This sign reads: I WILL NOT BE AFRAID TO GO OUT INTO THE STREETS, DEFEND MY LIBERTY, UPHOLD THE LAW, DEMAND JUSTICE, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID TO LIVE IN MY HOMELAND AND CHANGE ITS FUTURE…. GUATEMALA, I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU.
How does mass collaboration and open, instantaneous communication change the political rules? Well, there’s the case of the so-called Twitter Revolution in Moldova where Twitter was — or maybe not — central in organizing protests against the allegedly stolen parliamentary election of April 5.
And Twitter as a way to organize flashmobs and quickly disseminate information is ideal for the type of role it may or may not have played in Moldova. However, when we take in social media in all of its totality — blogs, Twtter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. — the lesson is all about radical, enforced transparency; the hard fact — that many people are going tol have to learn the hard way – that there is almost no way to keep anything a secret any more.
A very interesting example is happening right now in Guatemala. Follow this one if you can. Xeni Xardin of Boing Boingis all over this.
The Guatemalan bank Banrural is at the center of the country’s current political crisis: the recently assassinated attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg represented a finance expert, Khalil Musa, who was said to have refused to participate in corrupt transactions involving that bank. Musa was assassinated in March. After continuing to make statements about alleged government complicity in that murder, and in the financial crimes Musa protested, Rosenberg was himself shot to death this past Sunday. Days before his murder, Rosenberg recorded a video saying he believed he would soon be assassinated by forces acting at the orders of Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom. After his death, the video spread virally on YouTube (link to video in Spanish), sparking widespread protests on and offline.
[May 14], Twitter user “Jeanfer” was arrested for suggesting in a tweet that people who had money deposited in Banrural should remove those funds, and by doing so, break the control that “corrupt people” have over the state-controlled financial institution.
That was yesterday. By today, Jean Ramses Anleu Fernández, aka “jeanfer” had been arraigned, tried and sentenced. Now that is some efficient justice right there. Fernandez was ordered to jail until he can pay a fine of $6,500 (more than the average Guatemalan’s annual income) and then to be under house arrest indefinitely.
As of now, there are massive street protests. More Twitterers are being sought by the police while twitter traffic on the matter explodes. The government has issued a list of persons who must not be allowed to leave the country. And the FBI is getting involved.
All in all this is shaping up into what looks like a social media driven revolution that was set off by revelations exposed to the entire world through that media. Ten years ago, this would have been a conspiracy known only to a few human rights lawyers and would have meant business as usual in Guatemala. Not anymore.
My first visit here, found the blog accidentally really, and I just wanted to say I’ve enjoyed my visit and had some good reads while here