Who Would Have Thought That Text Messaging Could Change The World? (Joe Rothstein's Commentary)

June 16, 2009

By Joe Rothstein
Editor, EINNEWS.COM

In 2002, a little known human rights activist, Roh Moo-hyun, dumbfounded political pros in South Korea by getting himself elected president.

For more than 50 years, South Korean politics had been the epitome of an old boys' network, with a very tight inner circle, supported by a quasi-controlled press, backed up by money and other influence from South Korea's business community and U.S. business and governmental patrons.

Roh defeated them all with text messaging.

Well, maybe that's a bit simplistic. Text messaging was the weapon an emerging political movement used to find its voice, and power, and organizational tools, and timing and strategy. As you might expect, the movement was richly populated with idealistic, technically savvy young people. They used text messages to distribute information, raise money, schedule rallies and get voters to the polls.

Two years later, Howard Dean came very close to duplicating that effort.

Six years later, Barack Obama did.

Now take a good hard look at the streets of Teheran. To do that I suggest that you go to www.english.ohmynews.com, a citizens' journalism website that emerged from the 2002 South Korean presidential election. People on the streets of Tehran are using their cell phones to capture the post-election drama and are posting those pictures on OhMyNews and elsewhere----even as state-controlled media tries to curtain off events from its own and foreign mainstream press.

Or, you might go to www.twitter.com the current incarnation of text messaging. Here's what you might see with just a few minutes of scrolling:

"stevenjambot RT @oxfordgirl writes: To world press in Tehran: People have died tonight [...]. Don't let them die in the dark
(via@natachaqs) #iranelectionless than 20 seconds ago from TweetDeck"

"awwsboss RT @Robot117: RT @bashix: Tehran University dorm is heavily under attack... people need HELP.. spread the word #iranelection less than 5 seconds ago from TweetDeck"

"WordsRight RT @Robot117 ANY DOCTORS on Twitter?...need med. help at Tehran Uni but can't leave. Advice via Twitt (no malpractice promise) #iranelectionless than 20 seconds ago from web"

"mschieck RT @cfp2009Warning: @anonymousiniran is logging IP addresses http://bit.ly/bxOal via @naggingtree @colts_ram #iranelection #gr88"

"mcisco9091 RT Iran - intriguing question: "how can we incorporate google earth into our movement? send us your suggestions" #iranelection #gr88"

"NearlyPurple RT @naseemfaqihi Tweeter from Iran confirming a lot of blood and violence at Azadi Sq tonight #iranelection #gr88"

These are voices from the street, and others from around the world trying to help them. Some of the addresses seem strange, because protesters are using various routes to circumvent censors and the software blocking social networking sites.

Citizenlab, which runs out of the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, is one of many groups making software available that allows citizens in Iran to sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere, bypassing government restrictions.

When Instant Messaging was launched in the 1990s, it was seen as a faster, more convenient way to send electronic messages for business or social conversation. Twitter came onto the scene a few years ago as a way a user could ask or answer the question, “what are you doing?” Facebook, and its direct competitor, MySpace, both launched as ways for people to stay in close touch with classmates, friends, or other social networks.

But the law of unintended consequences has intervened. What we are seeing in Iran today----as we saw in the streets of South Korea in 2002, and the cities and towns of Iowa in 2007----is instant messaging and social networking as probably the most powerful vehicles ever devised for enforcing democracy and abetting political change. Now that these communications genies have been unleashed, they can't be tamed. Not by authoritarian governments. Not by technology created to block and control them. Not by anything.

No matter how the Iranian situation ends, some powerful lessons have been learned and enduring messages sent.

Can Egypt, Saudi Arabia-----and even China-----be far behind?

(Joe Rothstein can be contacted at joe@einnews.com)