, about 15 percent of the city’s population.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/books/excerpt-facebook-effect.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. We hate FARC!

:party:



Or is it the NY Times? :freak:

[villager]

2. I personally knew some progressives murdered by FARC

Their crime? Helping indigenous people in FARC's turf.

FARC is scarcely "revolutionary" -- a classic example of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

[davidinalameda]

3. they're thugs

[apocalypsehow]

4. I see the Chavez fan club has been busy UnReccing your post. n/t.

[LoZoccolo]

5. I put it back in positive territory! n/t

[Luminous Animal]

6. You mean the Chavez that has asked FARC to lay down their arms and negotiate a peace?

[bik0]

7. Actually, the post is more about Facebook than FARC...

Facebook is a powerful tool for social and political change. I had no idea until I read the article.